The Eleftherios Venizelos Library

The Eleftherios Venizelos Library is not just a library in the sense that we all know. It is our history. Venizelos’s footsteps are imprinted in rare and non-rare books, as well as manuscripts that bear witness to known and unknown aspects of our national history.

The personal library of the Prime Minister, donated to the Municipality of Chania by Elena Venizelos herself in 1957, is a museum collection, but also a living collection, since most of the books cover topics of classical literature, history and literature, economics and political science, topics that are of interest to today’s scholars and researchers.

The library contains 8,500 volumes in Greek, French, English, German, Italian, Ottoman, and Russian.

Many rare, specialized, and hard-to-find books are part of the collection, demonstrating the owner’s love of books and learning. Some examples include:

• The Complete Works of Plato, published by Manutius Aldus, 1513
• Diodorus Siculus’ Historical Library: Fifteen Books of the Forty, published by Stephanus Henricus, 1559
• “The History of Herodotus of Halicarnassus,” published by Stephanus Henricus, 1570
• “Descritione dell isola di Candia,” a manuscript codex by an unknown author from 1600

The collection also includes 378 magazine titles, as well as the Government Gazette from 1833. Part of the collection consists of his handwritten diary, a photo album with family photos, and his personal belongings.

It should also be noted that this space houses the library of Elena Venizelos, who enjoyed immersing herself in foreign literature.

Eleftherios Venizelos, on the other hand, was not a one-dimensional reader. He loved history, studied ancient Greek writers, translated the history of Thucydides, enjoyed political treatises and all this is attested to by the books themselves. Political, literary, medical, ecclesiastical texts and a host of other books enriched his library.

Beyond their symbolic value, the books are of additional interest because many of them were donated by prominent figures of the time and accompanied by handwritten dedications, such as those by Konstantinos Theotokis, Georgios Papandreou, Emmanouil Tsouderos, Fotis Kontoglou, Kostis Palamas and many others.

Equally important is the archive of Eleftherios Venizelos, which includes dozens of documents from his time as a lawyer, as well as rare manuscripts that shed light on moments from his political and family life. Various documents cover issues of domestic and foreign policy from the period of the Cretan State to Eleftherios Venizelos’ successive terms as prime minister, as well as matters relating to his private life (thank-you letters, book donations).

The Library is undoubtedly a part of our history, a source of knowledge and a place of memories. These books shaped the personality of the national leader, influenced his thinking, and accompanied him throughout his life. The admiration, emotion and awe that they inspire in us today are beautifully expressed in the 1958 book “Official Visitors” of the Municipal Library of Chania, with the following excerpt:

“…The Venizelos Room is not a library space, but a sanctuary for pilgrimage to the great and luminous Cretan. Thank you for the honor of touching his touch with my touch”.
Manolis Andronikos, Professor at the University of Thessaloniki, 17.9.64

With the operation of Eleftherios Venizelos’ personal library, the operation of libraries is greatly enhanced, not only in the Municipality of Chania but throughout the country, as the material in this particular space already attracts the interest of researchers from both Greece and abroad.
Our common goal, of course, is for the Library to become a beacon for both scientific research and the educational process, something that is already evident today from the constant visits by students of all levels of education, writers, researchers and scholars. The collection is registered in the OPENABEKT library program and can be searched online on the website of the Municipal Library of Chania.

The inauguration of the Eleftherios Venizelos Library at the Municipal Library of Chania took place on Sunday, December 1, 2013, in the presence of the Minister of Administrative Reform and e-Governance, Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the the Mayor of Chania, Mr. Manolis Skoulakis , many dignitaries and a large crowd, as part of the anniversary celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the union of Crete with Greece.

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