The 7 Best Libraries In Athens

Thanks to its rich cultural and historical past, Athens is home to excellent libraries where you can easily spend hours browsing through the shelves. While the city is also home to major foreign institutional and organizational libraries, here we are spotlighting only those libraries relevant to an English-speaking audience. Come join us and explore the best libraries in Athens, Greece.

Central Library of the Municipality of Athens

Library

The Central Library of the Municipality of Athens is one of the oldest libraries of the city, alongside the Library of the Hellenic Parliament and the National Library, and contains more than 55,000 books mainly focused on literature, history, and art. If you are on the lookout for rare material or into old newspapers and magazines, this is the perfect place for you, as the library has archives dating back to 1863. There is also a children’s section.

National Library of Greece

Building, Library

The National Library of Greece is located in a stunning building which belongs to the “Neoclassical Trilogy,” a trio of Neoclassically styled buildings on Panepistimiou Avenue in downtown Athens. Containing a wide collection of historical documents, the National Library has a splendid reading room. However, the actual collection is being relocated to its new home, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre (SNFCC), and the collection is momentarily not accessible to the public. The National Library should reopen during the fall of 2017.

Lilian Voudouri Music Library at the Athens Concert Hall

Concert Hall, Library, Building

Created by the Friends of Music, the Lilian Voudouri Music Library, housed in the Athens Concert Hall (Megaron Mousikis), has an impressive collection of books and records of Western music, as well as ancient Greek, Byzantine, folk, and popular music, and rembetika. The library also contains archives from composers and examples of traditional music from around the world. On top of this, the library has more than 63,000 books and musical scores, 10,000 audio recordings, and many other audiovisual materials, making it a real treasure for anyone interested in music.

Gennadius Library

Library

Established in 1926 with 26,000 volumes from Greek benefactor and diplomat Joannes Gennadius’s personal collection, the Gennadius Library counts more than 120,000 books, archives, manuscripts, and works of art on Hellenic culture. Part of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, the library often hosts events and art exhibitions open to the public.

Blegen Library

Library

The second library of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, the Blegen Library focuses on Greece from the earliest prehistory through late antiquity. With more than 105,000 volumes, it is a prominent research library in the fields of history, culture, prehistoric, and classical archaeology of the Mediterranean region, as well as for classical languages. The library is accessible to members of the school as well as to approved visitors.

Eugenides Foundation Library

Library

Operating since 1966, the Eugenides Foundation Library is specialized in the fields of science and technology, and includes a children’s section, which organizes events and has its own children’s reading club. The library is open to the public and visitors can borrow books, as well as make use of their computer room.

The American Library at the Hellenic American Union

School

With more than 35,000 volumes in Greek and in English, and more than 250,000 digital books, as well as archives from U.S. journals and rare books, the Library of the Hellenic American Union is open to the public at large (provided that they register as members of the Library) and, of course, to the Hellenic American Union students. Members are welcome to borrow volumes from their lending collections.

About the author

Ethel Dilouambaka

Polyglot (with a Master Degree in Translation), adventure seeker, professional shower singer and food enthusiast, Ethel enjoys spending quality time with friends and family, usually with a certain amount of eating and drinking involved. Brussels-bred and Athens-bound, she loves traveling around the world, uploading photos on her Instagram feed and daydreaming with a good book in her hands. Want to see the world through her eyes? Find her on Instagram at @heyitsetelle