The Potemkin Stairs in Odessa, from a c. 1895 postcard now in the US Library of Congress. Public domain.

The Museums of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture

The Hellenic Foundation for Culture has developed two Museums as part of its activities abroad – the Cavafy Museum in Alexandria and the Museum of the Filiki Etaireia in Odessa – both of which are smaller versions of the history of the Greek community in these two cities.

From antiquity, the Greeks explored places beyond Greece, especially by sea, as a result of which they have colonized many trade centers and ports of the then-known world.

The two Museums are a continuation of the activities of the HFC in Alexandria and Odessa, pointing out the contribution of the Greeks to the cultural life and history of those two cities, as well as the constant influence of the Greek community in the areas of culture and history.

Museum of the Filiki Etaireia

The founders of the Filiki Etaireia were Greek merchants, who lived and worked in Odessa, a city with a long history associated with the Greek presence.

In one of the houses of the Hellenic Foundation of Culture, which was the house of Gregorios Ioannis Maraslis where the members of Filiki Etaireia convened, the Museum of the Filiki Etaireia has been operating, since 1994. The HFC was responsible of its re-creation, organization and thematic structure with the cooperation of the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece.

Cavafy Museum

C.P. Cavafy came from a family of merchants, living in Alexandria most of his life. Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great. The Greek community of Alexandria was particularly active in the fields of literature and publishing during the period where C. P. Cavafy lived.

The HFC operates the Cavafy Museum as part of its activities abroad. The Museum opened in 1992 due to the initiative of the historian and author Kostis Moskof (1939 – 1998), a charismatic man of letters and science. The Museum is known in Egypt as Cavafy’s House – and is found in the apartment where K.P. Cavafy lived for 35 years. In the Museum there are documents and exhibits which present the life and work of the famous Greek poet.