Maria Callas's favourite coat, a wig from a role as Medea and scores of personal letters bought at auction will find a home in a new Greek museum dedicated to the diva, officials said yesterday.
"She is the most famous Greek person of the last two centuries. She is a truly mythical person," the deputy mayor of Athens, Mr Fotis Papathanasiou, said.
The city of Athens spent 43 million drachmas (£99,400) of its own and state money to buy scores of relics that once belonged to the legendary Greek-American soprano at a Paris auction in December.
Born Maria Kalogeropoulos in New York, Callas first performed in Greece when she was 18. She went on to conquer the opera stage in Italy and France and died in her Paris apartment, aged 53, in 1977.
Adored in Greece even by those who are not opera fans, Callas is a symbol of a bygone era of international Greek jet-setting - when ship-owners and show business stars partied in the Mediterranean and made headlines around the world.
The relics to be housed in the museum include a pair of gloves Callas wore during performances, the wig she donned when playing Luigi Cherubini's Medea and a chinchilla-lined coat she loved, Mr Papathanasiou said.
The star of the Paris auction, an 18th century Italian oil painting entitled The Holy Family, fetched about $120,000.
Bought by an anonymous bidder, the painting, given to Callas by her husband Giovanni Meneghini, became a good-luck charm for the soprano, who would not sing unless it was in her dressing room.