It was this home that Patrick and his wife Joan decided to donate to the Benaki Museum in order to contribute to the Museum’s mission. Their expressed wish was that the house would always remain open to the public and play host to researchers from around the world.

Thanks to the generous support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, repair works at the Leigh Fermor House have been brought to fruition and necessary equipment has been installed. It now operates as a hospitality venue for notable figures from the worlds of academia and art as well as a center for educational activities in collaboration with institutions in Greece and internationally.

A history of the donation

The connection between Patrick Leigh Fermor and the Benaki Museum goes back to the 1940s, when he became a friend of the Museum’s founder, Antonis Benakis, who offered Leigh Fermor a space in the Museum where he could write, and of his daughter, Irini Kalliga. Leigh Fermor was later connected with the Museum’s long-standing director, Angelos Delivorrias.

On 2 August 1996 Patrick and Joan Leigh Fermor signed the deed that would transfer the ownership of the house to the Benaki Museum after their death. This particular choice had been suggested by Tzannis Tzannetakis, their dear friend and translator of Leigh Fermor’s book Mani.

The Museum acquired full ownership of the property in autumn 2011 after Patrick Leigh Fermor’s death on 10 June 2011. The executors of his will granted the Museum the largest part of the House’s library and furnishings as well as some of the works of art that decorated it.

The property

The property is located in the Kalamitsi area of Kardamyli in Messenia and extends over approximately two acres. The three stone buildings within it were designed by the architect Nikos Hatzimichalis in close collaboration with the Leigh Fermors and were completed in the mid-’60s. By general consensus, this is one of the most beautiful properties in Greece. With a set of narrow stone steps leading down to a small pebble beach hidden from sight, the house is in direct contact with the sea, and the low, discreet, stone buildings and the beautiful Mediterranean garden descending to the water’s edge make this an ideal place for concentration, contemplation and creativity. The property includes the main house, the studio which was Leigh Fermor’s personal working space, the outhouse and another auxiliary building which was used as a hencoop.

Preparation and carrying out of repair works

Following the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s resolution to fund all repair works and equipment for the Leigh Fermor House, all contents were moved to Athens from May 2017 onwards. Benaki Museum Library staff undertook the recording of approximately 6,000 volumes, which were incorporated as ‘The Leigh Fermor Collection’; some books remained in Athens, mostly for security reasons, while the rest returned to the house. The cataloguing of the books was supported by the Friends of the Benaki Museum.

The Benaki Museum Conservation Department undertook the restoration of the largest part of the House’s furniture, light fittings and other objects. Their brief was to preserve the ambience of interiors and reposition as many pieces of furniture as possible in their original places. Many of the original paintings were returned to the house while important works of art (by Edward Lear, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika and John Craxton, among others) were replaced by high quality copies. Shortly after Patrick Leigh Fermor’s death, Angelos Delivorrias ordered a bronze bust of him be executed by Greek sculptor Praxiteles Tzanoulinos; the bust has been placed in the house’s garden.

With very few structural changes needed, the form of the buildings allowed for the creation of five independent guestrooms, each consisting of a bedroom, a study and a bathroom. Three guestrooms are located at the main house, one at the studio and another at the outhouse. Each guestroom provides all facilities necessary for comfortable accommodation combined with conditions conducive to isolation and concentration; while communal spaces at the main house are used as places of gathering and relaxation.

The electrical, plumbing and sewerage systems were fully replaced; all roofs were insulated and partially or fully repaired; all external walls were repointed and, in order to maintain the rough texture of internal walls, the same mixture the Leigh Fermors applied in the ‘60s was reproduced and applied; timber doors, windows and shutters were either repaired or replaced with exact copies of the originals; and bathrooms and the main kitchen were fully refurbished. Since none of the buildings had any provision for heating apart from fireplaces, a heating and cooling system was installed discreetly through the roof.

Work on the estate concentrated on repairing and plastering boundary walls, filling-in dry stone walls and levelling the ground in selected areas. The garden has been renewed; damaged plants, where necessary, have been replaced and additional ones have been planted.

The opening of the House took place in October 2019.

Operation of the Leigh Fermor house

The operation of the Leigh Fermor House includes:

– fellowships programme;

– seminars and workshops in collaboration with universities and institutions in Greece and abroad;

– honorary hospitality of notable figures from the world of letters, the arts and scholarship;

– cultural events for the wider public as well as the local community and

– scheduled visits throughout the year.

The fellowships programme is organised in partnership with the following universities: Freie Universität (Centrum Modernes Griechenland), Princeton University (Stanley J. Seeger ’52 Center of Hellenic Studies) and UCLA – University of California Los Angeles (Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture). The programme runs in two periods per academic year, the autumn period (November-December) and the spring period (February-March) for approximately five weeks.

Leigh Fermor House fellowships are offered to fellows whose research projects fall within subject areas connected to the collections and archives of the Benaki Museum as well as disciplines covered by the curricula of the aforementioned departments in partner universities. The subject areas covered by the Benaki Museum cover history and culture in Greece and most parts of the globe (Islam, China, Africa, Pre-Columbian America, Korea, and more) as well as numerous other subject areas related to history of art, literature, philosophy and more.

Ηonorary hospitalities are also awarded by the Board of Trustees of the Museum to notable figures from the world of letters, the arts and scholarship as well as to major benefactors of the Benaki Museum.

According to the donation contract, the property can be rented for 90 days per year; to this end the Benaki Museum selected Aria Hotels as its partner.

Useful Information

Parallel to the educational activities, the Leigh Fermor House remains open to the public throughout the year.

Scheduled visits take place:

From October to May, on Mondays and Thursdays at 11:00.

From June to September, on Mondays at 12:00.

Prepurchase of tickets is necessary through the Benaki Museum website.