History. The first official appearance of the six Zosimas brothers — Greek merchants and national benefactors with origins from the village of Grammeno in Epirus — in the educational life of Ioannina is marked in the year 1792 when Theodosios Zosimas, in response to the request of Kosmas Balanos, the schoolmaster of Balanaia School, presented the Moscow Imperial Orphanage with a “regular fund” from the Zosimas Brothers, which amounted to the sum of 60,000 paper rubles, in support of the school. During the period from 1797 to 1815, the Balanaia School was maintained almost exclusively through grants from the Zosimas brothers, who also enriched it with a substantial library.

In 1828, after the death of Zois Zosimas, the last living brother, Nikolaos, who at the time resided in Moscow, decided to financially support the re-establishment of the Public General Greek School in Ioannina, which was later renamed as Zosimaia School. Nikolaos knew that education was not possible without books, and thus, he showed immediate interest in the correct operation of the School alongside that of its Library. The importance the Zosimas brothers attributed to education for the liberation of the nation and the establishment of the new state is also demonstrated by their funding of the publication of numerous significant books of their time, as well as their subsequent distribution to libraries of Greek communities in the diaspora.

Subsequently, the actions of Christos Soulis, the gymnasium director of the Zosimaia from 1932 to 1947, were crucial in the School’s evolution and the development and autonomy of its Library.

In 1938, the now-independent Zosimaia Library of Epirus was housed in the building of the Pedagogical Academy of Ioannina (today’s Zosimaia Pedagogical Academy). From then on, the Library commenced its “adventurous journey”, as described by its supervisor, historian-archaeologist Vaia Economidou, in her text in “About Libraries”, in which she narrates the course of Zosimaia Library until its final relocation at the intersection of M. Botsari & El. Venizelou streets.

During the Greco-Italian War (1940-1941), the Library was used as a military hospital. On Easter day of 1941 (April 20), it was bombed by the Italians, despite displaying the emblem of the Red Cross on its roof, resulting in severe damage to the building. Under Italian orders, the books of the Library were transferred to the residence of E. Printzou and the “Georgios Stavrou” Orphanage, though there is no testimony confirming whether the materials indeed reached and remained at the orphanage, so in a sense, they were considered “lost”. However, in 1943, the books were found to be stored in the basement of the Ioannina Elderly Care Centre, under adverse conditions. In an effort to save them, the German officer in charge of the Greek Art Protection Department ordered the Ioannina Propaganda Service to “fully restore the materials to the reading public of the Zosimaia Library.”

While the Library’s restoration and delivery were underway, on March 25, 1944, the “Final Solution” (the Nazi plan for the extermination of the Jewish people) was suddenly implemented against the Jews of Ioannina. Thanks to the efforts of the city's mayor, Dimitrios Vlachleidis, and the then Metropolitan of Ioannina, Spyridon Vlachos, the Zosimaia Library was installed in the Kahal Kadosh Yashan Old Synagogue, along with its books and staff. Among the books were valuable Synagogue items (Torah scrolls, historical prayer books, etc.), concealed with the aim of preserving them, which was eventually achieved.

In April 1944, German Lieutenant General Hartwig von Ludwiger handed over the “treasures” of the Zosimaia Library to the general administrator of Epirus, Protosyncellus Athanasios, a representative of Metropolitan Spyridon Vlachos. The Library of the “University of the Zosimades”, featuring more than 6,000 volumes, was initially housed in an Ottoman house that functioned as the French Consulate (at present-day Alsos). The news of the return of the precious books of the “Zosimaia Library of Epirus” to the Greek authorities shocked the press in Greece and abroad. As V. Economidou points out, the Library’s materials were restored from various “wanderings”, and it was not easy to determine the number and condition of the rescued items.

In 1949, the Library was included in Emergency Law 1362/1949 (Government Gazette 337 A/29.11.1949) “On the Establishment, Reconstruction, and Unified Organisation of State Libraries”, the first law on Public Libraries, falling under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Education. In 1952, according to Economidou, the books of the Zosimaia Library, which had been destroyed and “allegedly pillaged” during the war were found in a hall of the Pedagogical Academy, stacked in a way that made it impossible to see what was on the lower levels.

Starting in 1957, a new adventure began for the Library with regards to its premises. That year, the National Bank of Greece donated a two-story building to the Municipality of Ioannina, with the condition that its ground floor be used exclusively to house the Zosimaia Library. Despite disputes and conflicts, the “Zosimaia Library of Epirus” was relocated and housed in its new building on March 17, 1959, with the sculpted inscription “Zosimaia Library of Epirus” placed on its façade.

It remained there until 1987 when an additional floor was added to the building (designed by P. Melirrytos and D. Charissiades) that had previously housed the Municipal Baths until the 1960s, at the expense of benefactor Giannis Kamberis (1924-1996), and was delivered for the use of the Zosimaia Library. That same year, the “Zosimaia Library of Epirus” was renamed to “Zosimaia Public Central Library of Ioannina” by Government Decree (No. 2389/13.2.1987, Government Gazette 81B), under the jurisdiction of the Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs.

Collections. The present collection of the Zosimaia Public Central Historical Library of Ioannina comprises around 320,000 items (the retrospective cataloguing is still ongoing), over 40,000 of which are rare editions. Among the printed material, notable items include the publications funded by the Zosimas family, the Greek Library by Adamantios Korais, as well as the publications of Ioannite publishers Glykydon and Theodosiou in Venice. Additionally, the Library houses 350 titles of periodicals (both old and contemporary), maps, and manuscripts ranging from the 10th/11th to the 19th century.

The Library is also home to the Collection of Epirotic Bibliography, which includes periodical publications and monographs of local interest. Moreover, one can find vinyl music records, video cassettes, CD-ROMs, and DVDs. The Library operates as a lending library for its contemporary materials, provided someone has registered as a member (currently counting around 45,000 members). The rest of the materials are studied within the library’s reading room.

The majority of the printed and audiovisual materials of the Library are digitally catalogued through the openABEKT service of the National Documentation Centre (EKT).

In the context of its efforts towards the dissemination of knowledge, the Library has a mobile unit (bookmobile), which functions as an extension of the Central Library and serves school communities that do not have direct access to another regularly operating library. The digital catalogue of the Mobile Library is also available online through the openABEKT service.

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