TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE OF IKARIA

The traditional Ikarian house and the structure of the building environment of the island in general are almost unknown, in contrast to the folk architecture and the structure of the settlements of other Aegean islands, which have been studied thoroughly and are well-known both in Greece and abroad. Several reasons could be behind this. One of the main reasons is the fact that the folk architecture of other islands, such as the Cyclades, served as a basic element of promotion of their great tourist development in the second half of the 20th century (Mykonos, Santorini etc.) in contrast to what happened in Ikaria. But perhaps the most important reason is the uniqueness of Ikarian architecture as opposed to that of all the other Aegean islands, but also its essential and constitutive characteristic: its obscurity and lack of media promotion. In this book an attempt is made to record the basic types, forms and distinctive features of traditional Ikarian housing until the prevalence of modern building methods, i.e. until about 1950, since the decisive appearance of reinforced concrete and the modern forms of housing that it imposed. At the same time, an attempt is made to describe and interpret the peculiar structure of the island’s settlements, as well as a brief reference to other buildings and structures of particular interest.