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The National Library of Greece ( el, Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη της Ελλάδος, Ethnikí Vivliothíki tis Elládos) is the main public library of
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
, located in Athens. Founded by
Ioannis Kapodistrias Count Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias (10 or 11 February 1776 – 9 October 1831), sometimes anglicized as John Capodistrias ( el, Κόμης Ιωάννης Αντώνιος Καποδίστριας, Komis Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias; russian: � ...
in 1832, its mission is to locate, collect, organize, describe and preserve the perpetual evidence of Greek culture and its uptake over time, as well as important representative evidence of human intellectual production. The NLG ensures equal non-access to these items based on the freedom of knowledge, information, and research. There is one general manager who serves a four-year term. A board of trustees has seven members with a three or four-year term.


History

The original idea for establishing a National Library was from the philhellene Johann Jakob Mayer, in an August 1824 article of his newspaper '' Ellinika Chronika'', published at
Missolonghi Missolonghi or Messolonghi ( el, Μεσολόγγι, ) is a municipality of 34,416 people (according to the 2011 census) in western Greece. The town is the capital of Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, and the seat of the municipality of Iera Polis ...
, where Mayer and
Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
had been promoting Greece's independence. Mayer's idea was implemented in 1829 by the new Greek government of
Ioannis Kapodistrias Count Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias (10 or 11 February 1776 – 9 October 1831), sometimes anglicized as John Capodistrias ( el, Κόμης Ιωάννης Αντώνιος Καποδίστριας, Komis Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias; russian: � ...
, who grouped together the National Library with other intellectual institutions such as schools, national museums, and printing houses. These were all placed in a building (then being used as an orphanage) on the island Aegina and supervised by Andreas Moustoxydis, who thus became president of the committee of the Orphanage, director of the
National Archaeological Museum of Athens The National Archaeological Museum ( el, Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο) in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is ...
, and director of the National School. At the end of 1830, the library, which Moustoxydis named the National Library, had 1,018 volumes of printed books, which had been collected from Greeks and philhellenes. In 1834, the library was relocated to Athens, the new capital, and was at first housed temporarily in the public bath in the Roman Agora of Athens and then later in the Panagia Gorgoepikoos church. The collection increased rapidly. In addition to the purchase of books from private libraries, supervised by Dimitris Postolakas (1,995 volumes), the library accepted many large donations of books, like one from Christoforos and Konstantinos Sakellarios (5,400 volumes) and one from Markos Renieris (3,401 volumes). In 1842, the Public Library merged with Athens University's library (15,000 volumes), and was housed together with the currency collection at the new building of
Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded ...
's University. The first director (then-called "president") was Georgios Kozakis-Typaldos of the newly enlarged institution, retaining the job until 1863. At this time, the library was enriched with significant donations and with rare foreign language books from all over Europe. With the royal charter of 1866, the two libraries merged, and were administered as the ''"National Library of Greece"''. From 1877 to 1910, its director was Michael Deffner. On 16 March 1888, the foundation stone for a new neoclassical marble building was laid. The building was financed by three Kefallonian-born brothers of the
Diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews afte ...
, Panagis, Marinos and Andreas Vallianos. It was designed by Baron Theophil von Hansen and its construction supervised by Ernst Ziller. The library remained in the older University building until 1903, when it was relocated to the new , which still partly houses the library in addition to two other buildings, at
Agia Paraskevi Agia Paraskevi ( el, Αγία Παρασκευή, ''Agía Paraskeví'') is a suburb and a municipality in the northeastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. It is part of the North Athens regional unit. Agia Paraskevi was named after th ...
and Nea Halkidona. The forms part of the ''Trilogy'' of neo-classical buildings at Panepistimiou Street in central Athens, including the Academy of Athens and the original building of the Athens University.


