The City of Culture - Ioannina - and the Zosimaia Library

Ioannina, especially from the middle of the 17th until the middle of the 18th century, was the cultural capital of the enslaved Greeks and home to the "Renaissance of Ioannina".

Epiphanios, who graduated from the school of Ioannina established by the rulers of the Angelos’ dynasty, collaborated with his brother George, head of the Greek community in Venice), to establish a public school known as the “Epiphanios School”  (founded in 1648).

On November 5th, 1676, in Venice, Manos Gionmas (or Emmanouel Gkioumas) used a notarised donation to define bequest during his lifetime “for founding and maintaining a religious school in Ioannina” the Gionmas school. The local scholar Bessarion Makris (c. 1635-1699) served as the first director. He was later replaced by Methodius Anthracites (1715-1723). The school was renamed Mpalanaia in honour of the Mpalanos family, who assumed responsibility for its operations [Mpalanos Vassilopoulos (1723-1760), Kosmas Mpalanos (1760-1799) and his brothers Konstantinos (1799-1818) and Anastasios (1818-1820)].

Just before the end of Venetian rule, in 1742, Simos Maroutsis altered the will of his brother, Lambros, regarding funding for the Gkiouma / Mpalanaia School and founded a new school in Ioannina. The new establishment became known as the Maroutsaia or Maroutseios School. Eugenios Voulgaris (1742-1746 & 1750-1753) served as its director.

A turning point for the operation of the schools of Ioannina was the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797. The suspension of banking operations prevented the local Ioannites from being able to support the schools in their homeland financially.

Greek merchants in Russia rose to the challenge. The members of the affluent Epirote community of Nizhyn were generous supporters of the National Idea and willingly assisted efforts to liberate their “Beloved Greece”. Zois Kaplanis (1736-1806), founder of the Kaplaneios or Patriarchal School in 1805 with Athanasios Psalidas as Headmaster,

and the Zosimas Brothers: Anastasios (1754-1819), Nikolaos (1758-1842), Theodosios (1760-1791), Ioannis (1752-1771), Michael (1766-1809) and Zois (1764-1827)

They were born between 1752 and 1766 in Ioannina with origin from Grammeno, a small village on the outskirts of Ioannina. Their father was Hadjii-Panagiotis Zosimas, a wealthy merchant, and Margarita Tsoukalas, an aristocrat from Ioannina. There were nine siblings: six boys [Ioannis, Anastasios, Nikolaos, Theodosios, Zois and Michael] and three girls [Alexandra, Zoitsa and Angeliki].

The boys studied at the Mpalanaia School of Ioannina.

At a young age, they they follow the family trading tradition. Theodosios, Nikolaos and Michael settled in Livorno, while Zois, Ioannis and Anastasios took up residence in Nizhyn.

Ioannis Zosimas (1752-1771) died at a young age (19 years old) in Nizhyn. After the death of Theodosios (1760-1791) in Livorno, his brothers Anastasios (1754-1819), Nikolaos(1758-1842) and Zois (1764-1827) used Nizhyn as the basis of their operations. They managed to amass a great fortune through their pioneering business ventures.

They took full advantage of the favourable conditions inNizhyn during the reign of the Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great of the Romanov dynasty.

The brothers, inspired by their love for their motherland and the Greek nation, decided to dedicate their wealth to the cause of national liberation.

After his death, Theodosios wished to support the schools of Ioannina and asked his brothers to do so in his will. The surviving Zosimas brothers provided enormous amounts of money for establishing and operating schools and public libraries. In 1799 they funded the publication of numerous books. They set aside a large amount for the "Hellenic Library" publication by Adamantios Korais. Michael has become close to Korais since the latter delivered a speech at the Parisian Society of Observers of Man in 1803 and the subsequent French edition of his “Report on the Present State of Civilization in Greece”. Michael Zosimas served many years as commissioner of the Greek school in Livorno and consul of the Septinsular Republic. He was also a member of a secret revolutionary society permeated by the spirit of the early Carbonari, the informal network of secret revolutionary societies that nourished the European liberal and revolutionary movement during the time of the Holy Alliance.

Korais was the publisher of the "Hellenic Library", a collection of ancient authors with prefaces presenting his theories on Greek education and language. He emphasised the need to introduce European ideas in Greek schools and use a scholarly vernacular to facilitate the educational process. In Ioannina, the Zosimas brothers contributed enormous amounts of money to construct a poorhouse, an orphanage, and a school.

With their benefactions during the last and most significant phase of the Greek Enlightenment (late 18th and early 19th century), inspired by their deep devotion to their homeland and nation, the Zosimas brothers believed that “when the light of knowledge will shine upon the people, slavery would cease to exist…” since "Science and tyranny could never coexist;". Among the aspirations of the time concerning the education of the people were the establishment of new schools, the support of pre-existing institutions, and the publication of classical books, schoolbooks and popular editions. The “patriotic and noble” Zosimas brothers turned these fervent national demands into a life goal like “enlightened benefactors” and dedicated their considerable fortune to this purpose.

Their deep interest in education was evident in the way they vehemently supported the policies of Governor Kapodistrias, who tried to organise the educational system of the new Greek state. Nikolaos Zosimas provided books and funding to help schools in Greece.

The Greek War of Independence “raised the prospect of liberation for Epirus”, but these hopes were in vain. The founders of the Greek Public School did not live to see the liberation of their homeland. Zois died in 1828, and Nikolaos, the last of the Zosimas brothers, died in Nizhyn on February 16, 1842.

The history of the School, as well as that of the Library, will be long, eventful, and turbulent. From the establishment of the School and on, the fate of the Library is tied to that of the School until 1938. This is when the Zosimaia Library in Epirus, currently called Zosimaia Public Central Historical Library of Ioannina, is legally established as an independent entity.