Heraklion’s Walls Festival returns for a third year, closing with composer Nicola Piovani
The Municipality of Heraklion will hold the third Walls Festival (Φεστιβάλ των Τειχών) from Monday, August 31 to Thursday, September 10, 2026, with more than 35 music, cinema, theatre, dance and visual arts events staged across the city’s Venetian fortifications, organizers said.
Mayor Alexis Kalokairinos and Deputy Mayor for Culture Rena Papadaki-Skalidi are due to give a press conference in the coming days to present the festival’s full details, according to the announcement. The event began in 2024 and has drawn thousands of visitors each year to the city’s Venetian Walls.
This year’s edition is the first organized under a Programmatic Contract for Cultural Development signed by the Municipality of Heraklion, the Region of Crete and the Ministry of Culture, aimed at protecting and promoting the Venetian fortification and the Neoria (Venetian shipsheds) of Heraklion.
Performances will take place at the Plateia Promachona Iisou, the Stoa Makasi, the Pantokratora, Agiou Georgiou and Vitouri gates, the “Nikos Kazantzakis” and “Manos Hatzidakis” garden theatres, the Agiou Andrea and Vithleem bastions, Plateies Eleftherias and 18 Anglon, the refreshment area and lower square of the Pantokratora bastion, and the Vithleem summer municipal cinema. Most events have free admission.
Program highlights
The festival opens with hundreds of drones lighting up the sky over the Promachonas Iisou, followed shortly after by a performance at the “Nikos Kazantzakis” garden theatre in which singers Dimitra Galani and Eleni Tsaligopoulou appear with the Estudiantina Neas Ionias Volou.
The Greek National Opera presents “À Paris tous les deux,” a mixed program combining cinema and opera, while the Stoa Makasi hosts the opening of a permanent exhibition of National Resistance memorabilia. Other acts include Konstantinos Vita performing the poetry of Yannis Ritsos, Stavros Lantsias presenting “Waving Hands,” and jazz musician Petros Klampanis. Electronic music will feature at the Vitouri gate through the Eclipso Festival, alongside a series of Cretan traditional performances that organizers say will bring the island’s music into dialogue with Mediterranean, flamenco, punk rock and contemporary styles. The events calendar for Crete lists further cultural gatherings taking place around the island this season.
The festival closes with a concert by Nicola Piovani, the Oscar-winning composer known for his score to Roberto Benigni’s film “La Vita è Bella.” Piovani returns to Heraklion 44 years after Manos Hatzidakis’ Musical August to present “The Voyages of Odysseus.” Similar milestone celebrations have been marked elsewhere on the island this year, including the Ano Viannos olive festival, which also reached its third year.
The full program is available as an e-book on the Heraklion Culture website.
Tickets and admission
Free-entry tickets and paid tickets are distributed through ticketservices.gr. A limited number of free tickets and paid tickets will also be available at the box office of the “Nikos Kazantzakis” garden theatre for residents unable to book online.
Reduced tickets are available to students, members of large families, the unemployed, people with disabilities, those over 65, and children up to age 6. General admission at the Vithleem summer cinema costs €4, not including the online booking fee. Where no ticket or free-entry voucher is specified, admission is free, and free audio guides will be provided for guided tours. Attendees are asked to arrive 30 minutes before a performance’s scheduled start; a printed or electronic ticket, where required, along with proof of eligibility for any discount, must be shown at entry. Seat reservations for people not present at the venue are not permitted, and entry after a performance has begun is not allowed.
Further information is available through the festival’s Facebook and Instagram pages, or by phone at 2810242977, at the “Nikos Kazantzakis” garden theatre box office, daily from 10:00 to 19:00.
