“At the beginning of 2009, the inauguration of the Public Library of Rethymnon will take place after 18 years of struggle, underlined to In-On magazine the chief librarian of the Public Library in Rethymnon and the president of the Historic and Folklore Society of Rethymnon, Mr. Michalis Troulis. Mr. Troulis has studied History and Archaeology at the University of Athens and the Library of Rethymnon was the goal of his life. In 1998 he started by buying a building site at the west part of Rethymnon and then he proceeded to the completion of an architectural study, which has been submitted to Rethymnon Town Planning Office. The whole process is supported by the Ministry of Education and the budget has been defined to four millions. However, Mr. Troulis’ work is not limited only to the building construction of the Public Library. As a president, he has realized a journal publication of the Historic and Folklore Society of Rethymnon with 19 volumes containing Cretan literature. It is a rare edition with studies regarding History, Archaeology, Philosophy, Linguistics and Art. The published studies keep the scientific way of presenting facts with the necessary annotation and bibliographical documentation. Within the 19 volumes, the fights of the Cretan people for freedom are unfolded and all the names of the heroes, who played an important role in the liberation of the island, are mentioned. The editorial committee was consisted of Spyros Manieros, Aspasia Papadaki, Michalis Papadakis ( Dandolos), Giannis Papomytoglou, Michalis Troulis and Alexis Tsourdalakis. Indicatively, the 14th volume refers to the Cretan Liberation Movements (1898-1998), starting from the revolution of 1897 in the east regions of Crete, recording historical moments from the city of Rethymnon in 1897. The absolute poverty of the Christian population at Rethymnon from 1986 until 1898, is also, registered, along with Lorentzos Mavilis, the patriots from Corfu island and Crete, the establishment of Cretan Muslims at the end of the 19th century to Rhodes island as well as public Christian instruction in Crete during the 19th and the beginning of the 29th century.
At the same time, Mr. Michalis Troulis proceeded to writing a book entitled ‘’Emanuel Vyvilakis; his life, his activities and his work’’, which is available since 2005 at Rethymnon, Crete.
Mr. Michalis Troulis was born in 1943 at Agia Rethymnon in Crete. In 1960 he attended the Divinity School of Chalki from September to February (a whole semester). Then the Turks shut it down. He continued in the Divinity School of Thessaloniki and later in Athens when during the third year he left university. After that he got into the School of Philosophy and took his degree in History and Archaeology. During junta, he was a member of PAK and in 1970 he could not be appointed as a teacher because he had not been given the ‘’conformity’’ certificate by the government. The main accusation was that he was acquainted with construction workers and longshoremen. In 1972, PAK sent him to Crete, where he started teaching as a Greek Literature teacher. However, he was never able to become an archaeologist due to his union-trade action. In 1986 he had postgraduate studies for a year and when he returned he was seconded on the Department of Philosophical and Economical Studies where he was responsible for practical applications. He remained until 1993. Later, under his proposal the Regional Department of the Public Record Office was created by the name ‘’ Public Records of Rethymnon Prefecture, where he worked until 1988. He was asked to return to the post of a school teacher but he did not wish to, so he resigned. His goals have changed and his priority now is writing books and the creation of the Public Library of Rethymnon in Crete. These goals are accomplished.
A lifetime’s vision
