Cycladic architecture
As Cycladic architecture (also: Cycladic architecture, Κυκλαδίτικη αρχιτεκτονική) is the architecture of the Cyclades called, they can also be found on the adjacent Sporades , so one is inclined from the island architecture of Greece to speak. However, the white and blue cubic houses without ornamentation are not found on any other islands in Greece, so this name is not correct.
topography
The distance between the Cyclades islands is small, so that there is visual contact in almost any weather. The name is derived from the word "Kyklos" for circle. In total there are 28 larger and 200 smaller islands grouped around the island of Delos , which was an important religious center in ancient times, where Apollo and Artemis were worshiped. Today the island of Delos is uninhabited.
The Cyclades have little wood, but many stones, be it limestone such as marble or of volcanic origin such as gneiss or granite. Because there is no earth, numerous flower pots with bushes are set up.
All islands are very mountainous and the villages are accessed via steep stairs. Most of the islands have a ban on motorized traffic. The use of bicycles and donkeys, however, is permitted and well organized.
history
In the early Bronze Age, the specific Cycladic culture developed on the islands , large parts of the archipelago came under the influence of the Minoan culture in the Middle Bronze Age and also took over architectural elements from Crete , as can be seen in particular in the city that was buried by a volcanic eruption and is therefore in an excellent state Akrotiri shows. Later evidence of architectural relevance in the Cyclades comes from 490 BC. And are assigned to the Doric architecture. At that time there was a real construction boom with regional influences.
The raids of pirates and pirates who made the islands unsafe after the end of the Roman Empire can be regarded as the beginning of today's Cycladic architecture. From then on, the population moved into narrow settlements, mostly to a single point on the island. The central place of each island is usually called Chora .
The Venetian rule in the southern Aegean in the Duchy of Archipelagos from 1207 to 1383 brought new influences to the region, including in architecture. The Venetians built fortresses on high places and on rocky outcrops. The houses of their administrators were significantly larger and generally more spacious than the agricultural buildings of the local population. When the duchy slowly declined until its fall in 1579, piracy and cultural decline returned. The subsequent Ottoman rule did not affect the architecture.
The economic boom through trade in the 19th century brought money to the larger islands, on which splendid mansions of the trading families were built. They were based on the Venetian architecture in the classicism style. Tourism has dominated the Cyclades since the middle of the 20th century. Thanks to strict building regulations, most of the new buildings for hotels and other tourist facilities were designed in such a way that they fit into the traditional architecture.
features
Characteristic features of the Cycladic architecture are cubic forms, flat roofs that often once served as cisterns, and narrow, winding streets that provide shade. Numerous churches and chapels as well as windmills and pigeon houses complete the appearance of the respective island.
The residential building in the Cyclades
The houses have a very geometric shape with no decorative ornaments, neither chiseled nor painted. The basis of every house is a rectangular floor plan of 3 m × 4 m, the ceiling height is 2.5 m - 3 m per floor. The houses are always oriented to the southeast, the walls are 60 to 80 centimeters thick for reasons of thermal insulation, and the windows are small for the same reasons. Despite the narrow buildings, windows are always placed on both sides to allow ventilation and cooling down of Meltemi . The white color repels heat. Whitening with lime takes place annually, usually before Easter, in winter the rain washes them off gradually. The floors of the rooms were initially made of rammed earth, later stone slabs were given preference.
Typical and continued to this day is the agglutinating construction method consisting of individual rooms that were added and built up as required according to the structure of the terrain. This creates narrow, winding alleys, stairs and passages. Building parts built next to each other are usually built with a common wall. Elevated buildings often have external stairs and balconies. Agricultural buildings are mostly grouped on one level around a small courtyard. A two-story construction is typical in the interior of the villages. Higher buildings only appear in Venetian architecture or with the economic boom since the mid-20th century.
Special features on Santorini
Special conditions on the island of Santorin , the southernmost of the Cyclades islands, led to a special expression of the architecture. Since the island consists almost entirely of volcanic tuff rock, the cave dwelling has been proven to be an early construction but is still in operation today. All types of buildings can be found on the island, from unprocessed natural caves to detached houses.
