Kastro, Chora, Naxos
The Kastro or Castle of Chora, Naxos was built in 1207 by Marco Sanoudo, the nephew of Doge Enrico Dandolo; it is situated in the western part of the island, on a hill that probably served as an acropolis in ancient times. Initially a military fortification, it evolved over the centuries into a castle-town, acquiring through the building activity undergone some remarkable architecture, and becoming integrated into a medieval urban complex. Its strong military character as a fortress is also evident from the twelve towers with which it was reinforced for its protection. Access was via three gates, of which two survive, the northwestern ‘Trani Gate’ at the Crispi Tower (Glezou), and the southeastern ‘Paraporti’ gate at Prantouna Square.
Its interior is structured into two rings of buildings. There is an internal perimeter main road, off which run branches of small radial streets that end at the central plateau, where is located the central tower, also known as the ‘Sanoudos Tower’, as well as the Catholic Metropolis. Within the walls there are two more Catholic churches, the Kazatza Chapel (the chapel of the Dukes) and one to St. Anthony, as well as the only Orthodox church within the castle, the Panagia Theoskepasti. Other buildings that make up the castle-city are the 17th century monastic complexes of the Jesuit fathers, which today house the Archaeological Museum, and of the Capuchin and Ursuline monks. Other buildings include the Duchy’s Chancellery, which holds the current Catholic Archbishop’s Palace, the Crispi Tower complex, known as Glezos, and the Ursuline School’s teaching establishment. Finally, a total of 42 separate residences is contained within it, among which some prominent structures, the mansions of families such as the Barocci, the Sommarimba, the Delaroccas, etc. (See O. Vavatsioulas, Το Κάστρο της Νάξου. Οικοδομική Ιστορία. Athens: National Technical University of Athens. Athens 2007, 99-106).
THE CRISPI TOWER – APERATHITISSA or GLEZOS
The so-called Crispi Tower, also known as Aperathitissa or Glezos, is the largest residence on the northwestern side of the castle, in the northern part of the fortification, and includes the only circular tower of the castle. The main entrance is accessible via a later staircase located on the elevated part of the internal road immediately after the passage-way of the Trani Gate. The building complex has two main levels, comprising a ground floor and auxiliary rooms, with a total area of 778.93 sq.m. On the first floor is the spacious main hall of the building with a balcony. The secondary rooms of the tower have independent entrances, but are located inside the perimeter ring. The internal staircases that ensure the internal communication between the spaces were built at different times.
This was a stately home and, according to tradition, was the palace of the dukes. This claim is supported by two embedded coats of arms of the Crispi family (1383-1566), one on the lintel of the internal entrance that leads from the vestibule to the main hall of the tower, as well as another of the Barocci family (15th-17th centuries) on the external main entrance. The holders of the tower, in chronological order, were the Crispi, the Governor of Wallachia Fragopoulos or Agas, the Grand Interpreter of the Sublime Porte Joseph Barocci and lastly Petros Glezos, (Vavatsioulas ibid., 127-139). The last ceded it to the Greek State in 1968, with the aim of operating the building as a Byzantine Museum (no. prot. 14618 /2827 /19.08.1968 Decision on the acceptance of the donation of the Glezos Tower).
PROMBONAS HOUSE OR THE AIR FORCE BUILDING
Nearby and to the south of the Crispi Tower (Glezos) is a mansion known by its previous owners as the Prombonas House or the Air Force Building. It is an old two-story, and now semi-ruined mansion, an internal building of the Castle and a complex of many construction phases, during which a building from the initial phase of the castle was incorporated. After all its continuous changes, it now displays elements clearly typical of the 19th century. On its southern side, set lower down are attached both a two-storey and a one-storey section, to cater for the needful secondary aspects and functions of the mansion; they have entrances independent from the interior of the castle (Vavatsioulas ibid., 145-149). It was expropriated in 1989 (no. prot. 1117/750/28.02.1979, Government Gazette 170/D΄/17.03.1979 forced expropriation of the Air Force building) with the aim of converting it, together with the Glezos Tower, into a Byzantine Museum.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM BUILDING
The Archaeological Museum building is another building complex of the Castle. Currently it houses the Archaeological Museum of Naxos and is located along the route of the Frankish wall. Its original core dates to the 13th century, and takes in two of the castle towers. Part of the Museum building and one of the square towers of the Castle comprise the Kazatza Chapel or Kiura Chapel: this is a single-aisled, domed Catholic church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. According to tradition, it was the chapel of the Dukes, with Marco Sanudos as its alleged founder in the first quarter of the 13th century. In the 17th century, the order of Jesuit monks were based in the Castle, initially in the Chapel, and subsequently expanding to include all the areas of the building complex that now house the Archaeological Museum (Vavatsioulas ibid., 315-341).
