Andros. The Little England of the Cyclades by Denis Roubien

Author:Denis Roubien [Roubien, Denis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Greece, Travel, Andros
Publisher: Unknown
Published: 2018-05-22T23:00:00+00:00

AT THE NOBLE CHORA

Then, the programme had a visit to Chora, one of Greece's finest neoclassical ensembles. The result, of course, of the wealth that shipping has brought to the island and gave it the nickname 'Little England'. When Greece became an independent state in 1830, classicism was supposed to form the link with the ancient past. Therefore, public buildings were made according to this style and the upper classes adopted it with enthusiasm in their mansions. The wealthy ship-owners of Andros were among them. On the other hand, the rest of the population usually integrated some characteristic elements into the insisting traditional architecture, which was better adapted to the country’s climate conditions and the owners’ financial means. That explains why in the rest of the Cyclades (apart from Syros, the other island of ship-owners), traditional architecture prevails.

The present settlement is an extension of the much smaller medieval settlement. It was built by the Venetians who, under the direction of Marino Dandolo, conquered Andros in 1207. Since then, Andros has been part of the Duchy of the Archipelago, which was based in Naxos and lasted until the death of the last duke in 1566. Then all the islands except Tinos were officially incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, which had in fact conquered them in 1537, leaving however the duke in his place.

Marino Dandolo also built the castle on the islet on the edge of the peninsula, known as 'Kato Kastro' (lower castle), as opposed to 'Apano Kastro' (upper castle), the castle of Faneromeni. Inside the castle lived the governor of the island with his guard and here the inhabitants of Chora took refuge in case of a raid.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.