Lafcadio Hearn is the national poet of Japan. He was born in Lefkada in 1850. His father was an Irish military doctor who was in service at Lefkada, during the British occupation of the Seven Islands, and his mother was of noble origin from the island of Kythira. His given name was Patrick Lafcadio Hearn. He grew up in Ireland, lived as an immigrant in the United States of America and finally moved in Japan where he had a peaceful life. He left his parents while he was still young and travelled a lot, without ever being biased towards the different civilisations and races that he encountered at each place, facing every new experience with an open mind and in the spirit of mutual understanding.
The museum is the first of its kind in Europe, dedicated to the writer. It was inaugurated as “Historical Centre of Lafcadio Hearn” on the 4th of July 2014 and is housed at a hall on the ground floor of the Cultural Centre of Lefkada.
The museum contains first editions, rare books and Japanese collector’s items. It also presents photographs, texts and exhibits of the most important moments in Hearn’s impressive life, as well as from the civilisations of Europe, America and Japan of the late 18th and early 19th century, through the open mind of his lectures, texts and stories. The exhibits were donated to the Historical Centre by the collector Takis Efstathiou.
For the creation of the “Historical Centre of Lafcadio Hearn” the Cultural Centre of Lefkada cooperated with the Municipalities of Kunamoto, Matsue, Shinjuku and Yaizu, the University of Tayama, the family of Koizumi and Genki Miyagi, Takis Efstathiou, Maria Genitsariou, Masaaki Noda and Fumiko Yoneda.
The entrance of the hall of the Historical Centre is decorated with a sculpture named “Lafcadio Hearn – Odyssey of an Open Mind” by the famous Japanese sculptor Masaaki Noda.
Via: www.golefkas.gr