The SNFCC Christmas World

The SNFCC Christmas World is an annual winter festival held at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre in Kallithea, funded by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and free of charge across past editions. The 2026–27 edition opens in late November 2026 and runs through 7 January; recent editions have opened on 29 November and 1 December respectively.

The festival centres on an ice rink on the Canal, open daily from ten in the morning until ten at night, with the Dancing Fountains behind it. The Festival of Light presents installations by Greek and international artists through Stavros Niarchos Park; the previous winter’s cycle, BioLumina, featured six commissioned works set among the park’s olives and lawns. Eighty illuminated plane trees line the Canal and three decorated firs stand at the Agora.

New Year’s Eve brings fireworks over Faliron Bay, extended skating on the Canal until two in the morning, and the SNF RUN First Run — a race through the park to open the year. The campus was completed by Renzo Piano in 2016 and is shared by the Greek National Opera and the National Library of Greece, both on a single terrace above the bay. The full programme is published in autumn.