Zakynthos Town Hall library

domination. Then it came the French and Russian-Turkish occupancy, followed by the violent English domination and the later annexation to Greece, in 1864. In the following century, the 2nd World War and a devastating earthquake occurred. All these events are part of the isle historical background and deserves to be registered on premises available for both the local and tourist population, such as a town hall library.

The town hall library of Zakynthos is currently placed on the first floor of the Auditorium Center, a huge building that occupies the whole right side of the square where it is located. On the ground floor, travellers can visit the Museum of the Occupation and the National Resistance floor; and next, the church of St Nicholas, which was built in 1561 and is the oldest building of the square. Apart from its old age, its historic value also lays in the fact that St Dionysios, the patron of the island, served there as a priest.

However, the town hall library not always was the way it is right now. It was founded in 1928, and it counted on thousands of unique tomes, among which many rarities could be found. For example, historical documents of St Dionysios (1547-1622) whose sainthood was proclaimed official by the Patrich of Constantinople; documents of T. Kolokotronis (1770-1843), who was the main military and politic leader during the Greek Independence War; and also documents by the English poet Lord Byron (1778-1824) considered one of the most representative writers of Romanticism.

Unfortunately, over 33.000 documents were destroyed during the earthquake in 1953. Apart from losing these important relics, the town hall library was forced to move; so it was located in the Ammos school from 1954 to 1959. In 1959, it was moved to where it is currently placed.

Regarding the lack of important information, the local residents have gently contributed from their own personal collections in order to keep the town hall library going. The result is that Zakynthos town hall library has over 50.000 books available, most of them referring to the Zakynthian history and tradition, including some codices and documents in the same line of those destroyed, which have never been published. The current town hall library also has archives of antique local newspapers, historical documents related to the 2nd World war, treaties and notes of famous writers and a small Art Gallery with miniatures of the typical local costumes and pictures of the inside of many mansions and Temples. Many pictures that captured the old Zakynthos before the catastrophe of 1953 have also been donated to the town hall library.

Although the destruction suffered was irreversible from a historical point of view, the reconstruction of the town hall library was successful, and it probably won't suffer the effects of other possible earthquakes in such a strong way, thanks to the fact that the building was reconstructed by following the local anti-earthquake regulations. However, this reconstruction did not imply a strong change of style, since the original imposing antique vibe was kept on purpose.

As new buildings are built to be more earth-quake resistant they are required to be built in the old traditional architecture style, the city still impresses the visitor. There are vaulted arches and impressive public buildings. A road going through beautiful gardens and pine forests leads to Bochali, the most picturesque suburb of the city.