| Santorini general information |
And this because it has exploited the unusual landscape and possibilities of the place. The construction materials used by the local craftsman in building are exclusively volcanic in origin. They include black stone, red stone, pumice, lava, ash and pozzuolana. Houses roofed with cylindrical or cross vaults and houses dug out of the vertical face of the lava cliffs are the principal building types on Santorini. The dugout structure illustrates the ingenuity of the locals in the search for easy, inexpensive housing. The vaulting is the consequence of the need for a substitute for wood, which is nonexistent on Santorini. In their present form, the settlements on Thera can be separated into those built on the rim of the cliff facing the caldera, the so-called linear settlements of Fira, Oia and Thirasia; those that developed outside the walls of the castles in various directions, the expanded fortresses of Pyrgos, Emporio and Akrotiri; and the dug-out or troglodyte neighbourhoods. These are settlements that in their original form followed the banks of a riverbed and eventually spilled over into a more fertile district, as at Finikia, Vothonas and Karterados. In terms of construction methods, Santorini houses fall into 3 categories: troglodyte, semi-built and built. The troglodyte dwellings are those that have been completely hollowed out of the volcanic earth, the semi-built have some added sections that have been constructed and the last are those which have been constructed in the usual manner on the surface land. source : Getting to know Santorini, Haitalis ed. |
