Long queues formed outside the National Archaeological Museum in Athens on Sunday, as crowds came to see the new William Kentridge exhibition on the myth of Orpheus.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Hellenic Ministry of Culture shared a photo of the line on the museum steps in a Facebook post<\/a>. It pointed to \u201ctwo reasons\u201d for the crowds, starting with the \u201camazing\u201d new show.<\/p>\n Sunday 1 November was also the first free-admission Sunday of the winter season at state museums and sites. Free entry then applies on the first and third Sundays of each month until 31 March.<\/p>\n Titled \u201cImitate the Sleep of Stones \u2013 Orpheus and Eurydice: Transformation and Return\u201d, the show opened on 30 October and runs until 24 January 2027. Curator Burcu Fikreto\u011flu put it together, according to the museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read more: Restored Roman Odeon of Patras Returns to Cultural Life<\/p>\n The South African artist William Kentridge, born in Johannesburg in 1955, works across drawing, film and theatre, as well as opera. In this show, his works sit beside ancient objects tied to music, death and transformation.<\/p>\n First, rust-coloured steel figures and paper tree silhouettes by William Kentridge stand among the kouroi, sphinxes and grave monuments. They then lead visitors to the central hall, where a diorama uses the 19th-century stage trick known as \u201cPepper\u2019s Ghost\u201d.<\/p>\n In addition, the antiquities on show include a Corinthian red-figure krater (c. 400\u2013375 BC) showing Orpheus playing the lyre. An ivory lyre from the Menidi tholos tomb, dating to the 14th\u201313th century BC, joins it.<\/p>\n A white kylix by the Pistoxenos Painter (c. 470 BC), on loan from the Acropolis Museum, also features. It shows Orpheus raising his lyre as a Thracian woman attacks him.<\/p>\n The exhibition opened on the eve of the premiere of Monteverdi\u2019s L\u2019Orfeo, which William Kentridge directs for the Greek National Opera at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. Like the show, it has international backing, as a co-production with Glyndebourne and New York\u2019s Metropolitan Opera.<\/p>\n Culture Minister Lina Mendoni called the show \u201cemblematic\u201d. In her words, the works \u201cconverse with selected antiquities\u201d around the myth of Orpheus and \u201clife, love, death\u201d.<\/p>\n For his part, William Kentridge said he was \u201cvery happy\u201d to show his work in Athens. The museum itself, which earlier extended its Mycenaean exhibition, faces its own transformation as the Chipperfield extension moves ahead.<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
Orpheus meets the museum\u2019s ancient treasures<\/h3>\n
Linked to the Greek National Opera\u2019s L\u2019Orfeo<\/h3>\n