This multi-storey building, composed of three built sub-units, covered a total area of approximately 2200 sq.m. It was used for the Commercial School in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, where Nikos Kazantzakis also studied. Given to the Archaeological Service in 1973, it was gradually converted, with minor interventions, into a museum; offices and workshops were created (on the two levels above the ground floor), as well as storerooms and exhibition spaces, on three underground levels respectively.
KALAMITSIA
South of the village of Melanes, in a verdant valley with an idyllic landscape well protected between low hills, the imposing complex of the Tower-Palace in Kalamitsia, once a retreat of the Jesuits of Naxos (fig. 1-2), is preserved as a semi-ruin. It was probably erected during the years 1679-1681 by an interesting figure of the Roman Catholic church who was active during the second half of the 17th and early 18th centuries, namely Robert Saulger, abbot of the Jesuit order of Naxos. The earliest reference to the building is found in a letter from the year 1683 of the abbot of the Jesuits of Santorini, Guilly. A few years later, the French naturalist Joseph-Pitton de Tournefort visited the area and the palace, and wrote: ‘The Jesuits’ country house is beautiful… It is an achievement that surpasses the ability of the (Greek) architects.’ He points out the building’s direct connection with wonderful gardens and orchards that extend: ‘to the valley of Melanes, the most pleasant spot on the island.’ The ‘palace’/’tower’/’retreat’ of the Jesuits of Naxos, as mentioned in the literature, was an important centre of agricultural production and exploitation, as well as a country house for three successive Catholic monastic orders, the Jesuits (1683-1773), the Lazarists (1773-1878) and the Salesian monks (1881-1927).
The building was raised up in an excellent and very well-chosen spot. Sited on a small plateau on the slope of a low hill in the shape of an amphitheatre, the location runs from east to west between Melanes and Potamia. At the point where the plateau ends and the ground drops away to the west, a narrow, but progressively widening, triangular valley is formed; it was here that the elongated Jesuit resort was built on a north-south axis. Taking advantage of the slope of the ground, the building appears as two-storeyed from the east (fig. 3-5) and three-storied with an impressive facade to the west (fig. 6-8). Its maximum dimensions are approximately 37 m long length and 13 m wide. The central part of the building is rectangular, approximately 11 m long and 6 m wide; it is flanked by auxiliary spaces to the north and south that protrude in tower-like forms on the western facade. In the central part of the lower level of the building, accessible only from the west, an impressive propylon is formed, with two massive pillars that supported a probably wooden structure (fig. 7). The plateau to the east of the building was turned into a courtyard by large retaining walls: here outbuildings, stables, kitchens, storerooms and a little further north a dovecote are preserved. The total area of the resort’s building facilities amounts to approximately 1700 sq.m.
Two important elements affect the environment of the monument. The first is the methodical exploitation of water resources that were collected via a system of above- and below-ground pipes in water tanks west of the building (fig. 8). The second element was the large-scale human intervention in the narrow valley west of the building. Here a system of a series of Π-shaped plateaus was formed with stone-built retaining walls for the development of agricultural cultivation and the planting of olive trees, which were irrigated by the waters of the tanks located at the highest of these formations (fig. 1).
The building today is in a semi-ruined state and presents significant structural problems: the detachment and collapse of two of its corner sections, localized cracks in the fabric, the disintegration of external and internal plaster coatings, collapse of roofs, etc. However, the monument is still one of impressive size and distinctive architectural type, having a dynamic relationship with the large-scale alterations made to the natural landscape for the exploitation of water resources and the development of agricultural crops. All this adds up to a unique and very important monument of the period of Ottoman rule in Naxos, one embodying the intense activity of Western monastic orders on the island and one linked to the operation of the French Commercial School in the Castle of Chora.
Under the Decree of the Ministry of Culture/Arch/B1/F27/63118/1414/9-11-1982 (Government Gazette 3/B/11-1-1983), the Tower in Kalamitsia was classified as a historical monument with a protection zone of a 200-metres radius around it. From January to April 2018, the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades carried out cleaning and restoration work on the retaining wall of the courtyard to the south of the building, which had collapsed and was blocking the flow of rainwater (figs. 9-10). Cleaning was also carried out on the roofs and in the area surrounding the monument, resulting in the discovery of the pillars of the monumental west entrance.
Dimitris Hatzilazarou
