Chrysocheria castle - Kalymnos island - 30/01/2010

Scenic Sunday

The Castle of Chrysocheria in Kalymnos: The castle of Chrysocheria lies on top of a hill that overlooks Chorio village, the ancient capital of Kalymnos. It is close to the cave of the Seven Virgins and was built by the Knights of the Order of St John, who ruled the island from the 14th to the 16th century. The objective of this construction was to fortify the city and protect it from possible conquerors and the invasions of pirates. This castle was inhabited until the 18th century.

Today, its interior still hosts the well-preserved church of Panagia Crysochera, which gives its name to the castle. This name means “our Lady with the golden hands”. The church was named after this because of the icon of Virgin Mary, in the interior of the church, which depicts Virgin Mary having hands covered with a golden leaf. A legend also says that a treasure of golden coins was once found under the floor of this church.

Furthermore, the church of Panagia Chrysochera also hosts some nice Byzantine frescoes. Apart from this church, we can find some other chapels within the castle, dedicated to other saints. On the west side of Chrysocheria castle, there are some ruined fortification walls and a coat of arms that belonged to a Genoan nobleman called Viniali. There are also the ruins of an ancient temple that used to lie in this area, the temple of the Twins.

Skywatch Friday - Kalymnos island - 28/01/2010

Skywatch Friday

Kalymnos, (Greek: Κάλυμνος) is a Greek island and municipality in the southeastern Aegean Sea. It belongs to the Dodecanese and is located to the west of the peninsula of Bodrum (the ancient Halicarnassos), between the islands of Kos (south, at a distance of 12 km) and Leros (north, at a distance of less than 2 km): the latter is linked to it through a series of islets. Kalymnos lies between two to five hours away by sea from Rhodes. The island is known as Càlino in Italian and Kilimli or Kelemez in Turkish.

In 2001 the island had a population of 16,235, making it the third most populous island of the Dodecanese, after Kos and Rhodes. It is known in Greece for the affluence of much of its population, and also stands both the wealthiest member of the Dodecanese and one of the wealthiest Greek islands overall.

Hephaestus temple - Ancient Agora

Wordless Wednesday
 
Hephaestus was the patron-god of metal working. Athena Ergane was the patron-goddess of pottery and crafts in general. There were numerous potter shops and metal working factories in the vicinity of the temple, justifying the dedication of the temple to these two deities. The archaeological evidence suggests that there was no previous building located on top of the hill, except for a small sanctuary which was burned when the Persians occupied Athens in 480 BC. The name Theseion or Temple of Theseus, was erroneously attributed to the monument under the assumption it housed the remains of the Athenian hero Theseus, brought back to the city from the island of Skyros by Kimon in 475 BC.

Luxembourg gardens - Paris, 24/01/2010

Hadrian Emperor statue

Parthenon - Acropolis - Athens (15/01/2010)

The Parthenon (Ancient Greek: Παρθενών) is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena whom the people of Athens considered their protector. Its construction began in 447BC and completed in 432BC on the Athenian Acropolis, although decorations of the Parthenon continued until 431BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order. Its decorative sculptures are considered one of the high points of Greek art. The Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of ancient Greece and of Athenian democracy, and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments. The Greek Ministry of Culture is currently carrying out a program of selective restoration and reconstruction to ensure the stability of the partially ruined structure.

The Parthenon itself replaced an older temple of Athena, which historians call the Pre-Parthenon or Older Parthenon, that was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 480 BC. Like most Greek temples, the Parthenon was used as a treasury. For a time it served as the treasury of the Delian League, which later became the Athenian Empire. In the 6th century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. After the Ottoman Turk conquest, it was turned into a mosque in the early 1460s, and it had a minaret built in it. On 26 September 1687 an Ottoman Turk ammunition dump inside the building was ignited by Venetian bombardment. The resulting explosion severely damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures. In 1806, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin removed some of the surviving sculptures, with Ottoman Turk permission. These sculptures, now known as the Elgin Marbles or the Parthenon Marbles, were sold in 1816 to the British Museum in London, where they are now displayed. The Greek government is committed to the return of the sculptures to Greece, so far with no success.

Hephaestus temple - Ancient Agora

My world

Hephaestus was the patron-god of metal working. Athena Ergane was the patron-goddess of pottery and crafts in general. There were numerous potter shops and metal working factories in the vicinity of the temple, justifying the dedication of the temple to these two deities. The archaeological evidence suggests that there was no previous building located on top of the hill, except for a small sanctuary which was burned when the Persians occupied Athens in 480 BC. The name Theseion or Temple of Theseus, was erroneously attributed to the monument under the assumption it housed the remains of the Athenian hero Theseus, brought back to the city from the island of Skyros by Kimon in 475 BC.

Pilio #06