European and Byzantine art in 19th century Xanthi (60')
The route is about 2 km long, lasts about 60 minutes and is of moderate difficulty. This route will give the visitor with artistic interests and quests to get to know European and Byzantine art, as expressed in buildings of old Xanthi in the 19th century.

Starting from the church of Agios Vlasios and ending at the Stavropoulos House, you will visit the churches of old Xanthi with the wood carvings on the iconostasis, the portable icons, the miniature objects, representative samples of the post-Byzantine period. In the buildings of secular architecture you will admire the European style ceiling paintings and frescoes, of the so-called Belle Époque (1871-1914).

In the old churches it is worth observing the Byzantine portable icons that bear strong western iconographic influences, mixed with traditional Byzantine standards and follow theological concepts after the 1453 conquest. They are created either by workshops active in Thrace or northern Greece (e.g. the workshop of Ainos), or by the Mount Athos workshop (e.g. the painters Nikiforos and his student Ioasaf), or by individual painters (e.g. Nikolaos from Hasköy in Constantinople, Thassios M. Evangelidis, Patrinos Takis Prionas).

It is also worth noting the crucifix in the Church of Agios Georgios, a work of Fotis Kontoglou (1959), the embroidered icon of Archangel Michael in the Church of the Taxiarchs, the marble relief candlestand in the Church of Agios Vlasios.

On the other hand, in the rich neoclassical residences one can see works of Bavarian or German painters, such as the frescoes in the Houses of Kougioumtzoglou, Stavropoulos and Michaloglou or the goddesses from the twelve Gods, which adorn the staircase of the Metaxas House. Of interest are the ceiling paintings with decorative and floral motifs in the Daniel Mansion and the Moses Mansion, while a unique example of neoclassical sculpture in the city is the statue in the courtyard of the Church of St. George.
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