When Alexander the Great crossed the area of Alexandria in 332 B.C., he kneeled on the vast beach and carved on the sand the amphitheatrical shape of the future town, which would later become the capital of Egypt and would be named after him.

Great merchants

After Alexander the Great and the establishment of the Ptolemaic state, immigrants from all around Greece and Asia Minor started arriving in Egypt and mainly in Alexandria. The next big immigration wave of the Greeks in Egypt started in the beginnings of the 19th century. Greek merchants, including the Tositsa brothers and Georgios Averof, played a leading role in the global cotton market and the creation of big production and elaboration factory of agricultural and chemical products. Not all Greeks though, were wealthy businessmen, there were also many small shopkeepers and simple workers among them, who migrated in Egypt in order to work in the Greek companies.

The Greeks of Alexandria developed a special character, due to the multicultural environment they grew up in. The colours, the tastes and the sounds of the East marked their souls and endowed them with artistic predisposition and commercial skills. They are cosmopolitans, they speak many languages and they're not afraid of people and cultures being mixed up with each other. At the same time, they feel a hundred per cent Greeks and spend a lot of their personal time and their money in order to keep their Greek character alive.

Most of the Greek buildings are at the so-called "Greek block" of Alexandria, which includes the Greek Consulate, the Pratsikio-Tositsio Elementary School, the Averofio High School, the Greek Union and the Greek cemetery. All the aforementioned buildings are exceptional neoclassical architectural examples and contain jewels and artistic treasures of a great national value. The Greek cemetery is also extremely interesting and it is an outdoor museum of high-level sculpture.

The community's decline

After Nasser's rise to power, during the 1950's, Egypt nationalized the foreign enterprises, including the Greek ones, which had as a result the beginning of the Greek community's decline. Those of the wealthy Greeks who had already transferred their funds abroad abandoned Egypt and returned to Greece. And so did the Greeks who had relatives or family property leftovers in Greece.

The Nasser regime didn't allow Egyptians or Greeks who had the Egyptian citizenship to leave the country. Small businessmen and employees, who were trapped in Egypt, followed some unorthodox methods to travel, with the risk of having troubles with the authorities. After some more years of uncertainty, most of them sold their companies at ridiculous prices, mostly to their Egyptian employees, and returned to Greece.

The Greeks, who lost their fortune or were forced to sell it for a pittance, were too sad because they felt like they were part of Egypt's body. They respected the need of Egypt to develop its own production infrastructure, but they didn't understand the reason why they were excluded from this process, especially those who had obtained the Egyptian citizenship.

Nevertheless, even if all Greeks had abandoned Alexandria, the Greek aura would have been still hovering in the air of the city. As the Greek academician, Manolis Roukounas mentions in his book "Greek routes in Egypt": Alexandria will always be tied on the chariot of Greek memory, due to the ideas that kept flourishing there for ages".

The fact that younger Greeks who live in Alexandria until today, start being active again as merchants and business executives, having left behind the resentment of the past, is a really hopeful sign. Their purpose is not to regenerate their parents' economic empire, but to go ahead and live decently in the country they were born in, the country they love.

Unmaintained jewels

The Greek community of Alexandria needs urgent help from Greece, not only in financial but also in technical level. For example, some scarce books, manuscripts and objects are being kept in the Greek schools, being worn out by time and high temperature. Scholarships could be offered to some Greek students of technological educational institutes (TEI), specialising in art restoration, so that they can save the aforementioned treasures.

Next to the schools there is the Kaniskerio Nursing Home, which has autonomous spaces, where the Greek preservers could be accommodated with a minimal cost. The same technicians could be also occupied in the city's Greek cemetery, where marble sculptures of great artistic value are being ruined by the burning sun and the desert's sand.

Even today, that Greece is on the verge of bankruptcy, there are still cheap ways to save the Greek heritage, which is scattered in the Mediterranean countries. All it takes is vision, some brains, voluntary mood and inspired providers, so that the Greek spirit can keep making the world more beautiful.

The Greeks of Alexandria recently face some problems, because of the social turbulences caused by the “Arab spring". They pray for better days to come in Egypt and wish for its peaceable people to have progress and prosperity, worthy of their historical heritage.
TEXT-PHOTOS: GEORGE ZAFEIROPOULOS
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com

MORE PHOTOS

The Greek cemetery looks like an outdoor museum of high-level sculpture.

The football team of the Greek community in 1934 (Photo: Greek community’s registry).

John Louras, an inmate of Kaniskerio Nursing Home.

Patriarch Theodore II greets some pilgrims in the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.

The 3rd grade of Averofio Greek High School.

Konstantinos Cavafy’s house in Alexandria.

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