Traditional Settlement Afytos

LocationAfytos

The wall-mounted inscriptions on the date of the construction of buildings, which are the most reliable testimonies, reveal the intense reconstruction of the settlement in the second half of the 19th century, a period during which it must have flourished. The old settlement nucleus of the settlement, following the natural development imposed by the morphology of the soil, developed around the church of St. Dimitrios (1857) and was to be completed by 1920 at the latest, and then the settlement began to grow south and west, little in the coastal zone until it reached its present form and size.

The properties are quite large, they have the necessary space for the auxiliary work or needs (stables, warehouses, ovens, etc.) of the inhabitants, who were almost exclusively engaged in agriculture. Buildings are usually located on the facade of the plot and are oriented to the south so that the loggia, which was the main operating space and has more sunlight for a long time.

The architecture of the houses, which are mostly two-storey, is inspired by a conservatism in terms of forms, but which is mitigated by the richness and ingenuity of the construction details, which are found outside residential buildings and other buildings (churches, fountains, manteltops etc.). Two main types of two-storey house are generally distinguished: the planetype with a rectangular plan and the square with a square plan. The layout of the spaces and the uses are the same in both forms.

In 1995, the inhabitants of the village of Afytos, reluctant to the cementing of the modern village, assisting with the initiatives of the then president of Vassilis Pavlis, highlighted the traditional settlement, with the restoration of the stone-built houses, the paved streets, the footpaths, etc. dams of the local dwarf limestone today.