The cosmopolitan era of Alexandria left behind it many beautiful artifacts.In particular,are those accomplished by the Greek community .If we take the Antoniadis Gardens statues as an extreme case,many other artifacts will be reviewed here.Some of them are relatively recent and performed by Egyptian artists,long time after the departure of the European communities [statue of Europa and the Bull].Others,are about a century old [Statues in the Greek Orthodox Cemetery at Chatby].Still,some were added recently to the city by former Greek residents living abroad [statue of Alexander the Great riding his horse],the magnificent 2006 renovation of the Evanglesmos Church,etc. The presented photos are as follows
1.The statue of Europa and the bull [misidentified 0nline as the statue of the mermaid and the shell ]
In front of the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina at Chatby district, stands a statue of Europa and the bull in white marble .It was constructed in 1969 by the Egyptian sculptor Fatehi Mahmoud. [ some of the photos from
http://gallery.takingitglobal.org/wisemike/7718
http://www.inmagine.com/egypt-photos/pixtal-pt032
The story behind this statue is a story from the Greek mythology. One day Zeus, chief deity of the Greek pantheon, fell in love with Europa the beautiful daughter of the Phoenician king of Tyre.. In order to approach her without being recognised, , Zeus transformed himself into a beautiful white bull to seduce the Tyrean maiden Europa. The moment she climbed onto his back, he carried her across the sea to the isle of Crete. Beneath a willow tree, Zeus dispensed with his bull aspect and ravished the nymph. Thus, Europa gave birth to three sons; Minos was one of them.
Minos, eventually became king of Crete.
2.A recent statue of Alexander the Great riding his horse,presented as a cadeau to the city from former Greek residents now living abroad.
3. A recently constructed group of Greek style columns at Sidi Gaber district
4.The wealthy Greek families of Alexandria used to decorate their cemeteries with very beautiful statues featuring religious figures.Here,from the Greek orthodox Cemetery at Chatby,five beautiful Greek style statues are shown,the first two shows the deseased in the form of an angel with wings.The second two photos show the virgin Mary with the deseased girl,.The fifth photo features a male and a female figure [adopted from ;The cemeteries of Alexandria,the untold narratives of a cosmopolitan city,prepared by Sahar Hammouda and Yaser Aref,The Alexandria and Mediterranean research center,Bibliotheca Alexandrina
5.Greek owned grocer shops usually sold many variable unrelated stuff in addition to grocery.The following 3 pictures photographed from an old Alexandrian house ,show several artifacts that the owners of the house bought in 1960 from a Greek owned Grocer shop at Philon street [current Kamel Morsi street] at[Chatby].The old aged Greek grocer named [Nicola],returned to Greece in 1965 and nothing was heard of him since then.His shop is still closed till our present day,often used by locals as a storing place of old vehicle motors.
6.Many stores at Alexandria downtown sell greek style artifacts and statues,as can be seen from this photo
7.Evanglesmos main Greek Orthodox Church at Mansheyya [before restoration]
8.Interior of church in 2006 after restoration
9.Evanglesmos Church after restoration
10.Emblem of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa
11.Double Eagle Byzantine emblem
The accompanying music is that of an old Greek song from the 30s [kalamatiani ]