Visit Athens Guide
The Museum of Cycladic Art
The Museum of Cycladic Art holds the largest collection anywhere of the pale, flat-faced, folded-arm marble figures carved in the Cyclades between about 3200 and 2000 BC — the objects that twentieth-century sculptors kept coming back to look at. It sits on Vasilissis Sofias in Kolonaki, in and behind the Stathatos Mansion, and it runs its own calendar. This page has the tiers and the hours as checked in Q3 2026. The other museums are on the museums hub, and the wider plan on the Athens city guide homepage.
Quick answer What it costs, when it shuts, and whether an hour is enough
The permanent exhibitions cost €12, or €9 reduced, and take about an hour. The museum is closed on Tuesdays, opens at 11:00 on Sundays and stays open to 20:00 on Thursdays.
Key takeaways
- There are several ticket tiers and they are not obvious — the price table separates the permanent collection from the temporary show and the combined ticket.
- The closed list includes Clean Monday and Holy Spirit Monday, Greek movable feasts that appear on no state site's calendar; the closed days has all of them.
- The shop and the café are accessible without a ticket, which makes the courtyard a good stop even if you skip the galleries.
- It is five minutes from the Byzantine and Christian Museum and both shut on Tuesdays — a Tuesday in Kolonaki is a wasted morning.
- Under-18s go free, and so do licensed guides, journalists and ICOM members.
Key facts
Opening hours
| Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday | 10:00–17:00 |
|---|---|
| Thursday | 10:00–20:00 |
| Sunday | 11:00–17:00 |
| Tuesday | —–closed |
Closed Tuesdays, 1 January, Clean Monday, 25 March, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, 1 May, Holy Spirit Monday, 15 August, 25 and 26 December
Admission
- Adult
- €12 permanent exhibitions
- Reduced
- €9 permanent exhibitions, and for groups of 12 or more
- Free
- Under-18s, visitors with disabilities and a companion, archaeology and art-history students, ICOM and ICOMOS members, journalists, licensed guides
Planning it
- Time needed
- Not stated by the museum; our routing: an hour for the permanent collection
- Book ahead
- Optional — walk-up usually fine
- Address
- Vasilissis Sofias Avenue and 1 Irodotou Street, Athens
The ticket tiers
Everything the museum lists on its own visitor page, read on cycladic.gr on 1 September 2026. The temporary exhibition changes; the permanent collection is the constant.
| Ticket | Full | Reduced | Covers | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent exhibitions | €12 | €9 | The Cycladic, Ancient Greek and Cypriot collections | Official site |
| Temporary exhibition only | €10 | €7 | Whichever show is running | Official site |
| Combined | €16 | €10 | Both, and the better value if the show interests you | Official site |
| Guided tour in English | €20 | €14 | Permanent and temporary with a guide, Mondays at 12:00 | Official site |
| Shop and café | Free | Free | No ticket needed to enter either | Official site |
Reduced applies to visitors over 65, students, anyone aged 19 to 25, Chamber of Fine Arts cardholders and groups of twelve or more. Free entry covers under-18s, visitors with disabilities and a companion, Greek unemployed with a current card, archaeology and art-history students, ministry staff, ICOM and ICOMOS members, journalists and licensed guides.
Tours that reach Kolonaki
The cards behind the table, with the operator's own rating and review count.
from €78.90
Athens: City Pass with Acropolis, Museums, HoHo & Transport
The Acropolis, the Acropolis Museum and a 48-hour hop-on hop-off bus in one pass, with public transport and an island cruise as options.
Check Availability
from €42
Athens: Philosophy and Democracy Walking Tour
Three and a half hours on foot through the places where philosophy and democracy actually happened, rather than the places they are commemorated.
Check Availability
from €18
Athens: Night Walking Tour with Local Guide
Two hours after dark through the historic centre, the Cathedral, Anafiotika, Monastiraki and Plaka, with a local guide and no museum entries.
