The Library of Nikos Svoronos is «the end of the journey» for the Lefkadite great intellectual and teacher of historical science. The work of the historian of international acclaim is now in his hometown and is becoming an attraction for academics and history lovers alike.
The Library of Nikos Svoronos has been donated by his heirs to the Municipality of Lefkada because of the origin and the love Nikos Svoronos had for his homeland Lefkada. For the coordination and support of the whole project, an Association was created under the name «Friends of Nikos Svoronos», whose main objective is to promote the issues and accelerate the actions for the organization, operation and utilization of the Library of the ever-mortal man.
The Space of the Library
The Library is located on the first floor of a newly built building in the old town's Marka Square, a few meters from the commercial and busy street of the city. The same floor also houses the Haramogleio Special Lefkada Library.
The Collection of Books and the Nikos Svoronos Archive
The majority of the books and the archive of the Nikos Svoronos Collection remained in France even after his return and relocation to Greece in the early years of the post-revolutionary period. It seems that on his return to Greece Nikos Svoronos transferred only the books most necessary for his scientific work, and to these were added a number of new titles from purchases or donations. The catalogue of books in France contains about 3004 titles, while the catalogue of books in Greece contains about 1581 titles.
Today all the books have been placed in the Library. A number of rare books remained in France, for which the French authorities did not grant an export licence precisely because of their rarity.
The archival material is grouped in the following categories:
- Documents
- Newspaper cuttings
- Rare pamphlets and newspapers of the 40s (resistance, civil war, illegal press, etc.)
- Pamphlets and newspapers of the period of the anti-dictatorship struggle (1967-1974)
- Unpublished doctoral theses
The books are classified according to the following categories:
- Foreign magazines
- Greek magazines
- Bibliographies
- Dictionaries, yearbooks, statistics
- Conferences
- Books and works by Nikos Svoronos
- Art books
- Sources - Texts
- Unpublished doctoral theses
- Books about the Civil War and the Resistance
- Rare pamphlets and forms of the Civil War
- Historical books in the Greek language
- Books in the main European languages
- Books in Slavic and Romanian language
- Books and magazines on Turkish Studies
- Law and History of Institutions
- Books of particular interest to Nikos Svoronos
- Books with notable dedications