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
Teloglion Foundation of Arts, AUTh | Manoussakis, Piteri, Tsatsayas: Three artists from the museum that never was | March 4–May 18, 2026
A unique gathering of three artists who are coming together to complement and simultaneously renew the major exhibition "Art – Diagonios and the Museum That Never Was" is currently being prepared at the Teloglion Foundation of Arts at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The new exhibition, entitled "Manoussakis, Piteris, Tsatsagias: Three Artists from the Museum That Never Was," will feature paintings by the three artists, essentially reconstructing the more mature side of the current exhibition and contributing to a surprising dialogue, as they boldly penetrate the past and the present, with elements from the creative process of ...More
MOMUS-Thessaloniki Photography Museum| “Three Roads: Constantine Manos, Nikos Economopoulos, Enri Canaj.” February 19–May 24, 2026
The exhibition "Three Paths: Constantine Manos, Nikos Economopoulos, Enri Canaj" presented at MOMUS-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography in collaboration with the Benaki Museum, from February 19 to May 24, 2026, is both an original proposal and a tribute. Using street photography, the dominant artistic trend in photography in the second half of the 20th century, it bridges three generations of creators with a common point of reference: their relationship with Greece and their membership in the renowned Magnum Photos agency, which, since its founding in 1947, has, to a large extent, written the history of the modern ...More
Feast of Orthodoxy at the Orthodox Academy Crete | March 1, 2026
THE FEAST OF ORTHODOXY has been established for years as the official celebration of the Orthodox Academy of Crete (OAC) and as an opportunity for prayer, spiritual reflection, and interpersonal fellowship. This celebration takes on special significance because, for fifty-eight consecutive years, the Foundation has has been serving the Church and resisting all forms of "iconoclasm," wherever it comes from, aiming at the "restoration" of the human person and, by extension, of society itself, especially in the faith of ordinary people. On Sunday, March 1, 2026, after the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the Holy Patriarchal and ...More
Art exhibition at the Café of the National Archaeological Museum | Katia Varvaki – “Eros and Psyche” | February 17-March 10, 2026
On Tuesday, February 17, 2026, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Katia Varvaki's solo exhibition "Eros and Psyche" will open at the Café of the National Archaeological Museum, curated by Iris Kritikou and organized by Emilia Kougia. In her new series of works, "Eros and Psyche," which is an iconographic inspiration and organic reference to her favorite exhibits from the classical, Hellenistic, and Roman collections of the National Archaeological Museum, Katia Varvaki once again engages with issues of the coexistence of the material, spiritual, and psychic worlds. With the unresolved issues of Love and Beauty, dreams, ...More
Leave A Comment