Holdings

The National Library of Greece houses over 1 million items, 300 million electronic resources, and over 15,000 newspaper and magazine titles. The library has 5,500 Greek manuscripts which is one of the greatest collection of Greek scripts. There are also many
chrysobull A golden bull or chrysobull was a decree issued by Byzantine Emperors and later by monarchs in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, most notably by the Holy Roman Emperors. The term was originally coined for the golden seal (a '' ...
s and archives of the Greek Revolution. Among the library's holdings are a
codex The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...
of the four
Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
attributed to the scribe Matthew; uncial codex with a fragment
Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and fo ...
from 6th century ( Uncial 094), '' Flora Graeca Sibthorpiana'' by English botanist
John Sibthorp John Sibthorp (28 October 1758 – 8 February 1796) was an English botanist. Education Sibthorp graduated from the University of Oxford in 1777 where he was an undergraduate student at Lincoln College, Oxford. He subsequently studied medic ...
; '' Charta of Greece'' by Rigas Velestinlis; '' The Large Etymological Dictionary'', a historic
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantino ...
dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, ...
; and the first publication of
Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the '' Iliad'' and the '' Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of ...
's epics and hymns. Some other manuscripts:
Uncial 075 Uncial 075 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), Οπ3 ( Soden), is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, dated palaeographically to the 10th century. Formerly it was designated by ג. It was also classified as minuscule codex 382p. Des ...
, Uncial 0161, Minuscule 798. The NLG also has over 4,000 works of art, approximately one million archival documents from public and private collections, 10,000 posters, maps, papyri, musical scores, and microfilms.


Relocation to Phaleron Bay

The Vallianeion Megaron building has long been inconvenient due to limited space and technology demands. Although it will continue to house some of its current functions, the bulk of the library in 2018 was relocated to a new 22,000-square meter building at the
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center ( el, Κέντρο Πολιτισμού Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος) is a complex in the bay of Faliro in Athens which includes new facilities for the National Library of Greece (NLG) ...
on the
Phaleron Bay Phalerum or Phaleron ( ''()'', ; ''()'', ) was a port of Ancient Athens, 5 km southwest of the Acropolis of Athens, on a bay of the Saronic Gulf. The bay is also referred to as "Bay of Phalerum" ( el, Όρμος Φαλήρου '').'' The ...
"Delta". The 20-hectare Delta is a seafront area that used to host the Athens horse race track, which was replaced by the Markopoulo Olympic Equestrian Centre for the Athens 2004 Olympics. Italian architect
Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (201 ...
proposed a radical new plan for the National Library and the National Opera of Greece, and the project was funded by the
Stavros Niarchos Foundation The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) was established in 1996 to honor Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos (1909–1996). Niarchos was one of the world's largest transporters of oil and owned the largest supertanker fleet of his time. Organ ...
and donated to the Greek state. The twin buildings are integrated within a landscaped park with indigenous Mediterranean flora, and feature extensive
renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable ener ...
facilities and a central plaza around a 30-m wide seawater channel. Work on the project started in 2012 with completion due for 2016.


Library Associations

Greece has one national library association, the Association of Greek Librarians and Information Scientists (AGLIS). AGLIS was founded in 1968 and represents Greek librarians to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). AGLIS is also a member of The European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations (EBLIDA). in Spring 2021, AGLIS partnered with the Heritage Management Organization (HMO) to enhance its ability to meet the needs of Greek Libraries and their patrons.


Locations

Main Location: Stavros Niarchos Foundataion Cultural Center Syggrou Avenue 364, 17674, Kallithea Historic Vallianeio Building Panepistimiou Str. 32, 10679, Athens (former NLG headquarters, now hosting NLG's Newspapers Collection) Votanikos Building Athinon Avenue 31-33 and Spirou Patsi Str. 12,10447, Athens


See also

* List of national libraries


References


Sources

*


External links


Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη της Ελλάδος
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Library of Greece 1832 establishments in Greece Libraries in Athens Landmarks in Athens Libraries established in 1832 Tourist attractions in Athens Library buildings completed in 1903 Theophil Hansen buildings Neoclassical architecture in Greece Ioannis Kapodistrias