Take a Seat with Cavafy: A New Sculpture Unveiled in Athens

“I emotion Athens truthful much,” Cavafy wrote successful 1903. Credit: Stelios Tzetzias/Onassis Foundation

On the day of the birth and decease of Constantine Cavafy, the Onassis Foundation installed a sculpture of the celebrated Alexandrian writer successful Athens.

By placing the writer connected Dionysiou Areopagitou, 1 of the city’s astir iconic streets, the nationalist is invited to “converse” with him for a moment, portion gazing retired astatine the vibrant municipality cloth of Athens.

“I emotion Athens truthful much,” Cavafy wrote successful 1903. It was a metropolis that ever fascinated him; a spot wherever helium sought recognition, wherever helium tested his writing, and wherever helium yearned to beryllium heard.

Integrating poesy into our regular journeys

Antonis S. Papadimitriou, President of the Onassis Foundation, stated:

“[The statue] serves arsenic a reminder of the civilization of mundane life, integrating poesy into our regular journeys.”

Lina Mendoni, Minister of Culture, noted:

“Dionysiou Areopagitou is possibly the astir cosmopolitan thoroughfare successful Athens, making it the perfect determination for this sculpture of Constantine Cavafy. It is simply a spot wherever classical Athens and Rome symbolically meet, and wherever radical from each implicit the satellite walk by each day.

“Praxiteles Tzanoulinos has captured the poet’s signifier with exceptional sensitivity. What I find peculiarly important is that Cavafy is not presented arsenic a accepted bust oregon a distant statue, but arsenic a antheral sitting connected a bench, inviting everyone to beryllium beside him, to read, to think, and to converse.”

The Cavafy sculpture

Praxiteles Tzanoulinos’s life-size bronze sculpture is treated with a highly durable patina suitable for outdoor placement, specifically designed to invitation visitors to beryllium alongside the poet.

The depiction of Cavafy draws inspiration from a photograph held successful the Cavafy Archive, showing him seated connected a chaise longue successful his flat astatine 10 Lepsius Street successful Alexandria.

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