Nikos Kazantzakis was born in 1883 in Kandiye, Crete. Kandiye was the old name for Heraklion – Crete was still under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and had not yet become part of the modern Greek state.  He was a prolific Greek writer and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature no less than nine times. In 1957, the year of his death, he lost the Prize to Albert Camus by one vote. Camus later said that Kazantzakis deserved the honour "a hundred times more" than himself.  His novels include: Life and Times of Alexis Zorbas, 1946 Christ Recrucified, 1948 Captain Michalis, 1950 The Last Temptation of Christ, 1955 Report to Greco, 1961 He also wrote plays, travel books, autobiographies and philosophical essays. He became known in the English speaking world because of film adaptations of his work, such as Zorba the Greek (1964) and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). A film ‘Kazantzakis ‘ was released in 2017. He also took on the monumental task of translating into Modern Greek, The Divine Comedy, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, On the Origin of the Species, the Iliad and the Odyssey. His first publication was in 1906, Lily and the Serpent, which he signed with the pen name Karma Nirvami. This was followed by a one act play, Comedy, in 1909. In 1907, he began university studies in Paris and at the end of his time there he wrote The Master Builder, based on Greek folklore. Kazantzakis was married twice. His first wife was Galatea Alexiou in 1911; the marriage lasted 14 years and ended in divorce. In 1924 he became romantically involved with Eleni Samiou but they did not marry until 1945. She typed drafts of his work, accompanied him on his travels and was responsible for his business affairs. She died in 2004, surviving him by 47 years. From 1910 until his death in 1957, Kazantzakis spent time in Paris, Berlin, Italy, Spain, Russia, Egypt, Nice, Czechoslovakia, Mount Sinai, Aegina, Cyprus, China and Japan. He also travelled around Greece, Romania and The Netherlands. Through his travels he came into contact with different ideologies, people, customs, philosophies and lifestyle, which were all a great influence on his writing. Buddhist theology, the writings of Nietzsche and Freud and communist ideology were all major influences on his work. Although he flirted with communism he was at heart all of his life a socialist. He recognised the need for socialist parties worldwide to unite to ensure that ‘socialist democracy’ would spread throughout the world. He is quoted as describing socialism as a system which “does not permit the exploitation of one person by another” and that “must guarantee every freedom.” In 1957, suffering from leukaemia, he embarked on what would be his final journey to China and Japan. On the return flight, he became ill and was transferred to Freiburg, Germany, where he died. He is buried at the highest point of the Walls of Heraklion, the Martinengo Bastion, looking out over the mountains and the Sea of Crete. His epitaph reads "I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free." In 2007, the 50th anniversary of his death a commemorative €10 coin was minted with Nikos Kazantzakis’ image on the front and the National Emblem of Greece with his signature on the back.

The Historical Museum of Crete is home to a reconstruction and exhibition of Nikos Kazantzakis' study, exactly as it was in Antibes, France, where the author spent the last years of his life (1948- 1957). The exhibition includes manuscripts, photographs and drawings, hundreds of editions of his works translated into over thirty languages - and personal possessions.

The photographs below were taken when we went to the Historical Museum in Heraklio….