Listed 6 sub titles with search on: Sights for wider area of: "KASTORIA Town MAKEDONIA WEST" .
KASTORIA (Town) MAKEDONIA WEST
The Turkish traveler Evliyia Celebi describes the mansions of the
Greek quarter in 17th century Kastoria as being: "grand seraglios of a strange
and curious nature. All the houses on the shores of the lake possess boatsheds
and enclosed balconies. The seraglios are mansions with ports, and with one floor
above the other in the Constantinople style"
The lavishly decorated
houses in Kastoria, which were built by wealthy merchants
from the late 17th into the 19th century, have layouts which evolved from simple
rectangles into a cross enclosed within a square, without undergoing any change
in the arrangement or function of the rooms.
The ground floor contains the auxiliary and storage spaces, the mezzanine
a central area with a staircase and the winter rooms. The, usually two, best rooms
on the upper storey are arranged around a central reception area ('doxatos') with
'krevates' and 'kioskia', special raised daises with wooden railings.
The ground floor and mezzanine are built of stone and have only a
few openings (air shafts, small windows), while the upper storey and the covered
balconies are made of lighter material (varnished 'tsatmas', half timbering filled
with various types of rubble, and plastered), particularly the section overlooking
the lake or the inner courtyard, and illuminated by a double row of windows.
By kind permission of:Ekdotike Athenon
This text is cited Nov 2003 from the Macedonian Heritage URL below, which contains image.
The mansion of Kyr-Yiannakis Nantzis is located in the Doultso district,
in the vicinity of the church of Ayios Nikolaos, and must have been built around
1750. A painting in the wood-paneled room on the second floor bears the date 1796.
The arrangement of the rooms and the plan
of the house are especially unusual. The ground floor has a porch supported by
three columns. An outdoor staircase that closes with a trapdoor provides access
to the first floor.
Wall-paintings
with plant motifs combined with buildings are preserved in a small vaulted room
with the varnished and painted ceiling. The rooms with the most extravagant decoration
are the 'doxatos' and the 'kalos ondas' on the second floor, which are presided
over by a painting of Constantinople amidst images from the plant and animal kingdoms
(birds, lions), which are repeated in the wood carvings.
By kind permission of:Ekdotike Athenon
This text is cited Nov 2003 from the Macedonian Heritage URL below, which contains image.
The Tsiatsapas mansion is situated in the Apozari district on the
north shore of the lake. It was built at the start of the 18th century by a well-to-do
man named Moralis. Tsiatsapas must have ordered repairs in 1754, as stated in
the inscription on the west side and on the mural in the best room.
This is a grand mansion with a rectangular plan and three floors in
addition to the ground floor. Although the rooms on the third floor have been
lavishly decorated
with wall-paintings and wood carvings, they have been irreparably damaged at certain
points.
The painting of an imaginary city on the wall of the 'doxatos' (parlour)
and the stylized depiction of Constantinople
in the south-west room, dated by its inscription to 1798, are not only impressive
but important to our understanding of the folk
painting of the era.
By kind permission of:Ekdotike Athenon
This text is cited Nov 2003 from the Macedonian Heritage URL below, which contains image.
The mansion of Nerantzis Aivazis in the Doultso district has been
converted into a folk art museum. Although it contains no inscriptions to date
its construction, it must have been built during the second half of the 18th century.
Its plan
takes the form of a Greek pi but it lacks the usual projecting enclosed balconies.
It consists of a ground floor, mezzanine and upper floor. On the mezzanine,
the so-called "fur workshop"has a painted
ceiling and a concave cornice below it depicting buildings in a landscape.
Plant motifs ornament the walls of the 'doxatos' on the second floor as well as
the walls of the 'kalos ondas', on which Venice is portrayed "according to
the artist's imagination".
By kind permission of:Ekdotike Athenon
This text is cited Nov 2003 from the Macedonian Heritage URL below, which contains image.
Foundation of the Hellenic World
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