Listed 12 sub titles with search on: Sights for wider area of: "KOZANI Province KOZANI" .
KOZANI (Town) MAKEDONIA WEST
The architectural style of Kozani's urban residences reached its full expression
around the middle of the 18th century, a time when the town's merchants and owners
of small factories were acquiring considerable financial power and their way of
life became more urbanized, influenced by trends from central Europe.
On the ground floor around the spacious flagstone courtyard, were
arranged the 'aniliako' (the sunny, winter sitting room), the cellar, the storeroom,
as well as the 'kafe-ondas' and the 'mousafir-ondas' (where guests were welcomed).
The wooden staircase led to the 'hayiati' on the upper floor which
closed with a trapdoor. On two sides of the raised 'doxatos' there were summer
sitting rooms, a larder and the 'kalokairinos ondas' or summer formal area, which
formed a single space with the 'doxatos' and the 'hayiati'. Usually the utility
rooms (the lavatory, the well, and the storerooms), were found in the courtyard,
but they could also have been located in the vaulted basement.
In times of danger the inhabitants used to escape from a passage located
in the small courtyard to the rear of the house, which communicated with the courtyards
of neighbors and linked up with the town's road network.
The sumptuously decorated
mansions of Kozani were enclosed by stone walls punctuated with a few barred openings
on the outer sides, while in the upper floor, the enclosed balconies and the covered
porches usually looked onto the inner courtyard.
Kozani's surviving mansions
Only three of the magnificent mansions built by the prosperous 18th
century merchants of Kozani are still standing today. Typical examples of both
the architecture
of the times and the tendency towards ornately carved woodwork
and decorative
painting, the mansions of Georgos Lassanis (second half of the 18th century),
Grigorios Vourkas (1748) and Vourkas-Katsikas (1762) represent the fashion of
the second half of the 18th century.
The mansions that have perished
Most of the mansions that were built in 18th century Kozani have been destroyed.
The Kozani Folk Art
Museum contains parts of some woodcarvings from the Harisis Trantas mansion
(late 17th century), which are closely related stylistically to the woodcarvings
in the church of Ayios Nikolaos and of the 'kalos ondas' of the Tziminakis mansion
(late 18th century), which have been removed to the Benaki
Museum in Athens (gift of E. Stathatou). The Kozani Folk Art Museum has also
acquired the 'bas-ondas' of the mansion belonging to G. Sakellariou (late 17th
century) with its ornate painted decoration.
By kind permission of:Ekdotike Athenon
This text is cited Nov 2003 from the Macedonian Heritage URL below, which contains images.
AGIA PARASKEVI (Village) KOZANI
Large, three-aisled basilica (dimensions 32 x 14 m.) with a narthex
at the west end and a transverse aisle, triconch in plan, in front of the bema.
Three attached buildings were uncovered, one of which functioned as a baptistery
with a built-in font. The floors of the church are covered with mosaics decorated
with floral patterns and animal figures. The basilica is dated to the beginning
of the 6th century A.D.
Excavations on the site started in 1964 and were comppleted in 1971.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture URL below, which also contains image.
AIANI (Small town) KOZANI
The church, which once stood in the centre of the modern village of
Aiane, was the catholicon (main church) of a monastery, at least during the Turkish
occupation. In its last phase it was single-aisled, with a tribelon (triple arched
opening) between the aisle and narthex. The roof was constructed in various levels,
but it seems that its original plan was different. The foundation of the monument
is dated to the 10th or the 11th century. The interior was decorated with wall
paintings dated to 1624, which were covered by a second layer of frescoes in 1877.
The church collapsed in 1996 after an earthquake.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture URL below, which also contains image.
The eventual excavation of Servia will reveal the Mystra of Macedonia,
for the ruins of walls, churches, and houses can be made out among trees at the
top of a naturally fortified hill which overlooks the valley of the Haliakmon
River.
The walls encircling the 11th century acropolis descend the hillside
in tiers, encompassing churches like those of Ayioi Theodoroi and Ioannis Prodromos
(Saint John the Baptist) and the now ruined Metropolis, all of which date to the
11th century.
The Metropolis, a large three-aisled basilica with narthex, was dedicated
to Saint Demetrios; two layers of wall-paintings still survive and bear witness
to a brilliant historic past, though they are exposed to destruction by rain and
human hands, as reconstruction of the monument would be an extremely difficult
undertaking.
By kind permission of:Ekdotike Athenon
This text is cited Nov 2003 from the Macedonian Heritage URL below, which contains image.
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