During the building of modern Egypt, Alexandria was a melting pot. People from the Levant and Europe came together there to form one of the most open cities in the Middle East and North Africa. Among them, the Greeks had carved out a prominent place for themselves, but they now stand at a crossroad, struggling to sustain their community and its legacy.

The establishment of Egypt's modern Greek community dates to the first half of the 19th century, when Greek immigration escalated due to the economic opportunities available under the government of Mohammed Ali Pasha, especially in trade, a point of interest advanced by the proximity of Greece and Egypt. Although Greeks spread out across Egypt, Alexandria, the nation's second largest city, was always the core of the community.

Andreas Vafiadis, a member of the board of directors of the Greek Community of Alexandria (EKA), told Al-Monitor, “[In Alexandria], the organizing of the Greek community took place in 1843, [when] some businessmen gathered at the Saint Sava Monastery decided that they had to do something for the Greeks, who had a lot of needs when they arrived to Egypt.” They decided to start with establishing a school and a hospital run by Greeks. A church and a cemetery soon followed.

This well-to-do community and the favorable climate toward it contributed to an increase in the number of Greeks living in the port city until the middle of the 20th century. The most generous estimates have them peaking at 150,000 residents in the early 20th century, making them at the time a large proportion of Alexandria’s total population of 400,000. Today there are fewer than 1,000 Greeks living in the city. The rise of Egyptian nationalism planted the seeds of their decline, inevitably transforming their role in Egyptian society.