The National Library of Greece was founded in 1829 by Ioannis Kapodistrias, first Governor of the independent Greek State. In 1842 it was merged with the library of the University of Athens and in 1866 the two libraries became officially the National Library of Greece. Its role as the custodian of the Greek literary heritage is to trace, organise, describe and preserve in perpetuity written works produced in Greece or pertaining to Greece. It is a National Depository Centre. Today it has a collection of more than 2,000,000 items. Its department of valuable items includes a very large collection of manuscripts and a sizable collection of early printed books.