Digital Repository of the Library of the Hellenic Parliament

History and Founding

The Library of the Hellenic Parliament was founded following the first elected Parliament under the Hellenic Constitution of 1844, to support parliamentary work. From 1846, scholar and jurist Georgios Tertsetis served as its director, and during the tenure of Timoleon Philemon (1875–1887) the library's volumes grew from 5,000 to over 100,000. The digital repository represents the online access layer of the library's extensive holdings, making parliamentary and historical collections available to a broad public.

Collections and Holdings

The digital repository provides access to historical parliamentary archives, modern parliamentary archives, and the library's wide-ranging digitised collections, encompassing newspapers and journals (with Greek and foreign titles going back to 1812), community records, bills, personal records, handwritten codes, balance sheets, and maps. The library holds one of the largest collections of Greek and foreign newspapers and journals since the 18th century. Notable newspaper holdings have been microfilmed since the 1980s and are now digitised. The digital library also includes the BBC Greek Service Archive, made available under a non-exclusive licence from OSDEL. The historic archives include public and state documents from the 19th and 20th centuries and personal archives of historical personalities.

Notable Materials

Among the most historically significant materials are the richest archival collection on the Greek Revolution and the Ioannis Kapodistrias government period (published in a 25-volume series), oath protocols of kings and presidents of the Hellenic Republic, and The New Political Administration (a constitutional draft proposed by Rigas Velestinlis in 1797). The oldest book in the catalogue dates to 1435, and the library holds early 19th-century periodicals such as The Naval Chronicle and Journal du Palais.

Access and Usage

The digital repository is freely accessible at digitallibrary.parliament.gr. Content may be browsed and read without registration, with additional communication services available to registered users. The repository is open to the public with content governed by national intellectual property law and a specific licence agreement for newspaper and periodical content.