On my first trip to Lisbon, I sat beside the life-sized bronze statue of Fernando Pessoa on Rua Garrett. Truth be told, he did not say much to me – perhaps because I addressed him by his real name and not one of the 72 fictional personae he had created.

Ιt is not unusual for cities to honor their great national writers in this fashion, giving them a physical presence in the streets they continue to haunt. Madrid has done the same for Federico García Lorca, London for Oscar Wilde, Prague for Franz Kafka, and Warsaw for Frédéric Chopin.

As of April 29, Athens has joined them.

On the anniversary of both the birth and death of Constantine P. Cavafy, a new statue of the poet was unveiled on the pedestrian walkway of Dionysiou Areopagitou, in front of the Onassis Library and Onassis Mandra. The initiative, realized by the Onassis Foundation in collaboration with the Municipality of Athens, brings Cavafy into the daily rhythm of the Greek capital. The sculpture, created by Tinian artist Praxitelis Tzanoulinos, draws on a well-known photograph from around 1930, depicting the poet seated on a chaise longue in his apartment on Lepsius Street, in Alexandria.

From here on, those wishing to “meet” him can do so along the pedestrian stretch of Dionysiou Areopagitou, in front of the Onassis Library and Onassis Mandra. “I love Athens so very much,” he wrote in 1903, an early expression of the invisible bond that tied him to the city. The ceremony brought together figures from politics, culture, academia and the arts.

The unveiling also forms part of a wider effort by the Onassis Foundation to preserve and reactivate the poet’s legacy. Since acquiring Cavafy’s archive in 2012, the Foundation has made it widely accessible, opening it up to scholars and the public alike. In November 2023, the archive found a permanent home on Frynichou Street, housing the poet’s books, furniture and personal belongings, while restoration work has also been carried out on his residence in Alexandria.

The new landmark complements these initiatives in a meaningful way, bringing Constantine P. Cavafy into the city’s everyday life – present, accessible, almost companionable. Though his gaze is fixed ahead, lending him an air of distance (“I have gazed upon beauty so intensely that my vision is filled with it”), one senses he would have been approachable and gracious.

Credit is due to sculptor Praxitelis Tzanoulinos, whose work – marked by restraint and sensitivity – has long animated public spaces with a quiet sense of presence. The same recognition extends to Eleftheria Deko, whose lighting design enhances the sculpture’s dialogue with its surroundings.

Originally published in Greek at kathimerini.gr.