Serifos
Architecture
Serifos is a significant representative of
the traditional Cycladic architecture.
Cubical houses, flat roofs, colourful wooden
windows, narrow paved alleys with white
seams, small courtyards, little churches
with sky-blue or white domes, all gathered
on hillsides or along the seaside, compose
the image of the island's architecture.
A gem of Serifos is its capital,
Chora, considered a characteristic
medieval castellated settlement, built
amphitheatrically on the rocky rise of
Livadi bay to be protected from the pirate
raids that were often during the antiquity.
Two Lodges (entrances) remain from this
medieval settlement to the present day, one
of which bears a blazon from the time of the
Venice Domination. At the apex of Chora
stands the
Kastro with remains of
the Venetian castle built in 1434 by the
Mikelis family. On the highest point of the
rock, the church of Agios Konstantinos and
of Agios Yiannis Theologos is located, built
in the cavity of a rock and, according to
tradition, on the remains of the ancient
temple of Athena.
 A
line of windmills existed at the entrance of
Chora. However, only two are preserved and
restored today, while visitors can see the
ruins of the others. In its interior, Chora
hides neighbourhoods with narrow-front two
or three storey houses connected between
them through mazy little alleys. Numerous
churches are scattered in the settlement.
Chora is divided in two districts, Pano
Chora and Kato Chora, while public areas are
very limited due to the "tight" building
structure. The Piatsa of Pano Chora (Town
Hall Square) is one of those public areas
and it was created after Chora's expansion
beyond the narrow limits of the Venetian
castle on the hilltop. The town hall is
housed in a neoclassical building.
In the southwest side of the island, in the
wider region of
Koutalas and of
Megalo Livadi, there are remains from
the period of the
mines’ exploitation (1880 – 1963): steel
loading ladders, bridges and small
stone-built houses, where the mine workers
were crammed in. Especially the settlement
of Megalo Livadi met significant growth
during the period of the mines’ operation,
since here there were schools, a chemical
laboratory, bakeries, tailor's shops,
shoemaker's shops - some of these buildings
are preserved - as well as the two storey
neoclassical building of the Chiller School,
which housed the mining company’s
headquarters and it is preserved to date.
In various parts of Serifos, apart from the
settlements, there are also isolated
buildings made of the local stone and
relating to the inhabitants’ main
occupations. These are called “katikies” and
comprise domestic as well as storage areas.
Here live farmers for as long as necessary
to finish their works in the fields, the
boundaries of which were determined by the
traditional dry walls also made of Serifos
stone.
Other isolated buildings are the
“krasokelia” (wine cellars) intended for the
processing of grapes and the storage of wine
and found near vineyards, the “kleftokelia”,
which were built in remote gorges and
generally in inaccessible locations for
protection from pirate raids and finally the
dovecotes for pigeon breeding. |
