After three long years of preparations, the hundreds of thousands of books and other items in the Greek National Library's collections are making the journey to their new, ultra-modern home, housed in the library's new premises in the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre (SNFCC).
The transfer began some weeks ago, on January 8, with daily journeys by trucks safely delivering their precious cargo under controlled climate conditions, accompanied by library staff. The books were then placed on shelves, or special vaults in the case of the rarer and more valuable manuscripts and books, as well as the impressive Book Tower, in a carefully planned and orchestrated operation.
The move is expected to be fully complete in April, when the library will gradually start to go into full operation.
Hundreds of people currently use the reading rooms and PCs in the library's lending section, which are bathed in the ample natural light allowed in by the glass building designed by architect Renzo Piano, showcasing the colourful furniture, the Book Tower and the Research Library at the centre of the building.
Working tirelessly among them, the employees of the moving company supervised by library staff are toiling to complete the complicated relocation that is now in its final stages.
The books were fitted with radio signals in preparation for the move and staff are currently engaged in separating the rare and exceptionally old items singled out by from the general collection by Professor Yiannis Kokkonas, of the Ionian University's Department of Archives, Library Science and Museum Studies. These will be moved separately from the rest of the collection and placed in a vault.
According to librarian Christina Tsaroucha, in charge of preserving the library's collection, the process of moving was invaluable because it was a chance to get an overview of the state of the collection and what needs to be done.
Other staff noted that the spacious new facilities will allow the resumption of services that had all but disappeared in the cramped quarters of the old buildings, such as a reading room dedicated to magazines and periodicals.
The transfer to the new building entails moving 750,000 items in the general collection and 40,000 in the lending section (of which 10,000 are educational games), as well as 30,000 magazines published in the last five years. It is funded by the Greek state, with a budget of 500,000 euros. It involves the 150 library employees and 400 outside contractors.
The project was financed through a 5.0-million-euro donation from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and a 5.2-million-euro grant from the Greek state.
Once the transfer is complete, the National Library will open for the public, providing eight reading rooms with a total of 400 seats.