ARCHITECTURE

Ithaki's buildings are influenced both by the various conquerors who invaded the island and by the historical and environmental conditions. Information that can help us to reach accurate conclusions exist since the venetian period. At that time there are three settlements on the island (Anogi, Exogi and Paleohora).

In all these settlements the architectural style has a defensive character (few and small openings/windows on the walls and embrasures).

Mansion


The houses are either away from each other or they are built the one next to the other. The materials used are wood and stone; there are no balconies by fear of the pirates' incursions and every house, which has one or two storeys, consists of the main building and the warehouses which are attached to it. The entrance is at the broader side of the house and faces the east.

 

At the end of the Venetian Occupation when the pirates' raids stopped balconies begin to be built and the architectural style becomes more decorative and during the British Occupation has many neo-classical elements. Most of the houses are built in a Γ or Π shape and the dominating colours are ochre, red and white.

The mansions are usually two-storey buildings in a Π shape, elaborately decorated inside and outside, with Ionian capitals elements taken from neo-classicism and Renaissance.

Old house

After the 1953 earthquakes most of the old houses were destroyed and the new ones were built following a simple architectural style keeping, however, the basic elements of Ithaki's architectural tradition, i.e. the rectangular shape, the balcony and the tiles on the roof.

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