The Patrick & Joan Leigh Fermor House Has Reopened its Doors to the Public
Jul 26, 2019
Source: Benaki Museum
Only a few kilometers from the village of Kardamyli, there is an estate full of olive trees, cypresses, pistachio trees and wildflowers with three traditional stone buildings.
This is the Patrick & Joan Leigh Fermor House, which has once again opened its doors to the public after two years of repair and restoration work.
Guided tours and visits have been organized upon request since beginning of July at the Patrick & Joan Leigh Fermor House, and it also functions as a place of hospitality for notable practitioners from the fields of art and literature, as well as an educational center in which Greek and international educational institutions collaborate.
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) supported, as lead donor on the project, a study on the use, operation, and sustainability of the house, then the necessary repair and renovation work. The main objective in this process was to preserve the original character of the buildings and the surrounding space.
The author Patrick and the photographer Joan Leigh Fermor had developed a special relationship with Greece, which led them to build their permanent residence in Kardamyli, Mani, where they lived until the end of their lives. The house was designed by architect Nikos Hatzimichalis, in close collaboration with them, and was completed in the mid-1960s. In 1996, they bequeathed the Leigh Fermor House, which is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful properties in Greece, to the Benaki Musem, expressing the desire for the house to be used for the purposes of the Museum and to remain open to the public.
For more information regarding your visit, click here.