The National Library of Greece is located on Panepistimiou street, in the center of Athens and is one of the three building of the so-called "Architectural Trilogy", National Library - Panepistimio - Academy. The project was a study of the Danish architect Theophil Hansen, who also inspired the idea of the architectural trilogy.
The opening date of the National Library was May 15, 1832, under the original name "Public Library", by Order which was published then. George Gennadius was the first director.
Filings of the first considerations for the establishment of the library can be found in an article by J. Mayer that was published in "Greek Times" of Messolonghi in 1824. However the implementation of the original idea for the library belongs to Ioannis Kapodistrias since 1829. The Library of Greece was included along with other valuable cultural institutions of the era. It was to be relocated to two other buildings before it remained permanently at the National Library in Panepistmiou street. In 1834 it moved to the capital of the new state of Greece, however it was temporarily located in the building of The bath-house of the Winds, at the Roman Agora in the area of Monastiraki and later in the temple of Agios Eleftherios, adjacent to the Cathedral of Athens, but also in various other buildings.
To reach its final state it went through another change in 1842 when it merged with the University's Library and their volumes were housed together with the numismatic collection, in the building of the National Kapodistrian University. Since 1866, under the Royal Order, the two libraries merged their administration and operations into one as the National Library of Greece, and all of the written national and cultural heritage of Greece were transferred in 1903, in the Vallianos' building (named after the donors Panagis, Marinos and Andreas Vallianos) where it stays until today.
Part of the collection is housed in two other buildings in Agia Paraskevi and Chalcedona, which are other areas of Athens.
The purpose of the Library is safeguarding the national bibliographic wealth and providing reliable information to the public by issuing a retrospective and current Greek bibliography. The informative service provided to the public is strengthened through collaborations with other organizations and individuals within and outside Greece.
The digitization of the library's material is a grandiose project which is currently in a good stage of progress. That way, the users will have the option to browse online, through all the archives of the library.
Edited by: Yallou