With the much-loved Director of the Korais Library, Anna Haziri.
It was in 2004, as an Architecture student at De Montfort University in Leicester, that I began searching for the first threads of my undergraduate dissertation on Kampos, Chios. My first destination could be none other than the Korais Library — a place filled with knowledge, history, and memory. There, among books, maps, archives, and historical records, the foundations of my research, my vision, and my lifelong connection with Kampos began to take shape.
In 2017, the first volume of my work, The Treasures of Kampos, was published. This richly illustrated bilingual edition brought together historical research, photographs, and personal testimonies collected from residents and descendants of families associated with the historic estates and mansions of Kampos.
Today, twenty-one years later, the journey brings me back to the same doorway. As I prepare the second volume of this project, I return to the Korais Library — no longer as a student, but as an architect, researcher, and author, continuing a path that began all those years ago with the same passion and commitment to documenting, understanding, and preserving our cultural heritage.
Meeting Anna Haziri, the Library’s constant and inspiring presence throughout these years, was both moving and encouraging. Her dedication to the preservation and promotion of knowledge has been invaluable to researchers and scholars seeking to explore the rich history of Chios.
Some journeys never truly end; they simply continue in new forms, with new goals and new beginnings. For me, the Korais Library will always remain one of the most important landmarks on that journey.