Maria Callas Museum – An Artist-Themed Walking Tour in Athens
In this latest piece for One Planet Journey, Stavroula Soulopoulou takes us on a DIY walking tour to explore the Maria Callas Museum in Athens, recently nominated for the European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) 2025. Featuring exclusive interviews with the museum’s staff, we discover why this uniquely interactive institution is setting a new standard for profound cultural immersion, creating a powerful, sensory encounter with La Divina’s truth.
A DIY Maria Callas-themed walking tour in Athens focused on the Maria Callas Museum
Not long ago I watched the film Maria, starring Angelina Jolie, depicting Maria Callas’ final days. Her poised figure walking the streets of Paris made me want to follow in her footsteps, tracing her life through a DIY tour. Ideal for cultural deep travel. The centrepiece of such a tour should be the Maria Callas Museum in Athens, the most fitting city to have the world’s first museum dedicated to her. Inaugurated already back in 2023, I now decided the time had come for me to visit 44 Mitropoleos Street, a short walk of seven minutes from Syntagma Square. I scheduled to meet the Communications Manager, Chrysoula Syniola to get a behind-the-scenes view.
The Maria Callas Experience: A Journey of the Senses
In their own words, the Museum’s team (in addtion to the Communication manager, this interview features Niovi Andrioti, Collection Manager and Morfi Galopoulou, Community Manager) explained that “the Maria Callas Museum’s nomination for the European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) 2025 is a significant recognition of its inspiring first year.” In acknowledgement of its innovation, public quality, and community engagement, it also received a Special Commendation by the European Museum Forum.
Greeted by Maria Callas’ welcoming portrait, I begin my tour on the second floor, as recommended. Entering the first room, I step into another world, intentionally immersive and engaging all my senses. Callas’ probable favourite opera, Norma (as I later learned), plays as I walk through a small forest simulation with poplars. I sit on a tree trunk-stool opposite two other women, all of us struck by La Divina’s voice, absorbing her performance and the installation.
Walking through the Maria Callas Museum
From that moment on, I knew this museum would be a great experience. Interactive and immersive, with Callas’ voice at the heart. As Ms Syniola, the museum’s Communications Manager, emphasised, you don’t need any prior knowledge of Callas. The museum invites everyone to tune into her talent and life, the sadness and the beauty.
The museum’s team describes the second floor, dedicated to the Maria Callas Experience, as “a key highlight of its immersive approach”. As I enter the spaces, one by one, like following the thread of her singing voice, I feel her presence. You can find two more opera-themed rooms on the second floor, inspired by productions of Tosca and La Traviata. There is an open-air ceiling that resembles a theatre stage.
In the fourth room, screens play three of her iconic performances. One is Carmen (Bizet), where she commands the stage, her second home, with such confidence, especially in the silences, when only the orchestra plays. I am reminded of a quote from the movie when they ask her to speak about her life away from the stage. “There is no life away from the stage”.
I scanned a QR code to hear recordings of her teaching at Juilliard. “Courage,” she says, is the key word to this career. She tells her students, “I’m not good with words,” and the contrast between that admission and the strength of her voice moves me.
Engaging with Maria Callas’ World through Interactive Exhibits
In the corridor, interactive cards invite you to scan QR codes related to The Glossary of Opera. I read the definition of soprano and then listen to a sample from the Choir of the Municipality of Athens.
With the third floor reserved for events and educational activities, I head to the first floor to explore Callas’ life. Someone has written in the guest book: “It piques the interest of the uninitiated alike.”
You tour the rooms in a clockwise flow, engaging all your senses: tactile folders, drawings that light up when opened, touchscreens, headphones, buttons to select audio clips, sound tubes to stand beneath, and QR codes that let you hear hard-to-read letters read aloud by actors.
Getting to know Maria Callas
The team describes how the museum balances an emotionally engaging and multi-sensory experience with the life and legacy of Maria Callas. You see her as an artist of global stature, yet here she’s presented with intimacy and authenticity. Aside from a chronological biography, you get to deeper explore her artistic identity, personal struggles, and enduring influence. From the very start, the museum has attracted a diverse international audience. It has also established collaborations with cultural institutions, and curated innovative exhibitions and events beyond traditional opera appreciation. This means it has succeeded in making Callas’s world accessible to all generations.
The Challenges
Of course, nothing comes without challenges. The team discusses how a museum dedicated to such a complex and iconic figure requires a lot of curatorial sensitivity. Then there are logistical issues as they gather, conserve, and present personal artifacts. It has to feel both respectful and emotionally resonant. Getting historical facts right while you want to entertain through immersive storytelling is a constant effort. At the same time, the museum had to prove itself from the onset in order to establish credibility and attract visitors, local and international. It had to show that it ranked alongside Europe’s most compelling cultural institutions. With the EMYA nomination, it’s mission accomplished.
Finding the Music through the Details
The exhibits come with intentionality from donations and loans from various institutions, organisations and individuals. As I tour the first floor, I follow the thematic sections. Exploring The Beginning, her quote: “I sang operettas with themes from princes to sailors from China” transports me into the mythical world of opera. A kind of travel only music can create in such an immediate, boundless way. The other main sections are: Career in Greece, International career, Social life, Last glimmers. There are also areas like Her teachers, The mentor maestro, Great roles, Personality, ‘Art, Technique and Professionalism’, ‘The myth and legacy of Callas’, all with Greek and English subtitles.
