OPEN TODAY UNTIL 17:00

Kykladitisses:
Untold stories of women in the Cyclades

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXHIBITION

FROM DECEMBER 12, 2024 UNTIL MAY 4, 2025

THE EXHIBITION

The islands of the Cyclades, known for their beauty and rich history, have been the cradle of a culture that has celebrated women like few others in the world.

The exhibition Kykladitisses: Untold stories of women in the Cyclades at the Museum of Cycladic Art pays tribute to the women of the Cyclades, shedding light on their lives and their role in the societies of the islands of the Archipelago from the Neolithic period until the 19th century. Over 180 masterpieces, most of which have never travelled outside the Cyclades, while others are being presented to the public for the first time, reveal the fascinating world of the women of the Cyclades, who emerge from obscurity and tell us their unknown stories.

Works of unique artistic value portray the Cycladic woman as a goddess, priestess, worshipper, mother, wife, merchant, fighter, intellectual, and sometimes as an image of fear, as a victim of gender violence or as an object of desire. Among them, three works stand out for their uniqueness and size: the Colossal Kore of Thera dated in the Archaic period, which is being exhibited to the public for the first time, the emblematic fresco of the “Women in the Sanctuary” from Akrotiri on Thera, and Artemis Elaphebolos from Delos, a statue from the Hellenistic period, which is being exhibited outside the island for the first time.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Dates

December 12, 2024 – May 4, 2025

Venue

Stathatos Mansion
Vasilissis Sofias ave. & 1, Irodotou str., Athens

Tickets

General Admission: €18
Discounted Admission: €14
Cycladic Friends: Free admission
Tickets include admission to the Permanent Exhibitions

Guided tours (from 21/12)

Every Thursday, 18:00 – 19:00
and every Saturday and Sunday, 13:00 – 14:00
20 people per tour

Guided tours tickets

General Admission: €22
Discounted Admission: €18
The guided tour ticket is only available online
Tickets include admission to the Permanent Exhibitions
“We are proud that the first collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades is a major archaeological exhibition concerning women. Women of the Aegean and their history, as it evolved over the centuries”.
Sandra Marinopoulou, President and CEO of the Museum

THE INSTALLATION

01
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
02
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
03
Marble statue of the goddess Artemis from Palaiopolis, Andros, 2nd century AD
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
04
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
05
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
06
Marble colossal statue of a kore from Thera, 600-575 BC (?)
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
07
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
08
Fresco of the Women in the adyton (“Adorants”) from Xeste 3, Akrotiri of Thera, ca 1600 BC
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
09
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
10
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
11
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
12
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
13
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
14
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
15
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
16
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
01
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
02
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
03
Marble statue of the goddess Artemis from Palaiopolis, Andros, 2nd century AD
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
04
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
05
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
06
Marble colossal statue of a kore from Thera, 600-575 BC (?)
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
07
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
08
Fresco of the Women in the adyton (“Adorants”) from Xeste 3, Akrotiri of Thera, ca 1600 BC
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
09
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
10
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
11
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
12
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
13
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
14
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
15
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
16
View from the exhibition
Photo. Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art

The exhibition invites the visitor to rediscover the history of the women who shaped the cultural identity of the Cyclades in their own unique way.

But why the Kykladitisses?

Simply because the island complex offers a wealth of sources related to the multiple roles that these women were called upon to play on the Aegean islands. Never has an attempt been made to present their story through the analysis of archaeological and historical sources of evidence in a continuous and easy-to-get way, especially in the context of an exhibition addressed to the general public.

The exhibition places the woman of the Cyclades at the central stage: not only because she can tell the history of the islands in a different way compared to that of ‘men’, but also because Cycladic women embody interesting similarities and differences in their roles through time.

“We discovered these stories and connections like peeling an onion. We removed the men’s filters to get to the core and see what the women of the Cyclades tell us; who in many cases have not been studied at all and their stories are usually silenced”.
Panagiotis P. Iossif, Academic Director of the Museum
Photo. Bend Archive

Kykladitisses are those women who are deified in Prehistory becoming in this way the main expression of the divine. They are those who are marginalized in the early historical years before they began to occupy a significant and dominant position in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. They are the travelers who come from distant places and meet their fate in the Cyclades. The goddesses and saints of the island religions who offer relief and healing. Those who are transformed from goddesses of nature and fertility into protectors of the sea and sailors. They are the dynamic women who later influenced the formation of the modern Greek state and contributed greatly to the Greek Revolution, inspired by the insularity of their homelands.

