A few kilometers outside the village of Kardamyli lies an estate full of olive trees, cypresses, pines, and wildflowers with three traditional stone buildings. This is the Patrick and Joan Leigh Fermor House, one of the most beautiful properties in Greece, built in harmony with a unique natural landscape.

Author Patrick Leigh Fermor and photographer Joan developed a special relationship with Greece. They decided to make a permanent home in Mani, where they lived until the end of their lives. In 1996, they bequeathed the house to the Benaki Museum with a view to complementing and expanding the Museum’s cultural work. The house was to remain open to the general public and to serve as a place where researchers and artists could stay and work.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), as Lead Donor on the project, first supported a study on the operations and sustainability of the house, and then, in 2016, covered the cost of comprehensive maintenance and repair work. The primary focus of the work was the preservation of the original design of the building and the surrounding area, designed and constructed in the 1960s by the architect Nikos Hadjimichalis in close collaboration with the Fermors.