ATHENS – The Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, continuing its series of ground-breaking archaeological exhibitions focusing on Man in Antiquity, and in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Sports, is presenting the emblematic, archaeological exhibition KALLOS: The Ultimate Beauty. Curated by the Director of the Museum of Cycladic Art, Professor Nikolaos Chr. Stampolidis, and the Curator of Antiquities of the Museum, Dr. Ioannis D. Fappas, the exhibition will run from September 29 until January 16, 2022. The exhibition will take place with the generous support of L’Oréal.

Through 300 exceptional antiquities from Museums, Ephorates of Antiquities, and collections in Greece and abroad, various aspects of the notion of Kállos in everyday life and philosophical discourse in ancient Greece are presented. This particularly important and large-scale exhibition will occupy all the exhibition spaces of the Museum of Cycladic Art.

Clay red-figured hydria by the Alkimachos Painter, with scene from everyday life in the women’s quarters (gynaikonites) or scene of wedding preparations, provenance unknown, circa 470-460 BC, Athens. Copyright: Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports/Paul and Alexandra Kanellopoulos Museum. Photo: Socratis Mavrommatis

The ancient Greek word Kállos essentially means beauty and is associated with both the female and the male sex. However, the concept of Kállos in its ultimate dimension is not a word signifying merely beauty. It is an ideal that was developed in ancient Greek thought, was expressed through the poems of the epic (8th century BC) and the lyric (7th-6th century BC) poets, and from the 5th-4th century BC onward was formulated gradually in the texts of philosophers. They describe it as a combination of the beauty of physical appearance with the virtues of the soul. The exhibition in the Museum of Cycladic Art refers to this dimension of Kállos, highlighting the contribution of ancient Greece to the definition of the meaning of “Beauty” through history.

Bronze folding mirror with a relief representation of the abduction of the young Ganymede by Zeus in the guise of an eagle, from Makistos, ‘Petropigada’, Hellenistic period, Archaeological Museum of Pyrgos Μ 2441. Copyright: Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports/ Ephorate of Antiquities of Eleia/ Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Photo: Eirini Miari

The exhibition includes 300 antiquities from Museums, Ephorates of Antiquities and collections in Greece, Italy, and the Vatican, and is structured in two major sections, Beautification and Beauty.

More information is available by phone: +30 210 7228321-3 and online: www.cycladic.gr.

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