Maria Callas Fashion
Continuing the exploration of her biography on the museum’s first floor, I uncover a mosaic of details. I learned she followed the advice, “You must have beautiful costumes, especially in operas that are static by nature”, and after that, I observed more of the brilliance hidden in the beauty of her performances. When asked, “What kind of woman are you?” she replied with a question: “On stage or in life?”
Her teacher and mother figure, Elvira de Hidalgo, appears in a video, noting that Callas always had beautiful hands, even when she bit her nails. I also discover that she formed a close friendship with Pier Paolo Pasolini while filming his Medea, his murder affecting her on a deep level. One of the museum staff’s favourite exhibits is her personal address book. I spot Charlie Chaplin’s name in it.
Personal relationships
I wonder which artifact or exhibit one would associate most with the idea of deep travel, and the museum’s reply is Callas’ childhood notebook. This object offers visitors tender glimpses into her early life. It’s something deeply personal that goes beyond the public persona. Inside you find handwritten notes from her family, teachers, and friends from the time spent in the United States. They are farewell messages before her journey to Greece in 1937.
The notebook represents a pivotal moment of change in young Maria’s life. It’s a powerful way to connect with her on a more intimate level. On that note, don’t miss the love notes between her and her husband, and letters between mother and daughter, all with QR codes to scan.
An exquisite Hermès scarf with floral motifs, Fleurs de L’Opéra, inspired by the beauty of opera, is on display. A debated exhibit features strands of her hair, sold by a hairdresser. It’s purposefully included to highlight how people often treated Callas not as a full human being, but as an idol, with all the burdens that come with it.
Her career took her around the world. Mexico, Italy, Brazil, the U.S., the U.K., Germany and a collection of stamps from countries like Congo and Mali testify to her global reach. UNESCO declared 2023 the honorary “Callas Year” and minted a commemorative coin.
La Divina Café and the Maria Callas Museum Shop
The museum draws a balanced mix of local and international visitors. If someone is in a hurry, they can tour it in an hour, but I stayed for three.
I end my visit on the ground floor at the Maria Callas Museum shop and La Divina Café. The shop offers notebooks, postcards, tote bags with “La Tua Maria” (how she signed her letters), and chocolates with her face in Andy Warhol-style variations. I bought a fridge magnet with her silhouette in black-and-white.
The café menu includes a “La Divina” cocktail and the Italian bitter “Fernet-Branca”, also seen in Maria. She enjoyed a mint variation of the latter but also drank it like a voice remedy, especially before her performances. The barista offers me a taste without mint, and with a warning: it’s peculiar. I didn’t expect to like it, but I do. It’s strong and unique and indefinable. Just like Maria.
Shaping the Narrative of the City of Athens
Before I continue this DIY tour to other Maria Callas-themed spots, I wonder how the museum fits into the neighbourhood, how it interacts with the local communities in Athens. The team explains that promoting collaboration with the community is a museum priority. From its inception, it has engaged in various initiatives such as special tours, lectures, and cultural events tailored for specific social groups. For example, free concerts, artistic gatherings, mental health talks, and theatrical performances.
What Makes the Maria Callas Museum a Deep Travel Destination
The Maria Callas Museum offers an immersive cultural experience that aligns with the values of deep travel, centred around emotional connection, historical awareness, and meaningful engagement with heritage.
The interactive elements really make you come closer and establish a personal connection with Maria Callas. It’s a more reflective form of cultural tourism where emotional resonance and learning are at the centre rather than passive observation.
Maria Callas–Themed Walking Tour of Athens (DIY)
Museums & Cultural Institutions
| Location | Address | Description |
| Maria Callas Museum | 44 Mitropoleos St., Athens 105 63 | A museum dedicated to the life and legacy of the legendary soprano. |
| Maria Callas Former Residence | 61 Patision St., Athens | Former residence of Callas, now renovated into a vocal arts academy. |
| Maria Callas Greek Society | 33–37 Agiou Constantinou St., Athens 104 37 | A society promoting Callas’s legacy through events and education. |
Hotels and Historic Venues
| Location | Address | Description |
| La Divina Boutique Hotel | 3 Adrianou St., Thissio, Athens | Built on the site of the former Odeon Athenaeum, now a luxury hotel. |
| Olympia City Music Theatre “Maria Callas” | 59 Akadimias St., Athens 106 79 | Former home of the Greek National Opera, now a municipal music theatre with a permanent Callas exhibit. |
Music & Opera Institutions
| Location | Address | Description |
| Greek National Opera | Greek National Opera 364 Syggrou Ave., Kallithea 176 74 | Greece’s premier opera house, now located at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre. |
| National Conservatory of Athens | 18 Mager St., Athens 104 38 | One of the institutions where Callas studied music. |
| Athens Conservatoire (“Odeion Athinon”) | 17–19 Rigillis & Vasilissis Georgiou II St., Athens 106 75 | The oldest performing arts school in Greece, founded in 1871, and the one from which Maria Callas graduated. |
Historic & Literary Sites
| Location | Address | Description |
| Odeon of Herodes Atticus (“Herodeon”) | Dionysiou Areopagitou St. | Ancient Roman theatre where Callas famously performed. It will close its doors to the public in autumn 2025 for a major three-year restoration project. |
| Literary Society Parnassos | 8 St. Georgiou Karytsi Sq., Athens 105 61 | Historic literary society and cultural venue where Maria Callas at age 15 made her debut in front of an audience. |
Have you been to the Maria Callas museum in Athens? How did you find it? Let us know in the comments. Subscribe to our newsletter and benefit from travel guides, sustainable tourism and luxury travel tips, insightful interviews, and inspirational places to visit. One Planet Journey – The World’s First Deep Travel Magazine.
