Maria Callas has acquired over the years a near mythical status, as much in Greece as in the rest of the world. Many were the books, articles, exhibitions and many other functions in her honour.

 Recently in Athens , the city where she lived during the war , studied, and sung her first roles, a new exhibition opened with various articles mainly personal, from the collection of Nikos Haralambopoulos at the Theoharakis Foundation, a few meters away from the Greek Parliament.

The exhibition’s curator is Dr Fotis Papathanassiou, a dedicated music lover, a great Wagnerofile, as well as an accomplished psychiatrist. The exhibition includes a multitude of objects, music scores, paintings, her passport her blood exams, a handkerchief that belonged to Maria Malibran, Onassis’s favourite coffee cup, her hair, and many dresses she wore, as well as jewlery and handbags.

What is really impressive is the fact that every single object is accompanied where necessary, by a photo of Callas using this object, creating thus a provenance for every single exhibit…rarely have I seen such meticulously organized and presented exhibition.

The Catalogue alone is a real gem, just to buy it is worth a visit to the exhibition, and don’t think that it is a one room exhibition, in fact it expands in threestoreys full of treasures.

One feels as if he is visiting her Paris apartment when she is away and one has all the time to look arround.

The exhibition is embellished wit videos and recordings of the great Diva, making one feel her present in the room..The music of the exhibition is included in a CD offered with the Catalogue offered by VICTORY ENTERTAINMENT.

The exhibition will be open until the end of October.. for those who are unable to come and see it, there is an application (IOS and ANDROID) which offers a virtual tour of the exhibition..bit.ly/cliomuse.

photos by A.Spanides.