Cavafy Museum is an apartment museum in center

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, which formerly was the residence of the Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy, where he lived most of his life.

Location

The apartment is located near Alexandria Opera House (Fouad St.), in Attarin division, Alexandria. The street name was ''Lepsius'' during Cavafy's life; it was renamed ''Sharm El Sheikh'', then after the museum was opened, the narrow and short street became ''Cavafy Street'', which is quite close to two of the city's most important streets, Fouad St. and Safiya Zaghloul St.

Opening

In 1977, on the initiative of the then Consul General of Greece in Alexandria, Nikolaos Kapellaris, the first Cavafy Museum was created, housed in the premises of the Consulate General. In 1991, Kostis Moskof, who was then cultural attaché at the Greek Embassy in Cairo, had the initiative of the conversion of Cavafy's apartment into a museum. This initiative was made possible thanks to the sponsorship of Stratis Stratigakis, founder of the homonymous institutes based in Thessaloniki. The first nine-year lease of the apartment was signed on behalf of the Greek State by the then Consul General of Greece in Alexandria Panayotis D. Cangelaris. Most of the exhibits that existed in the premises of the Consulate General were transferred there. The apartment was inaugurated and opened to the public on 16 November 1992 by the then Deputy Minister for National Education and Religious Affairs,

Vyron Polydoras Vyron Polydoras (, ; born 27 January 1947 in Figaleia, Perivolia, Zacharo, Elis (regional unit), Elis, Greece) is a Greek politician who was the Minister for Public Order (Greece), Minister for Public Order and Justice of Greece from 2006 to 2007 ...

. The entrance was free until 2014. Now the tickets are 15 L.E. and 5 L.E. for students.

Background

There are other museums dedicated to Cavafy in other cities, including a newly opened museum in Plaka, Athens. The poet and his living place were mentioned many times in Lawrence Durrell's ''Alexandria Quartet'', and ''Where the Tigers Were: Travels through Literary Landscapes'' by Don Meredith.

Collections

The small-size museum displays letters, notes and poems written by Cavafy, Many portraits, drawings and photographs of Cavafy and close friends, a room dedicated to writer and close friend Stratis Tsirkas as it was his room when he lived with Cavafy for some time. The apartment has many published books and papers on the author, including many translations in Greek, Arabic, English and other 15 languages, and more than 3,000 scholarly articles.

Gallery

AlexCavafyMuseum.jpg, A room contains a posthumous portrait of Cavafy and portraits of friends. Alexandria - The Kavafy Museum, 1995.jpg, A room in Cavafy museum with a balcony Αlexandria - The Kavafy Museum 02, 1995.jpg, A room contains a bed and a closet, along with portraits of Cavafy. AlexCavafyHouse.jpg, Building of Cavafy's apartment-museum in Alexandria

References

{{coord, 31.197582, 29.90128, type:landmark_region:EG, display=title 1991 establishments in Egypt Biographical museums in Egypt Constantine P. Cavafy Museums established in 1991 Museums in Alexandria Poetry museums