The simplest case is an existing cave; When walls are worked on, columns are supported by walling and the cave is closed off by a front wall, human intervention in the structure begins. Caves of these two types are only used as storage areas. The next step is to expand caves without major changes in shape or structure. Simple barrel vaults were hollowed out to secure the ceiling . A layer of lime on the surface had a disinfectant effect, but above all symbolized the occupation by humans. These hardly worked caves are still preserved today as sacred places, the cave church of Messeria shows this type of the simplest possible architecture. The expansion continues in artificially hollowed out adjoining rooms, more complex vaults and, above all, in which the cave is extended to the open air with additions. Houses of this type are still inhabited on the island of Santorini, especially in the traditional towns of Emporio and Karterados.
Santorini caves show a great variety of architectural elements. The soft stone turned into “columns, walls, niches, benches, steps, light and air shafts, water reservoirs, ground pits, so-called secret chambers, corridors, room levels, penetrations, window and door openings, frames, arches, ramps and a myriad of amorphous ones and not geometrically tangible sculptural cavities ”. All hollowed out from the crowd as “negative architecture”.
During the Venetian occupation of the island as part of the Duchy of Archipelagos , fortresses were built that are only preserved as ruins. Around 1806, Catholics founded a settlement south of Skaros and built the church Ieros Naos Agiou Ioannou tou Baptistou in 1823 . The catholic quarter, which became the origin of today's island capital Fira , developed around them . It has strong elements in the style of the western Mediterranean. In the course of the 19th century, mansions, known as captains' houses, came to the island as a new architectural style. They have cubic shapes and are believed to be derived from models from the Renaissance. In Oia they form a whole district. In other places there are some of the mansions, they are mostly being run as hotels, which have been extensively renovated.
The ceiling shape from the cave was transferred to free-standing buildings, which is why the barrel vault is the traditional roof shape on Santorini. After the earthquake of 1956, building regulations were issued early on that protect the townscape from oversized structures. To date, normal buildings on the island are only allowed to have a height of 7.15 m, which in practice means a two-story construction. A third floor with a maximum height of 8.50 m is only permitted if it has a traditional barrel vault.
reception
General
Unlike Corfu, Rhodes and Athens, which tourism discovered very early, tourism in the Cyclades only gained importance in the period between the world wars, until then it was mostly quiet and secluded. The main source of income for the residents of the Cyclades is traditionally shipping. The quiet location on the smallest islands of the group has been preserved to this day, as these can offer little variety for visitors due to their size. Andros is also an artist colony of Athenian and local painters. In addition to the interest in light, the rural motifs or the striking landscapes, the artists' “ urban escape ” was also led by the desire for a simple, secluded life.
From the 19th century onwards, the islands attracted intellectuals who experienced the microcosm of an island through a longer stay and captured it in literature or photography.
The architecture in particular
After the Austrian architect Adolf Loos stopped in July 1902 on his honeymoon in the Cyclades, he made regular trips there with his building school. The Cycladic architecture had a major influence on his idea of "ornamentless architecture" and from there on the architecture of functionalist modernism. Even Le Corbusier studied the architecture of the islands.
Architects are always looking for contemporary interpretations, from 1966 to 1977 Iannis Xenakis built a holiday home for himself on Amorgos . It is one of the rare examples where Cycladic architecture has been translated into an organic language of forms.
In the present, reference is less to the design minimalism and more to the energetic advantages of Cycladic architecture - Steven Chu described this as exemplary in the face of global warming.
literature
- Gottfried Gruben : Cycladic architecture . In: Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst , Volume 23 1972, Prestl Verlag, pp. 6–36
- Dimitri Philippides: Greek Traditional Architecture. Vol 2 - Cyclades (Original title: Hellēnikē paradosiakē architektonikē / 2: Kyklades , translated by Alexandra Doumas, David Hardy, Philip Ramp). Melissa publishing 1983
- Efthymios Warlamis: The Origin of Architecture from the Cave . In: Daidalos - Architektur, Kunst, Kultur , born 1984, pp. 14–31
Individual evidence
- ↑ Manfred Schuller: Doric architecture on the Cyclades , Technical University of Munich
- ↑ Warlamis 1984, p. 14
- ↑ Warlamis 1984, p. 18
- ↑ Philippides 1983, p. 171 F.
- ^ Nicoletta Adams: Santorin . DuMont Reiseverlag 2002, ISBN 3-7701-5930-6 , pp. 137-139
- ↑ White Roofs Slow Global Warming on Econews.gr
literature
- Gottfried Gruben: Cycladic architecture. Prestl, 1972