Cavafy is the poet of the city; nature barely interests or inspires him. It is the urban space which defines the topography and iconography of his work.A first approach to the theme of Urban Space in the work of C. P. Cavafy was presented at the First International Symposium on Cavafy in October 1991 in Alexandria. In the  following years it was also presented by the author in academic lectures and seminars in Greece and abroad.

The present bilingual and updated version of the book comes more than thirty years since its initial presentation and more than ten years since its first edition

The photographs selected to accompany the English text follow the themes of the first edition, featuring images of Alexandria from 1991 to 2009, photographs taken by the author, as an attempt to initiate a conversation between the poetic space and the image of Alexandria over the past twenty years. 

With a few exceptions of named buildings, the photographs depict Greek properties and businesses, anonymous neighborhoods and streets of the Ottoman quarter, gathering places, architectural details —such as “windows” and “staircases”— while views of the Alexandria Corniche, the abandoned coastline and stunning vistas towards Qaitbay highlight the city’s perpetual dialogue with the sea. The aim was not nostalgia for what has been lost, but rather the emergence of the Polis, through the images-symbols of an urban space being tested…

Vassilis Colonas is an architectural historian, professor emeritus of the department of Architecture at the University of Thessaly.