Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
still survive. These include the prominent pink-domed Mosque of Süleyman in Rhodes'
Old Town. The Fethiye Mosque and Turkish Baths are two of Athens' few surviving Ot-
toman reminders, and the architect for the 16th-century Koursoun Tzami in Trikala also
designed the Blue Mosque in İstanbul. The Turkish quarter of Varousi in Trikala, and the
streets of Thessaloniki and of Didymotiho, near the Turkish border, showcase superb
Turkish-designed homes with stained-glass windows, wooden overhangs on buttresses,
decorated plasterwork and painted woodwork.
The distinctive blue-and-white Cycladic-style architecture most associated with the
Greek islands was pragmatic and functional. The cuboid flat-roofed houses, huddled to-
gether along labyrinthine alleys, were designed to guard against the elements: strong
winds and pirates.
Neoclassical Splendour
Regarded by experts as the most beautiful neoclassical building worldwide, the 1885
Athens Academy reflects Greece's post-Independence yearnings for grand and geometric
forms, and Hellenistic detail. Renowned Danish architect Theophile Hansen drew inspir-
ation from the Erechtheion to design the Academy's Ionic-style column entrance
(guarded over by Apollo and Athena); the great interior oblong hall is lined with marble
seating, and Austrian painter Christian Griepenkerl was commissioned to decorate its
elaborate ceiling and wall paintings. In a similar vein, the Doric columns of the Temple
of Hephaestus influenced Theophile's solid marble National Library, while Christian
Hansen (Theophile's brother) was responsible for the handsome but more sedate Athens
University, with its clean lines.
Meticulously restored neoclassical mansions house notable museums, such as the ac-
claimed Benaki Museum and the Ernst Ziller-built Numismatic Museum, which contains
beautiful frescoes and mosaic floors.
Many provincial towns also display beautiful domestic adaptations of neoclassicism.
In Symi, the harbour at Gialos is flanked by colourful neoclassical facades (still striking
even if a little derelict) and Nafplio is also embellished with neoclassical buildings.
BEST FUTURISTIC ATHENS
Acrropolis Mus
olis Museuum(
Click here
)
This new space houses Greece's antiquities.
Designed by Bernard Tschumi, the museum features an internal glass cella (inner
