Onassis
InitiativesCavafy Archive
Stelios Tzetzias

The new Cavafy Archive building on Frynichou Street in Plaka

A space open to all, public and scholars alike.

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The Cavafy Archive, located on Frynichou Street in Plaka, houses the poet’s literary and personal archive, 966 books from his library, and a collection of documents and artworks referencing Cavafy.

The Onassis Foundation acquired the Cavafy archive at the end of 2012, safeguarding its preservation in Greece and preventing its potential fragmentation. The aim of the Onassis Foundation is to ensure openness and free access to the archive by the public and researchers, as well as to disseminate the universal nature of Cavafy’s poetry. At the same time, the archive has enriched the collections of the Onassis Library with rare publications and a cultural heritage of seven centuries.

Following the publication of the Cavafy Archive’s digital collection in March 2019, which rendered the archive open and accessible to all, the Onassis Foundation invested in creating the Cavafy Archive, a space in Athens dedicated to the poet’s archive, which was inaugurated in November 2023. The aim was to create a space for the poet's writings and books, his personal items and furniture, surrounded by artworks that enable us to gain an in-depth understanding of his growing impact on artists from his era until today. The Cavafy Archive is a space open to all: residents, researchers, and visitors from around the world. Discover the Cavafy Archive’s digital collection of more than 2,000 archival items at cavafy.onassis.org.

Photo: Stelios Tzetzias

The new space

The newly designed Cavafy Archive introduces three accessible rooms for visitors: one exhibiting C. P. Cavafy's personal items, another dedicated to Cavafy's experiences in Athens, and the Reading Room. Following standard archival practices, the archive and library are housed within a specially arranged space.

The rooms displaying the poet's personal belongings and furniture reflect the ambiance of his private space in Alexandria. Amid family photographs, vases, frames, a copy of his glasses, his desk, and other tiny and large objects, six portraits of the poet by contemporary artists stand out. Unique among the exhibited items are the poet's untouched possessions: his death mask, as well as the first edition of Cavafy's poems, edited by Rica Singopoulo and illustrated by Takis Kalmouchos, which was printed in 1935 following the poet's death.

In 'The Athens of Cavafy,' the pages from Cavafy's diaries during his trips to Athens stand out, along with a plethora of letters and notes expressing admiration and emotion for the work of the Alexandrian poet by Grigorios Xenopoulos, Ion Dragoumis, Angelos Sikelianos, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Tellos Agras, Napoleon Lapathiotis, and the lawyer and economist Georgios Charitakis, who conveyed Kostis Palamas' praise for Cavafy's work, among others. The hall also includes editions from distinguished Athenian poets and writers with handwritten dedications to Cavafy. Angelos Sikelianos dedicated his 'Τελευταίος Ορφικός Διθύραμβος / The Last Orphic Dithyramb' (1932), Kostas Karyotakis his 'Νηπενθή / Without Sorrow' (1921), Miltiadis Malakasis his 'Αντίφωνα / Antiphonal [Voices]' (1931), Giorgos Theotokas his 'Ώρες αργίας / Leisure Hours' (1931), and Galateia Kazantzakis her '11 π.μ. – 1 μ.μ. κι’ άλλα διηγήματα / 11 am – 1 pm and Other Stories' (1929).

Photo: Stelios Tzetzias

The Reading Room in the building on Frynichou Street serves as a meeting space for the public with Cavafy's physical archive. Within this area, two sections of artworks are hosted. In the 'Portraits of Cavafy' section, the Alexandrian poet is presented through the eyes of eminent Greek and international artists in six unique portraits by Nikos Engonopoulos, David Levine, Giorgos Ioannou, Sotiris Sorogas, Aria Komianou, and Yannis Kyriakidis. On the other hand, the section "Egyptiotes painters" invites us to imagine everyday life in Alexandria in the era of C. P. Cavafy through ten artworks created by contemporary with the poet Egyptiotes, i.e., Egyptian Greek painters, which capture fragments of life in the city where he was born and lived himself.

