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
Space for International Cooperation| Oops! I broke the sun – Exhibition by visual artist PASHIAS| 29 March- 19 April 2025
"Oops! I broke the sun": a spherical volume as the belly, side handles as arms, a narrow neck and a mouth. The connection between the human and the clay bodies transcends visual parameters and imagery, equating the body and the amphora with vessels carrying, safekeeping and spilling substances, materialities, experiences, notions and values. The transformative interaction between artist and amphora develops through a series of identifications and exchanges, revealing the materiality and corporeality, not only of the ‘aesthetic objects’, but more broadly of the historical time and heritage they contain. It is hybridity, of performance art, ...More
MOMus Thessaloniki| «Dimitris Frangkakis. SPLats»| 27 March– 1 June 2025
A new space is activated in the rotunda of the MOMus Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki with its own programming, the Case Studio, dedicated to the here-and-now of contemporary art, which seeks to offer visibility to young and established artists and to bring the Museum even closer to contemporary artistic creation. The first exhibition-production, "Splats" by artist Dimitris Frangakis, will be held from March 27 to June 1, 2025. The exhibition presents works -paintings, drawings, sculptures- by Frangakis of the last ten years, with "protagonists" his creative imagination, his extraordinary control of his artistic means, ...More
ATHERAS PROJECT| I n t e r v e n t i o, Space – Time – Memory| 28 -29 -30 March 2025 at Piree
The interaction of the concepts of space, time and memory often reveals that the imprint of the image is not just a static field of morphological or conceptual quests, but rather a living feature that unites the past, present and future in the same moment. Time - as evidenced by what we call photographic memory - is encapsulated in the image as a means of evoking dynamic representations or abstract propositions, allowing for the recall of both personal and collective memories. Similarly, the centrality of space, not only as a background but as an actively participating ...More
EMST| Diohandi| Filming…| 27 March-30 April 2025
EΜΣΤ presents the complete filmic works of artist Diohandi (1945), for the first time, in light of the imminent gift of her filmic archive to the Museum. From 1977 to 1986 Diohandi used a Super 8 camera to document some of the most seminal group shows featuring Greek artists both in Greece and abroad, filtering her subject matter through her unique artistic sensibility. The resulting footage is not easy to classify. It occupies a liminal space between an art film, an artwork and an archival document. From exhibition and installation views to shots of artists socialising ...More
Leave A Comment