All about Zakynthos

The Public Historical Library of Zakynthos dates back to 1628, when Thomas Flanginis donated 200 volumes of books to the Community of Zakynthos. The official foundation of the Library was in 1803 by the Ionian State. It was attached to the Gymnasium of Zakynthos around 1825 when Christoforos Filitas was the director of the Gymnasium. In 1882 by decision of the Minister of Education, Kost.Lombardos, the Library was detached from the high school and became an independent Public Service with the first supervisor (Director) being the historian Pan.Chiotis. Then it was enriched with books from donations and included an archaeological and numismatic collection and a gallery. In 1935 the Public Library and the Municipal Foscolian Library, which had existed since 1888 and had been established by Sp.Deviazis and included his books, were merged into one, the Public Library of Zakynthos. In 1953 the Library was completely destroyed by the earthquake fire. Donors of the pre-earthquake Public Library of Zakynthos were the Zosimades, Theodosius Dimadis, Robert Solomos, Francis Moutsan, Ant.Stravopodis, Dion.Therianos, Pan.Chiotis, Archbishop Nikolaos Katramis , Archbishop Antonios Hariatis etc. Immediately after the earthquakes of 1953 the Library was reconstructed from donations and bequests. Among the donors are L. Ch. Zois, Sophia Haritaki, Apostolos Flambouras, Marinos Siguros, Dim. Margaris, Dim. Pelekasis, Christoforos Tavoularis, Maria Flabouriari, Athenasios Matesis, Anast. Maroudas, Sp, Avouris Kon.Voultsos, Alexandros and Anastasia Farrou, D.Konomos, Andreas Kladis, Andreas Kladis and Gigante family et.al. The Library includes about 85,000 volumes of books, an archive of local press, unpublished archives, old magazines, old newspapers, a collection of dolls with local costumes, a collection of paintings, a collection of photographs of the pre-earthquake (1953) Zakynthos and old furniture.