Created by Praxitelis Tzanoulinos, the sculpture of Cavafy was unveiled in Athens on April 29th, the day that marks both the birth and the death of the great poet of Alexandria.

On the evening of April 28th, the Onassis Foundation presented the work to the Municipality of Athens. It now rests opposite Onassis Mandra, before the Onassis Library. The poet is portrayed life-sized: seated upon a chaise longue, his hat cradled gently in his hands, as though caught in a pause between memory and thought. Beside him, an empty place remains, an invitation for every passerby to sit near him for a moment, to linger, perhaps even to enter into a silent conversation with the poet himself.

Constantine P. Cavafy on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street: a new landmark for Athens

Praxitelis Tzanoulinos has portrayed Cavafy in life-size form, seated quietly, with ample space left beside him for another presence to join him. And perhaps this is what makes the sculpture feel so open, so deeply human. It does not stand apart from the people, it beckons them closer. It invites you to sit beside the poet, to “speak” with him for a while and perhaps carry away a fragment of his wisdom.

The sculpture of Cavafy, a gift from the Onassis Foundation to the Municipality of Athens, aspires to weave the poet naturally into the fabric of the city, not as a distant monument cast in reverence, but as a living presence within the everyday rhythm of Athens itself.

At the ceremony marking the sculpture’s unveiling, the evening bore the title: “Cavafy Returns to Athens”.  And indeed, the poet himself had once confessed, in 1903, how dearly he loved the city.

Now, at last, he seems to have found his place within it and at one of its most symbolic crossroads: a meeting point between the modern city, ancient Greece and Rome. Just steps away rise the Acropolis Museum and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, while across from him stands the timeless Temple of Olympian Zeus, keeping watch over the centuries.

Mr. Antonis S. Papadimitriou, President of the Onassis Foundation, remarked: “For the Onassis Foundation, everything is culture and culture, certainly, does not belong only within institutional walls. On the contrary, it lives within everyday life: in the streets, in the urban landscape, in the places where shared human experience unfolds. It is in this spirit that we offer to the renewed Dionysiou Areopagitou Street the sculptural work of Praxitelis Tzanoulinos depicting Constantine P. Cavafy, a quiet reminder that culture belongs to everyday life and that poetry, too, may accompany us along the ordinary paths we walk each day”.

Ms. Lina Mendoni, Greece’s Minister of Culture, stated: “Dionysiou Areopagitou Street is perhaps the most cosmopolitan avenue in Athens, the perfect setting for the sculpture of Constantine P. Cavafy. Here, classical Athens and Rome meet in quiet symbolism, while people from every corner of the world pass by each day. Praxitelis Tzanoulinos has rendered the poet’s figure with remarkable sensitivity. And what I find especially meaningful is that Cavafy is not presented as a conventional bust or heroic statue. Instead, he sits upon a bench, inviting every passerby to sit beside him, to read, to reflect and to enter into conversation with him. This is a singular new landmark, the third dedicated to Cavafy with the support of the Onassis Foundation, following the preservation of his archive and his home in Alexandria. It is a work that calls each of us closer to the poet, urging us to rediscover his voice through the enduring music of his poems”.

The sculptor Praxitelis Tzanoulinos noted that when an artist is called to create a portrait, they are asked to do something far more delicate than merely shaping a likeness. Through outer lines, they must somehow reveal an inner world.

And that, he suggested, is never an easy task, especially when the subject is a figure such as Constantine P. Cavafy, whose presence is already so layered, so inward, so elusive. “The sculptor, when making a portrait”, he said, “is like a good biographer”.

So, when you set out for Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, it is worth planning a pause, a quiet stop, to take in this new landmark of the city. It is a place likely to draw both locals and visitors alike, for Constantine P. Cavafy remains one of Greece’s most widely recognized literary figures abroad.

Let each person take their time there. Sit beside him. And, for a brief moment, imagine a conversation unfolding, as if poetry itself were still speaking softly in return.