The Architecture of Sifnos
 The
Cycladic architecture
maybe has known its best expression in this beautiful island,
Sifnos. Here the bright white color attracts the eye, while the
homogeneous cubical volumes which are spread along the island and
the dry store walls, which follow the land’s morphology and break
its surface in horizontal zones, prove once more the reality of
nature in matters of architecture.
The
traditional settlements of Sifnos
are characterized by multiformity. For instance, the town planning
in Kastro is completely different that the other regions, because of
its defensive character. The settlement of
Kastro, in spite of the
years that have passed, still maintains unchangeable its medieval
character.
 The
main characteristic of the settlement is narrowness, the lack of
sites of common use, the few small courtyards and the narrow streets
with the shapeless widenings. The visitor still enters into Kastro
from its old entrances - arcades, the "lozies", which used to seal
in the past for the protection of the settlement like war towers. At
the internal arrangement of the settlement, the planning is quite
free and many of the streets are passing over the houses’ rooms. The
arrangement of the streets’ levels is such that in many cases
passing is possible by small bridges.
The houses of Kastro
are divided in two categories, the houses with narrow front sides,
and the mansions. The houses with the narrow front sides mainly
 of
the external ring are built the one next to the other and they form
the external part of the settlement. The narrow paved streets with
the low stone benches, the dark arcades, the old houses with the
wooden balconies, the blazons at the entrances, the ancient pillars
that were later used as architectural parts, the marble Roman urns
that one meets spread all over the village with the relief jewels,
the embrasures and the narrow courtyards of the houses, compose the
unique image of Kastro!
Most of the traditional settlements with the snowy-white cubic
buildings of Cycladic order, the paved narrow streets with the
limy joints, the hospitable courtyards with the snowy-white stone
benches and the scattered picturesque churches with
 the
white or blue domes and the fine bell-towers are accumulated at the
central plateau of the island, therefore their borders are not
visible, giving the impression of a continuous settlement without
any beginning or end. The traditional pedestrianized street starts
from Artemonas and goes up to
Katavati, passing through the
settlements of Ano Petali and
Apollonia, while it is also connected
also with Agios Loukas,
Exambella,
Kato Petali and
Kastro.
Artemonas is also famous for its mansions. All along the coastline
there are settlements that have been developed alongside of the
seaside. The first buildings were old potter’s workshops with
furnaces, which are built next to the beach in order to have direct
access to the boats that transported the ceramics all over Greece!
Many of these potter’s workshops are still open. The stacks and the
dovecots, which used to be used as farmers’ houses at the faraway
regions from the settlements, are one-room buildings with fiew
auxiliary rooms, such as cellars for the storing of products,
wine-press, stable, and oven and often threshing floors.
Traditional Settlements of Sifnos........... |