Check AvailabilityPrices, ratings and details are the platform's own, checked in Q3 2026; euro figures are the listed prices — the platform bills in your account's currency.
What is inside
Four collections, one of which is why the museum exists.
The Cycladic figurines
Slim marble figures, most of them female, arms folded left over right below the breast, faces blank but for a ridged nose. They were carved on the Cycladic islands in the Early Bronze Age, they were painted — traces of pigment survive on some — and nobody knows what they were for. Their flatness and their abstraction made them a touchstone for Brancusi, Modigliani, Picasso and Moore, which is why a case of prehistoric grave goods reads as modern sculpture.
Ancient Greek art
A floor of pottery, bronze and glass covering everyday Greek life from the second millennium BC to late antiquity, arranged by what things were used for rather than by date — the wine, the wedding, the athletic contest, the grave. It is the best-organised introduction to Greek daily life in the city.
Cypriot antiquities
The Thanos Zintilis collection: Cypriot art from the Chalcolithic to the Roman period, and a rare thing to see outside Cyprus itself.
The Stathatos Mansion
The nineteenth-century house on the corner, by Ernst Ziller, connected to the modern wing by a glazed passage and used for the temporary exhibitions. It is worth going into for the rooms alone.
Hours, closed days and getting there
A weekly timetable that changes on three days out of seven.
The week
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10:00 to 17:00; Thursday 10:00 to 20:00; Sunday 11:00 to 17:00; closed on Tuesday. Last entry is fifteen minutes before closing. Thursday evening is the one to aim for.
The closed days, including the Greek ones
1 January, Clean Monday, 25 March, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, 1 May, Holy Spirit Monday, 15 August, 25 and 26 December. Three of those move: Clean Monday is the start of Orthodox Lent, Easter is the Orthodox date and Holy Spirit Monday is fifty-one days after it. None of them appears on the state sites' closed list, so a day when the Acropolis is open can be a day when this museum is shut.
Getting there
The entrance is on the corner of Vasilissis Sofias and Irodotou. Evangelismos station on Line 3 is about five minutes away and Syntagma on Lines 2 and 3 about ten. It is five minutes on foot from the Byzantine and Christian Museum along the same avenue.
Museum of Cycladic Art map
The entrance and the museums within ten minutes along the same avenue.
Next stop from the Museum of Cycladic Art
Walk minutes are our estimates from the GPS distances.
Byzantine and Christian Museum
East along Vasilissis Sofias, in a villa garden. The Byzantine Museum also closes on Tuesdays.
5 min walkBenaki Museum
West towards Syntagma. The Benaki covers Greek material culture from antiquity onward.
6 min walkLycabettus Hill
Up through Kolonaki to the funicular base. Lycabettus is €13 return or free on foot.
12 min uphillMuseum of Cycladic Art questions
How much does the Museum of Cycladic Art cost?
€12 for the permanent exhibitions and €9 reduced; a combined ticket with the temporary show is €16. The price table has every tier and who qualifies for each.
What day is it closed?
Tuesday, every week, plus a list of holidays that includes Clean Monday and Holy Spirit Monday — Greek movable feasts that do not close the state archaeological sites. The closed days has the full list.
How long do you need there?
About an hour for the permanent collection, ninety minutes if the temporary show in the Stathatos Mansion interests you.
What are the Cycladic figurines?
Marble figures carved in the Cyclades roughly between 3200 and 2000 BC, most of them female, with folded arms and blank faces. They were originally painted, their purpose is unknown, and their abstraction made them a reference point for twentieth-century sculptors.
Can I visit the café without a ticket?
Yes — the museum's own page states that the shop and the café are accessible without an entrance ticket.
Is it worth it next to the big national collection?
They do different jobs. The national collection is vast and chronological; this one is small, specific and beautifully arranged, and the figurines are not shown anywhere else in this depth. On a short trip, the national museum first.
Reviewed Q3 2026 (July–September 2026); next review Q4 2026. Prices, hours and terms are set by the venue or operator and confirmed at checkout.
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