The building at 16 Frynichou Street was constructed in 1910. It was classified as a preserved building by the Ministry of Culture in 1978 and as a monument of architectural heritage requiring special protection, showcasing exceptional and morphological interest with strong elements of eclecticism from the 1920–1930 period. Furthermore, the decoration on its façade is impressive, successfully utilizing colonnades in its openings. The building is excellently preserved and harmonizes with its surroundings, as Frynichou Street is one of the access roads to Plaka, conserving several remarkable buildings from the same period. In 1989, a two-story underground extension was added to the existing preserved building. According to legislation, the removal, alteration, or destruction of individual decorative and architectural elements and the building itself is prohibited. Despite the rich external eclectic-neo-baroque decoration, its interior lacks a corresponding architectural style.

Eva Manidaki and Thanassis Demiris of Flux-office undertook the design and curation of the Cavafy Archive’s venue. "We were thrilled to be invited to such a significant challenge, as we aimed to spotlight such an eminent poet. Our intention wasn’t to merely create a representation; instead, our focus shifted towards devising a new narrative that remains open to visitors through the exhibits and their respective adjacencies. The core concept behind the design is to overlay the existing building with a fragmentary second complexion, where each object becomes a part of this fresh narrative. The three spaces serve as a vessel for preserving the memory of the poet’s personal life and his relationship with elements such as light, shade, textures, colors, and more. The Cavafy Archive also provides access to a garden currently under construction. This garden will feature thematic planting arrangements inspired by Alexandria or the flowers described in his poems."

Explore all of Cavafy's personal belongings

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“I love Athens so much,” Cavafy wrote in a letter dated 1903. Athens undoubtedly fascinated him. He viewed the Greek capital as the gateway to his poetic recognition and desperately sought the critical approbation of his Athenian readers.

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Contact information

Cavafy Archive
Frynichou 16B, Plaka, 10558

Working hours: Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday, 11:00-18:00
Free entrance
Info: +30 210 3713 000

All visits to the Cavafy Archive for research purposes are scheduled upon submitting a request on this contact form.
The space is not yet accessible for people with disabilities.

Photo: Stelios Tzetzias

PROJECT/EXHIBITION ACADEMIC ADVISORS

Peter Jeffreys
Associate Professor of English at Suffolk University, Boston, USA

Amalia Pappa
Deputy Director General, General State Archives (G.S.A.), Greece

Gonda Van Steen
Professor, Koraes Chair in the Centre for Hellenic Studies and Department of Classics at King’s College London, UK

CAVAFY ARCHIVE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE

Stathis Gourgouris
Professor of Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University, New York, USA

Maria Boletsi
Endowed Professor of Modern Greek Studies at the University of Amsterdam (Marilena Laskaridis Chair) and Associate Professor in Comparative Literature at Leiden University, The Netherlands

Martha Vassiliadi
Assistant Professor of Philology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Bart Soethaert
Principal Investigator at the Cluster of Excellence “Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective” (EXC 2020) and post-doctoral researcher at Frei Universität Berlin, Germany

Amalia Pappa
Deputy Director General of the General State Archives (G.S.A.), Greece

Peter Jeffreys
Associate Professor of English at Suffolk University, Boston, USA

Christina Dounia
Professor Emerita of Modern Greek Literature at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Takis Kayalis
Professor of Modern Greek Literature at the Hellenic Open University, Greece

Vicente Fernández González
Associate Professor of Translation and Interpreting (Modern Greek) at the University of Malaga, Spain

EXHIBITION CREDITS

Design & Curation
Flux-office: Eva Manidaki, Thanassis Demiris, Efthymios Dougkas

Flux-office Collaborators: Ismini Linthorst, Eleni Arapostathi

Lighting Design
Eleftheria Deko

Construction of Exhibition Units
Sirigos Deluxe Furniture

Construction of Special Lighting
Athanasios Kalkanis

Conservation of Artworks
Athens Art Conservation: Archondia Adamopoulou, Evgenia Stamatopoulou

Hanging of Artworks
Christos Stefanidis
Eirini Panagioti

Technical Advisor
Pantelis Stefanis

Project Development Manager
Marianna Christofi

Project Coordination
Vlassis Adraktas Rentis
Eleanna Semitelou

Building Restoration Contractor
K. I. Papadopoulos Ltd.

ONASSIS CULTURE

Director of Culture
Afroditi Panagiotakou

Deputy Director of Culture
Dimitris Theodoropoulos

ONASSIS EDUCATION

Executive Director & Director of Education
Efi Tsiotsiou

Project Development Manager
Marianna Christofi

Cavafy Archive Researcher
Angeliki Mousiou

Educational Projects Coordinator
Eleanna Semitelou

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