The first books of the main collection were acquired in 1983. It is the Foundation’s open collection, which continues to grow and it includes books whose main topic is contemporary Greek history, from the 2nd World War until the end of the 20th century, a period during which K. Karamanlis was politically active. Special efforts have been made to expand the collection with topics concerning the European Union, from the conception of the European Idea until the contemporary developments and the attempts for wider political convergence. Finally, there are special sections with references to national topics of major importance, such as the Greek Civil War, the Cyprus Issue and the History of Macedonia.
The Main Collection contains newspapers too: “Kathimerini”, which was saved in microfilm since 1955 and in printed form since the fall of the Greek dictatorship in 1974, as well as specific periods of other newspapers like “To Vima”, “Eleftherotypia”, “Vradini” and “Eleftheria”.
Because of K. Karamanlis’ great interest in ancient literature, the administrators of the Foundation decided to enrich its library with “classic” works by ancient Greek and Latin writers in French and Modern Greek translations. Finally, the Main Collection also includes a number of K. Karamanlis’ biographies.
