Maria Callas Museum

Opened in October 2023, the Maria Callas Museum in Athens is dedicated to the renowned Greek soprano. Housed in a neoclassical building at 44 Mitropoleos Street, the museum features over 1,000 items, including personal artifacts, rare recordings, and photographs. Visitors can explore themed rooms representing iconic operas and view masterclasses conducted by Callas. The museum also offers a café and shop for a complete experience.

Planning your visit

The Maria Callas Museum opened in October 2023 in a restored neoclassical building on Mitropoleos Street, and it is the first museum anywhere devoted to the soprano widely regarded as the most important of the twentieth century. Callas was born in New York to Greek parents and trained in Athens, and the museum brings together over 1,000 items — costumes, personal effects, letters, jewellery, rare recordings and photographs — much of it acquired at auction and returned to Greece.

The layout is thematic rather than chronological, with rooms built around the roles that defined her: Norma, Tosca, Medea. Recordings and film run throughout, including footage of the masterclasses she gave at Juilliard late in her career, which are as revealing about her intelligence as any performance.

The museum treats her seriously as an artist rather than as the tabloid figure the Onassis years produced, though the biography is not avoided. For anyone with an interest in opera it is essential; for others, the voice itself does most of the persuading.

It is central, near the cathedral and a short walk from Syntagma. Allow around ninety minutes.

Bookable options include entry tickets and guided tours. Some walking tours combine the museum with Athens metro stations, several of which display archaeological finds uncovered during construction, and the city's statues. Current availability is listed below.