The Municipal Center for History possesses today a rich archive that consists of the Volos Municipality archive (1883-1982), 46 private archives concerning directly or indirectly the city and its greater area, archives of old industrial enterprises, as well as important material of building plans, maps, aerial photos, transparencies and photos.

14th issue. Special: "Figures of sports "

A few days before the opening of the Olympic Games, a dedication article to figures of sports in magnesia could not just be the registration of the most important athletes with big records and distinctions, but a whole report to persons and events, that developed the sport life of the city and the wider area. And these are many and explain why Volos is included to the few areas of Greece where so many different sports have been developed with so much success.

To be able to avoid the simple and endless apposition in plethora of information for the athletic activities in our area from the end of nineteenth century to our days, our material was organized based on those Olympic sports which have not only rich history, but also dynamic present to panhellenic and international level. That is the only reason why from this dedication article there are no references to volleyball, cycling, martial arts, handball and other sports with remarkable presence to the recent and modern sport picture of Volos.

The process of sports in Volos and Magnesia is recorded to the magazine pages within the conditions these sports were born in our area, the foundation of sports clubs, the sports facilities, the big collective or individual distinctions in Panhellenic and international level, the people who supported the sports development, while also those whose achievements, although, they were out of the sport competition boundaries, had successful results. Also the dedication article pages are complete with texts for paralympic sports, the local administration's part in sport development and with a proper presentation of Magnesia athletes who one month before the big event of Olympic Games of Athens 2004, have many possibilities of taking part in them.

The article's composition was assigned to persons of sports who, either from their own experience (old athletes, coaches, agents, journalists) or as formal representatives sports associations, wrote all above. We thank all of them dearely, for their prompt response in our effort, as much as everybody who helped in the accumulation of a large amount of significant and rare documents of Volos sport history from the Municipal History Centre (DI.Κ.Ι).

From these dedication article extensive references the process of clubs or the catalogues with names and records of athletes who were distinguished with Panhellenic victories in various age categories are missing. And that because, in spite of being important, they have already been registered to the clubs records have been accepted in sport funs' conscience and their apposition in here would disorientate from our target for a brief and collective presentation of the issue which is Volos sports life.