History

Architecture in the Aegean islands  is a wonderful phenomenon for its richness and diversity. Settlements that began to be built with simple means and humble intentions developed into renowned works of art, of unique completeness. The basic rules that applied during their construction, the logic, the economy, the practical ways and the respect for the natural laws, in combination with the local factors and the historical fate of each place, led to the creation of villages and cities inextricably linked with the natural habitat.

Some Cycladic islands have always had a security problem  disproportionately large, compared to the rest of Greece. Piracy, sometimes in recession and sometimes in upsurge, forced the inhabitants to a constant defense, under all regimes and continuously from the Middle Ages until after the Greek Revolution. It was natural, then, for the architecture to take on a defensive character. The settlements were built in natural fortified places or around a castle, or the whole settlement was crammed into the narrow area of a fortified enclosure. A key role in the developments was played by the Venetians and the Genoese who made a systematic effort to defend their possessions in the second half of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century.

In  On the other hand, the settlement represents a completely special urban planning proposal. The  castle of Antiparos  built by Lord Lorentano is the settlement itself. A single, autonomous, residential unit. The whole complex was arranged around a square courtyard, in the center of which stood a central tower. The base is saved from this tower. The perimeter consisted of 24 two-storey houses with a continuous high external wall three meters thick, without balconies or large windows to decorate its facade. The access to the houses with the marble doors was made from the inner courtyard, while there was only one exit, to the south, which was closed by a Gothic gate that survives to this day. Later, 24 two-storey houses were built around this central core and this new district was named Xopyrgos.