The new temporary exhibition at the Historical Museum of Crete, titled ELLI ALEXIOU. A Century, a Story: The Educator, the Writer, the Fighter, is dedicated to an emblematic female figure who devoted her life to children, to art, and to the vision of a more humane world.

A product of the long-standing and successful partnership between the Society of Cretan Historical Studies and the Region of Crete, the exhibition will be inaugurated on Wednesday, 12 November 2025, at 19:00.

The content and design of the exhibition are based on the Ellie Alexiou Archive, which has been housed at the Historical Museum of Crete since 2023, donated by her heirs.

The exhibition unfolds in three sections across the Museum:

• On the ground floor, where visitors will find key information about her life and work, along with photographs, books, manuscripts, and personal items.

• In the second floor foyer, which features paintings and furniture from her home in Athens.

• In the foyer of the permanent Nikos Kazantzakis exhibition (second level), where materials are presented about the life and work of Elli’s sister, Galatea Alexiou-Kazantzakis, as well as Galatea’s second husband, Markos Avgeris.

Elli Alexiou was born in 1894 in Heraklion, Crete, daughter of publisher Stylianos Alexiou and Irini Zachariadi. She graduated from the Heraklion Girls’ Higher School, the Arsakeio Pedagogical Academy, the Institut Supérieur d’Études françaises, and the German School of Athens. From an early age, she pursued a career in education. A founding member of the Society of Greek Writers and a member of the Communist Party of Greece since 1928, she participated in the Resistance during the Occupation, and after the end of the Civil War in 1949, she self-exiled in Eastern Europe. She developed a rich literary, educational, and political presence, authoring novels, short stories, plays, children’s books, essays, and biographies. She passed away in 1988.

The official opening of the exhibition will be attended by Melina Sidiropoulou, niece of the author and donor of the Collection and Archive of Elli Alexiou.
The exhibition will remain open until September 2026.