Chrysa E. Nikolaou
The National Library of Greece@SNFCC was designed by Renzo Piano. The National Library of Greece@Vallianio was designed by the Danish architect Theophil Freiherr von Hansen, as part of his famous Trilogy of neo-classical buildings including the Academy of Athens and the original building of the Athens University; the construction was supervised by Ernst Ziller.
1829
The National Library of Greece, founded in 1829, is the par excellence depository and trustee for Greece’s cultural heritage run by a supervisory council. Its Director General is Chrysa E. Nikolaou. Its mission is to perpetually trace, collect, organise, document, preserve and safeguard scientific and cultural documents, created in Greece or internationally, related to Hellenism in its diachronic evolution and perception by other cultures and to ensure open and equal access to any interested party, driven by freedom of knowledge, information and research.
NLG, as deposit library for all printed and electronic publications in Greece, compiles and publishes the National Bibliography in its role as the Cataloguing and Bibliographic Centre of the country, enhances collaboration among libraries in Greece, coordinates the Greek Libraries Network, promotes professional expertise and education in various library-related fields and preserves Greek cultural heritage in physical and electronic form fostering research in Greek civilisation and culture.
“Our Collections Matter” is an initiative launched by the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) in 2020, to harness the power and potential of cultural institutions’ collections to promote sustainable development. Greece participates in this programme through two National Nodes, the National Library of Greece (NLG) and the Ministry of Culture, in order to represent Libraries and Museums respectively.