The cultural treasure of the city
Municipal Library of Patra
Adress: 110 Maizonos Str., Patras
Tel. of Reading Room +30 2610 224813
mail: [email protected]
https://patraslibrary.weebly.com
Municipal Library of Patra
The origins of the Municipal Library of Patras lie in the donation of the library of the “Patra Craft Company” to the Municipality of Patras in 1903.
Δημοτική Βιβλιοθήκη Πατρών – Αναγνωστήριο / Municipal Library of Patras – Reading Room
In 1908, after petitions through the local Press, the Municipal Library of Patras was founded, and the first Supervisory Committee was elected. The Library was housed in the school on the corner of Gounari and Karaiskaki Streets. Two years later, in 1910, the official opening ceremony took place.
The Library closed in 1926, abandoned, and its contents were stored in the basement of the Municipality until 1944, when a group of book lovers transported them to the house of former mayor Ioannis Vlachos and subsequently to the Karamandani Mansion, on 42 Maizonos Street.
Δημοτική Βιβλιοθήκη Πατρών – Αρχιτεκτονικό σχέδιο / Municipal Library of Patra – Floorplan
In 1947 the postwar Municipal Library was inaugurated, with 18,200 books, mostly donated by the public. In 1948, by royal decree, the Library became a legal entity governed by public law. In 1955 the new building was inaugurated, and the books transported there.
Since 2011, the Library is part of a newly founded legal entity governed by public law, under the name “Municipal Library-Cultural Organization of the Municipality of Patras”. It comprises the Central Library (110 Maizonos Street) and the Annex (Eleftheria Square, 26 Fokaias Street). The ground floor houses the Children’s Department and the Municipal Gallery. Visitors can use the reading room, borrow books, access the Internet, use the computers for research purposes, and there are workstations for people with disabilities.
Head of the Library is the librarion Ms. Aikaterini Kourou
Future plans
The Municipal Library of Patras falls under the category of public libraries. Within this framework, its plans include the restoration of the buildings and the upgrading of services and functions, in order to develop into a large central public library that will support the right to self-education and public education, providing access to every resident of the city. Furthermore, it may also become the centre of a network of municipal/public libraries in the neighbouring municipalities and regions.
Δημοτική Βιβλιοθήκη Πατρών – Εκπαιδευτικό πρόγραμμα / Municipal Library of Patra − Educational programme
For the moment, a study for the creation of a modern section for children/teenagers, a department for digital technologies and an exhibition of rare books and documents is underway.
Moreover, funding is being sought for the installation of digital services through the use of radio-frequency identification technology (RFID).
ΕΚΔΟΣΕΙΣ
Strong Greek-American cooperation to protect cultural heritage
As part of the 6th Greece–United States Strategic Dialogue, taking place in Athens, Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Education and Culture, Catherine Dillon, in the presence of the U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, signed the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding to continue imposing import restrictions on certain categories of Greek archaeological and ethnological material for another five years, until 2031. The memorandum, which has been in effect since 2011, has indeed yielded significant results in combating the illicit trafficking of cultural property and in its repatriation to ...More
“El Club” is launched—a film club for lovers of the Spanish-speaking world
The Cervantes Institute in Athens and the Athens Spanish-Language Film Festival (FeCHA), in collaboration with the Nirvana Cinemax and Newman Cinema theaters, and with the support of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the Spanish Embassy in Greece, present El Club: A film club dedicated to Spanish-language cinema. Thanks to this collaboration between public and private entities, El Club aims to become not only a hub and meeting place for lovers of Spanish-language cinema, but also a regular forum for reflection on current issues and for discovering contemporary cinematic gems. With a monthly ...More
UMAC2026 International Conference: “University Museums as Agents of Sustainable Development” | October 12–16, 2026
The Greek Section of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the International Committee of University Museums and Collections (UMAC) of ICOM, and the Museum of Science and Technology at the University of Patras are organizing, for the first time in Greece, the annual international hybrid UMAC Conference for 2026, with the theme “University Museums as Agents of Sustainable Development,” at the University of Patras Museum of Science and Technology (umac2026.gr). The scientific program of the Conference will take place from October 11 to October 14, 2026, at the University of Patras, primarily at the Museum of ...More
National Library of Greece | Coming-of-Age Stories from World Literature
The National Library of Greece presents the Library Display “Coming-of-Age Stories from World Literature: The Young Self Facing the World.” The journey of the young self from the familiar world of childhood and adolescence to the world of adulthood serves as the focal point of this selection of books from the NLG Lending Collection. Within this framework, the collection brings together stories exploring psychological, moral, social, artistic, racial, and gender identity, which use the plot as a vehicle to highlight, on the one hand, the figures who guide the protagonist—the mother, the father, the grandmother, the ...More
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