Cavafy Museum — Attraction in Alexandria

Constantine Cavafyes is the great poet of Greece and one of the most famous modern poets. He is not only considered the greatest contemporary Greek poet, but he is also considered the greatest Greek poet known to Egypt. On April 29, 1863 AD, his father, Petros, who was a descendant from the Futiadis family, had migrated from Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman caliphate at that time to Alexandria, and some researchers believe that the poet’s family, Kafafis, was of Armenian descent, but Kafafis himself did not refer to this from near or from afar as He was always proud of being a Byzantine Greek. Cavafis’s father was a large and wealthy merchant. He had nine children, the youngest of whom was the poet’s Cavafy. Cavafis had two brothers who practiced drawing as a hobby and another of his brothers was passionate about music, which might explain the reasons for Cavafis’s artistic inclinations. Cavafis was seven years old when his father died on the tenth of August. In the year 1870 AD, at the age of fifty-five years, he was buried in the family’s burials in the Al-Shatby neighborhood. The son’s relationship with his father was not great, and the father did not care much about him. He was born to him after eight children. He was full of their pampering. Little fortune, Kafafis' father was also said to be the first to enter the cotton gin industry in Egypt, and he had two factories in the city of Kafr El-Zayat, which is currently affiliated to Gharbia Governorate, about 100 kilometers from Alexandria. He also had stores in Mina El-Basal area in Alexandria and the office of agricultural crops in the aristocratic Zizinia neighborhood in central The city of Alexandria and another office in the commercial district of Al-Mousky in Cairo, the capital of the country. He was also a friend of Khedive Ismail, the governor of Egypt from 1863 to 1879 AD, who was gifted by the Medal Majeedi on a suitable occasion. The inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869 CE, and Mohamed Said Pasha, the governor of Egypt from 1854 CE to 1863 CE, was also a friend of this Greek family. Kafafis’s mother was at the age of thirty-six when her husband died. Kafafis’s father died in 1870 AD. The mother had only one daughter, unlike the nine males. He was his sister, Helene, who did not live long and died at a young age. He came in her wake and then, according to his mother, was the last bunch. A mother affectionately for his mother as much as yes, Kafafis, who grew up shy and introverted himself and does not depend on himself for anything, so his mother was quick to fulfill his requests and mobilize servants for his service, and he learned to read and write at home, and he had a nanny and a private teacher residing in the family house on Sharif Street in Alexandria Cavafis, who is 16 years old, at the Commercial School in Alexandria. Our poet did not obtain a university degree and did not attend his education, but he later completed it himself through his own readings and readings. Cavafis was fluent in addition to his Greek language, several other languages ​​are English, French and Italian, as he was interested in his studies In Greek history, classics and European literature in general. When Cavafies reached the age of 9 years, he traveled to England and lived there for 7 years, and accordingly obtained British citizenship, and then returned to Alexandria and lived there for three years, then he left for Istanbul because of the British entering and occupying Egypt in 1882 AD so he traveled with his mother and family to Istanbul after attacking and bombing Alexandria With cannons, which aroused the anger of the people of Alexandria on the children of the Greek community residing there due to the participation of some Greek battleships in this bombing. For one year, he and his family lived in a house in the Raml Station area. Cavafice visited France after that for a short period of time between 1900 and 1901, and that was for the first time in his life, that is, when he was about the age of thirty-seven years old and his last...

Cavafy Museum is in a side street behind the Alexandria Opera House. Approaching from the El Corniche side, go down El Nabi Danial, turn left at XXXPanda and then immediately right into CP Cavafy Street. The house is close to the corner. The flight of marble stairs up to the Cavafy residence is quiet and a breeze blows through it. In contrast to the bustle of the big metropolis outside, the inside of the house is quiet, peaceful and reminiscent of Cavafy's life and work. The audio story which runs while you walk through the house, takes a brisk walk through Cavafy's biography, reciting his poems at different points in the story. My personal favourite is "waiting for the barbarians", which comes through fluidly on the audio recording. Each room attempts to retain the era of the 1920s and 1930s (Cavafy died in 1933 of throat cancer), but sadly much of his furniture is no longer here. There are so many photos and drawings of Cavafy at various ages, taken or drawn by many photographers and artists. Some say he was not broadly popular in his time, but he was popular enough to evoke great interest amongst portraitists. The rooms, while simple, have high ceilings and the breezes easily blow through the bedroom and what must have been the sitting room, though the other rooms are humid and difficult to remain in for long. The passage way has many artefacts including his books of poems. This personal museum should be seen by anyone interested in poetry, by anyone interested in gay life through the centuries, by anyone interested in the history and culture of the Mediterranean. The museum is not easy to find and therefore receives too few visitors and too little income, as tickets are only 25 Egyptian pounds. Please go there. You will have a...

A nice lovely small museum dedicated to the famous Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy, it’s his apartment where he 23 years of his life, and it’s where he died as well.

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.

And a little introduction about the poet: Constantine P. Cavafy was a Greek poet, journalist, and civil servant from Alexandria and a major figure of modern Greek literature, he is sometimes considered the most distinguished Greek poet of the 20th century.

His works and consciously individual style earned him a place among the most important contributors not only to Greek poetry, but to Western poetry as a whole.

The apartment has been renovated, but unfortunately the original furniture and belongings were transferred to Greece, and the place lost the old and authentic identity.

But still a nice place and has many valuable exhibits about the poet. It’s...