Chios Island - Architecture
23-09-2012 16:05
"It happens sometimes to imagine myself in my form, as one of the countless pebbles lying on Chios beaches. A stone separated by a mountain, wondering around, shifted by the incidents and events, tested by ups and downs, bitterness and slavery of the Greek race. A stone heated by the Mediterranean sun, the consecration of orthodoxy and the sensitivity of warm Ionia. Once, I have the impression that all the historical events throughout the island live inside me. I have the illusion as if I was a captain who sails from the ancient beaches. And I guess that thought this endless Odyssey I have arrived at the point of understanding the meaning of modern Greek culture."
These are the words of confession Dimitris Pikionis' Academic Architect that shape the island along with the masterpieces of his drawings. His creations not only reflect deep knowledge of a teacher, rich emotional world, greatness of soul and art, but also give us information for rich folk architecture of this blessed island called Chios. The architecture differs from village to village, even from the capital town of Chios, dominated by neoclassical and elitist mansions with roofed balconies, alternations of colours with infrared and yellowish hues of ochre stones with the characteristic grey-pink local marble, with the serene beauty of the plain where the unique aroma emerges from environment.
Elegant old Genoese mansions made of local stone, courtyards paved with pebbles, fountains and overgrown gardens with citrus protected by tall walls and gates. The Byzantine churches scattered in the town of Chios and villages with the major mental uplift area New Monastery with brilliant mosaics and worldwide famous masterpieces of hagiography, fill the background of particular architectural importance of Chios, with the imposing elegant bellowers of all the churches built with the distinctive local stone in baroque style and many picturesque chapels.
A different but equally interesting architecture is found in traditional villages of Chios, in the beautiful medieval castle-villages, Mastic villages, the “alive villages of yesterday”, with its narrow streets and dense structure, arches, arrows, and the terraces of circular turrets, well-preserved and inhabited by people who keep the tradition, combining the romance of the past with the modern life.
Particularly impressive are the three houses of the village painted Pyrgi, with geometric shapes and subjects from nature in white-black scratch characterize the facades of the houses of the village with the unusual culture and rich folklore.
Anavatos village dominates the medieval natural fortress built on the acropolis, west of the capital, a unique image of peace. Wild environment subjected to legends and history, background for the Massacre of Chios.
There are natural caves, mainly in the Olympus and the Holy Galas, imposing castles, scattered across the island to complete this unique landscape with different images, capturing the senses of the visitors waiting to explore its secrets.