The Benaki Museum Winter Exhibition

The Benaki Museum Winter Exhibition is an annual exhibition cycle opening in the second half of January at the Benaki Museum, Athens. The museum was founded in 1930 by Antonis Benakis from his family’s collections gathered across the eastern Mediterranean. The 2026 cycle runs from 18 January to 7 March.

The cycle runs across two sites. The main building on Vasilissis Sofias, next to the National Garden, holds the permanent collections of Greek art from the prehistoric through the post-Byzantine periods, including iconography rooms and Ottoman-period domestic collections, alongside smaller temporary exhibitions. The Pireos Street annex, a former industrial building adapted by the museum in 2004, holds the larger contemporary art and photography exhibitions.

The 2026 cycle includes a textile show drawn from the Benaki’s reserve and Athens private collections at the main building, and a contemporary photography programme at the Pireos annex running through to early March. The main building is open 10:00 to 18:00, closed Tuesdays; the Pireos annex is open 10:00 to 18:00, closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Members’ previews are held on Wednesday evenings before each opening.