The Onassis Foundation has restored Cavafy House in Alexandria, Egypt, in partnership with the Hellenic Foundation for Culture, turning it into a destination for visitors from across the world.
Visitors can see the small office where the legendary Alexandrian Greek poet C. P. Cavafy (1863-1933) wrote. His past in Alexandria now converses with the present and future of his work at the Cavafy Archive in Athens. They can stand on the balcony on which he dreamed of tomorrow and reminisced about yesterday and imagine the neighbourhood that he walked through in the centre of Alexandria, from his apartment on the former Rue Lepsius.
Timelessly contemporary, political, sensual, and profound, but always relevant, the internationally acclaimed poet C. P. Cavafy compiled and archived his work on a systematic basis, hence creating a unique literary and personal archive. The archive consists of more than 2,000 items, including manuscripts of poems, hand-compiled printed editions, prose literary works, articles, studies, and notes by the poet, along with his personal archive rich in correspondence, texts, and photographs. The Onassis Foundation acquired the archive at the end of 2012.
The Cavafy House opened its doors to the public with the aim of becoming a site to welcome visitors from all over the world. With architectural design by Eva Manidaki and Thanassis Demiris of Flux Office, the home where C. P. Cavafy lived most of his life and created so many of the works that made him a universal poet has been restored in order to recreate the residence as it was in the years the poet lived, to illuminate his relationship with the Egyptian city of Alexandria and the impact of his work to this day, but also to transport us back in time. Images from his lifetime come to life in his apartment in the centre of Alexandria.
Translation
The Onassis Foundation has long been committed to spreading international awareness of this legendary Alexandrian Greek poet and making his work accessible to all. This project began with the acquisition of the Cavafy Archive in 2012, its digitisation, translation into English and availability free to the public and researchers in 2019. In 2023 the Onassis Foundation transformed a neoclassical mansion in Plaka in the heart of Athens into the Cavafy Archive, which includes the vast physical archive and library of the poet, as well as his manuscript drafts of poems and a collection of personal items and artworks relating to the poet. In the process of acquiring and creating a space for the Cavafy Archive, the Onassis Foundation has created moments of engagement with the poet for today’s audiences. This included the “Archive of Desire” festival dedicated to Cavafy and contemporary interpretations of his work in New York in 2023 and many commissions, including ‘Waiting for Barbarians: The Concert’ with new performances by Laurie Anderson and Rufus Wainwright inspired by Cavafy.
The Onassis Foundation began the restoration of the Cavafy House in Alexandria in 2022, in partnership with the Hellenic Foundation for Culture. The journey of the Cavafy House in Alexandria and Archive in Athens has been undertaken with the invaluable aid of the Archive’s nine-member scientific committee and the advisory scientific committees for individual works.
Temples
In 1907 C. P. Cavafy moved to this apartment on what was then 10 Rue Lepsius (now 4 Rue C. P. Cavafy, formerly Rue Sharm El Shiekh). The building was probably erected during the first decade of the 20th century, between 1905 and 1910. It stands as an example of the eclectic architectural style that prevailed in Alexandria during the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. For his first year in the apartment, Cavafy lived with his older brother Paul. The following year, Paul retired and moved permanently to Hyères in France, and from then on, the poet lived here alone. After his death, the building functioned as a boarding house named Amir, among other uses.
The street where the Cavafy House is located was called Lepsius during Cavafy’s era but was later renamed to C. P. Cavafy to honor the Greek poet. The building was surrounded by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Greek Hospital, and the city’s brothels, which Cavafy christened the “Temple of the Soul,” the “Temple of the Body,” and the “Temple of the Flesh,” respectively.
On November 16, 1992, on the initiative of the historian and writer Kostis Moskoff, cultural attaché at the Greek Embassy in Cairo, the Cavafy Museum was inaugurated in this space. Each room of the Cavafy House bears a title and includes significant heirlooms, faithful copies of documents, works from the Alexandrian poet’s life and oeuvre, as well as contemporary works of art that were chosen with the aid of academic advisors for the restored House.
Cavafy House
(4, C. Cavafy Str.), 2nd Floor, Alexandria 21599, Egypt
Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10:00-17:00
Free admission
See also: Visiting the LAPADA ‘Fringe’
