The Embassy of Greece in London hosts the permanent exhibition “George Seferis: The Man, the Poet, the Diplomat”, an initiative that honors the life, work, and legacy of the Nobel Prize–winning Greek poet and diplomat in the very place where he once lived and worked.
The exhibition will be on permanent display at the Hellenic Residence, offering visitors a rare opportunity to engage with George Seferis not only as one of the most important figures of modern Greek letters, but also as a public servant and a human being whose life and work were deeply intertwined with Europe and the United Kingdom.
The exhibition was inaugurated on 24 October 2023, marking the 60th anniversary of the announcement of the Nobel Prize Award to George Seferis. Its opening represented a milestone in the cultural diplomacy of the Embassy, reaffirming the enduring relevance of Seferis’ intellectual and moral legacy and highlighting the historic role of the Hellenic Residence as a site of literary and diplomatic memory.
The first public guided tour took place on 13 December 2023. Since then, with the exception of a brief interruption due to renovation works at the Ambassador’s Residence between September and December 2024, the exhibition has operated on a regular basis twice per month, excluding the summer months of July and August. Over the course of its operation, the exhibition has welcomed more than 1,000 visitors, including prominent figures from politics, the arts, and letters from Greece and the United Kingdom, among them Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Stephen Fry.
In addition to its regular public opening dates, the exhibition hosts targeted visits for British universities, Greek studies departments, representatives of the Greek diaspora, officials, cultural institutes of European Union Member States based in London, and members of the diplomatic community. Through these visits, the exhibition has become a dynamic platform for cultural exchange, dialogue, and outreach, reinforcing the Embassy’s role as a hub of Greek culture in the United Kingdom.
The exhibition is structured around three defining qualities which George Seferis faithfully embodied throughout his life: those of the poet, the diplomat, and the human being. This approach allows visitors to appreciate the multiple dimensions of his personality and career, while also underscoring the unity between his literary work, his public service, and his ethical stance.
At the historic Seferis Study, where George Seferis lived and worked during his tenure as Ambassador of Greece to the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1962, the exhibition unfolds through a carefully curated selection of objects. These include photographs, personal belongings, drawings, official and private correspondence, press clippings, and Greek and international editions of his works. Together, these materials illuminate key moments of Seferis’ life and career and shed light on his deep and lasting relationship with the United Kingdom.
The idea for the exhibition originated from an initiative of the former President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou. Through this initiative, 32 objects and works related to George Seferis were donated to the Embassy from the Anna Londou and Nikos Paisios Collection. These items formed the initial core of the exhibition, which has since been further enriched with additional material, expanding both its scope and its narrative depth.
The realization of the exhibition was made possible thanks to the generous contributions of individuals and institutions that provided material, objects, and artworks from their collections and archives. These include the Service of Diplomatic and Historical Archives (YDIA) of the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Gennadius Library, the George Seferis Photographic Archive / National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation, the Louth Museum, and the artist Leda Kontogiannopoulou.
New dates and opening hours for the exhibition are published in advance on the Embassy’s website and social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn).
The permanent exhibition is open to the public twice a month throughout the year, with the exception of the summer months of July and August. Announcements regarding its opening days and hours are usually made at the end of each month for the following one. In February, the exhibition will be open to the general public on the 18th and 24th.
Photo Credits: John Kolikis
