In the summer of 2023 the “Maria Callas” Museum opens its doors in the heart of Athens

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The president of the “Maria Callas Scholarship Association”, Costas Pylarinos, donates to the Museum, from his personal collection, fifty emblematic personal items of the world priestess of opera

This year marks one hundred years since the birth of the legendary Greek soprano and the “Maria Callas” Museum opens its doors in the heart of the city of Athens.

The mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, accepted a particularly important donation from his president “Maria Callas Scholarship Association”, Costas Pylarinos, who donates to the Museum, from his personal collection, fifty emblematic personal items of the world high priestess of opera.

Mr. Bakoyannis, when signing the receipt of the donation, said: “I feel particularly moved not only because Athens is honoring its diva with a special Museum that will be ready next summer, but also because the collection of exhibits that will be included in it today grows even more than an emotional donation . I am grateful to Konstantinos and Viktoria Pylarinos, who, having the good fortune to meet the great artist, wanted to donate to us not only her personal items but also a strong “taste” of who Maria Callas really was. It is even more honorable for us that Mr. Pylarinos and his family, although they received many tempting proposals from Paris, New York and other big cities asking them to use their collection, they remained loyal to Athens, consciously choosing to let our city inherit this precious material. With pride and joy, we enrich the Museum, which was a debt of honor not only of Athens, but also of the entire country to the “global” Callas. In the summer of ’23, the precious objects we are acquiring today from the Pylarinos couple will form one of the most important collections of the newly established Museum”.

Mr. Pylarinos, for his part, emphasized: “This collection was protected for 45 years, with a lot of effort, respect and love, and today it is handed over to the Municipality of Athens to be added to the Museum’s exhibits and to be utilized in the best possible way. The stubborn effort of the mayor, Kostas Bakoyannis, for the creation of the Museum was the reliable call for our gesture. The safe and dignified management of the collection by the Athens Municipality’s Technopolis was an additional and essential motivation for our donation.”

At the same time, the Municipality of Athens, honoring the historical “Maria Kallas Scholarship Association”, founded by the artist herself in 1963, and in the context of the wider practical cultural support of the opera, offers the Association an annual scholarship to opera students and one performance a year at “Olympia, Municipal Music Theater Maria Callas”.

RES-EMP

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