Now in its 52nd year, the Aisxylia Festival is one of the longest-running festivals in the country. Since 1975, it has consistently put Eleusis on the map as a cultural destination and landmark.

The Municipality, capitalizing on the city’s modern architectural heritage, will host this year’s festival for the second time at the former IRIS factory on Elefsis Beach, which has been transformed into a contemporary, multipurpose venue. Landmarks of the site include the chimney and the factory’s two oldest buildings, which have been designated as protected modern monuments, as they are representative examples of interwar industrial architecture. Where industry once flourished, culture now thrives.

The 2026 Aisxylia Festival will run from August 30 to October 3 and will feature concerts, theatrical performances, a contemporary art exhibition, and film screenings.

The festival will open with a concert by Thodoris Voutsikakis and Lina Nikolakopoulou, who will …light up the “Lucky Star” in Eleusis at the Eleusis Archaeological Site on August 30. The IRIS multipurpose venue will then welcome the public with the opening of the contemporary art exhibition “Second Skin” by Margarita Petrova, curated by art historian Bia Papadopoulou. The exhibition explores constructed gender stereotypes and the way in which they are inscribed upon the individual, shaping their image, consciousness, and, ultimately, their very identity. The rest of the Festival’s events will also be hosted at the same venue.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

THODORIS VOUTSIKAKIS – LINA NIKOLAKOPOULOU

“LUCKY STAR”

Sunday, August 30

Start time: 9:00 p.m.

ELEFSINA ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE

Free admission with an admission ticket*

“Second Skin”

Solo exhibition by artist Margarita Petrova

Curated by: Bia Papadopoulou

Opening: Monday, August 31, at 8:00 p.m.

IRIS—Elefsis Beach

Exhibition Dates: August 31–October 3, 2026

Free Admission

Exhibition Details

Title: “Second Skin”

Curated by: Bia Papadopoulou

Exhibition Dates: August 31 through October 3, 2026.

Venue: IRIS
Opening: Monday, August 31, 2026, at 8:00 p.m.

Performance: Sunday, September 20, 2026, at 8:00 p.m. (duration: 30 minutes)

Panos Vlachos

Concert

Wednesday, September 2

Start time: 9:00 p.m.

IRIS – ELEFSINA BEACH

Happy Days by Samuel Beckett

Sychrono Theatro

Thursday, September 3

Start time: 9:00 p.m., Running time: 75 minutes

IRIS – ELEFSINA BEACH

Lysistrata by Aristophanes

Ancient Comedy

Sunday, September 6

Start time: 9:00 p.m., Running time: 120 minutes

IRIS – ELEFSINA BEACH

Zorz Saris’s The Tight Shoes

Children’s Theater

Monday, September 7

Start time: 8:30 p.m., Running time: 80 minutes

IRIS – ELEFSINA BEACH

Free admission with an admission ticket*

Alcestis by Euripides

Ancient Drama

Wednesday, September 9

Start time: 9:00 p.m., Running time: 120 minutes

IRIS – ELEFSINA BEACH

Theatraki Concerts

Thursday, September 10 & Friday, September 11

Start time: 9:00 p.m.

THEATRAKI – MAGOULAS PARK

Free admission

RIGHT CLIQUE

Rap / Hip-Hop

NEFESI

Traditional music — Asia Minor, the Aegean, Macedonia, Thrace, the Arvanitic tradition

NATALIA ROUTSOLIA

Art Music / Pop / Folk-inspired

Friday 11 September

CINELEFSIS

Rock / Atmospheric / Cinematic

CONY

Jazz / Blues / Rock 

OMEGA BAND

Art Rock

Independent States

Contemporary Drama

Sunday, September 13

Start time: 9:00 p.m., Running time: 120 minutes

IRIS – ELEFSINA BEACH

The Drama International Film Festival on the Road

Film

Tuesday, September 15

Start time: 9:00 p.m., Running time: 122’

Eleusis Open-Air Cinema

Free admission with an admission ticket*

400 Cassettes, Thelgi Petraki – Running time 14’

Or How to Disappear, Giorgos Angelopoulos – Running time 23’

Loudias, Akis Polyzos – Running time 30’

Requiem in Salt, Sylvia Nikolaidi – Nicholas Iordanou – Running time 16’

The One Who Once Existed, Kostis Theodosopoulos – Running time 24’

Noi, Neritan Zinziria – Running time 15’

Pagan 

Concert

Wednesday 16 September

Start time 21:00

IRIS- ELEFSINA BEACH

Broken Vein – Yannis Oikonomidis (2025)

Film

Thursday, September 17

Start time: 9:00 p.m., Running time: 127’

Elefsina Summer Cinema

General admission: 5€

Dimitris Mystakidis “30 Years of Mitsos”

Concert

Friday, September 18

Start time: 9:00 p.m.

IRIS – ELEFSINA BEACH

The tomb within me- Margarita Petrova

Performance 

Sunday 20 September

Start Time 20:00

IRIS- ELEFSINA BEACH

Admission Free

Bear’s Den—Chrysianna Papadaki & Stergios Dinopoulos (2025)

Film

Monday, September 21

Start time: 9:00 p.m., Running time: 127’

Eleusis Summer Cinema

General admission: 5€

Electra – Michalis Kakogiannis (1962)

Film

Tuesday, September 22

Start time: 9:00 p.m., Running time: 110’

Eleusis Summer Cinema

General admission: 5€

It’s a Long Road – Pantelis Voulgaris (1998)

Film

Wednesday, September 23

Start time: 9:00 p.m., Running time: 132’

Eleusis Summer Cinema

General admission: 5€

Admission to the events of the 2026 Aisxylia Festival is free, or you can purchase a regular ticket for 12 euros or a discounted ticket for 5 euros.