This is the second exhibition in the new series of archaeological exhibitions “Human Histories” at the Museum of Cycladic Art. These tell and illustrate stories about life, customs and works of mortals, which influenced the life and perceptions of later generations. As a result, the exhibition on Kykladitisses also takes on a strongly emotional character, as the display of their unknown stories reminds us that behind the great island culture have always been the women who left their mark on history.

The exhibition, which is the first joint action of the Museum of Cycladic Art and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades, in implementation of the Memorandum of Cooperation signed on May 17, 2024, aiming at the study and promotion of Cycladic culture in Greece and abroad, will travel to the place of origin of the finds, where it will be presented in its entirety at the renovated Archaeological Museum of Thera.

IN THE NEWS

“…This year’s most captivating archaeological tribute has opened its doors, drawing a large crowd eager to admire unique artifacts, some of which are being showcased outside their permanent collections for the very first time…” KATHIMERINI
“What has the role of Cycladic women been throughout the centuries, and what position did they occupy in society? These are, among others, the questions that Kykladitisses: Untold Stories of Women in the Cyclades attempts to answer by narrating the untold stories the women themselves tell us, either through their own words or through other material testimonies of the Cycladic past.” Greeka
“Isis, Neiko, Parthenika, Aline, Magia Pulchra, Ermione, Alexivola, Artemis, Athena, Theoktiste, Maximilla, Euporia… These are just some of the Cycladic women who will be telling their stories…” The National Herald

Co-organization

Ministry of Culture – Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades
Museum of Cycladic Art

Curated by

Dr Demetrios Athanasoulis, Director of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades

Prof. Panagiotis P. Iossif, Academic Director of the Museum of Cycladic Art, Professor of Ancient and Medieval Numismatics, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Assistant Prof. Ioannis D. Fappas, Academic Director of the Museum of Cycladic Art, Assistant Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Exhibition Design

Museographic Design: Despoina Tsafou

Architectural Concept: Katerina Apostolou – AKA Apostolou Colakis architects

Lighting Design

ASlight (Anna Sbokou, Katia Milia, Ulee Stylianidou)

Visual Identity

BEND

PARTICIPATING MUSEUM & INSTITUTIONS

Archaeological Collection of Amorgos, Archaeological Collection of Seriphos, Archaeological Collection of Sikinos, Archaeological Museum of Andros, Archaeological Museum of Delos, Archaeological Museum of Ios, Archaeological Museum of Kea, Archaeological Museum of Kythnos, Archaeological Museum of Melos, Archaeological Museum of Mykonos, Archaeological Museum of Naxos, Archaeological Museum of Paros, Archaeological Museum of Siphnos, Archaeological Museum of Syros, Archaeological Museum of Tenos, Archaeological Museum of Thera, Museum of Prehistoric Thera, Museum of Cycladic Art, Ephorate of Paleoanthropology-Speleology, Holy Metropolis of Paronaxia, Holy church of Panagia Eleousa, Chora, Naxos, Holy Metropolis of Syros-Tenos-Andros-Kea-Mykonos-Melos-Siphnos-Seriphos-Kimolos-Kythnos-Folegandros-Sikinos, Church of the Holy Trinity, Adamas, Melos, Holy church of Panagia Korfiatissa (Nativity of the Virgin Mary), Plaka, Melos, Church of the Holy Trinity, Megalo Chorio, Seriphos, Holy Metropolis of Thera, Amorgos, and Nisoi, Monastery of Panagia Chozoviotissa, Amorgos, Catholic Archbishopric of Naxos-Tenos-Andros-Mykonos, Metropolitan Catholic Cathedral of the Presentation of the Christ in the Temple, Naxos, Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, Benaki Museum, Epigraphic Museum, General State Archives, National Library of Greece, Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum, Private collection (Ε.Κ.)

 

EXHIBITION CATALOGUE

BUY NOW

A Greek English bilingual catalogue published as part of the new series of archaeological exhibitions organized by the Museum of Cycladic Art called “Human Histories” for the exhibition “Kykladitisses: Untold stories of women in the Cyclades”. The catalogue presents the transformations and the multiple roles of women that have defined the history of the Archipelago through time highlighting their importance at a time when women continue to assert their independence and respect for their specificity within the modern community, the free choice of the roles that express each of them and their liberation from stereotypes that survive in the common consciousness despite the long struggles of past centuries. The catalogue is divided into two volumes.

The first volume contains 520 pages in which all the artefacts in the exhibition are illustrated in each section in extremely high quality and resolution photographs, together with a brief explanation giving all the details of their identity.

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