Families of Old Xanthi

This route is about 2 km, lasting about 60 minutes and of moderate difficulty. In it you will meet the families of old Xanthi, who in various ways contributed to the history of Xanthi, but also to the form that the old town has today. Touring the residences of old families of Xanthi, rather unknown aspects of their family stories will unfold and important personalities of the city will be pulled out of oblivion.

Some of the most important families of the Greek Orthodox community are: Chasirtzoglou, Stalios, Sigalas, Valixoglou, Michaloglou, Metaxas, Leontaridis, Blatsios, Angelos, Alexiou, Kalevras, Kougioumtzoglou, Kaloudis, Adamides, Christidis, Karadimoglou, Alatas. Also important were the families of Ottoman commanders, such as Hamdi Bey, Muzaffer Bey, Hilmi Pasha and Memet Pasha, as well as the Jewish families of Aaron Moses and the Cohens.

Through this route, the population composition of the city will be revealed, the religions combination that existed and exists until today, the economic and social stratification in direct correlation with the type and form of residence and the type of professions developed. Many names, marking streets in old Xanthi, will come alive and will be understood through this route.

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60. Katharopoulos Distillery and House – KooKooVaya

Brief documentation:

The building was built at an unknown date. The oldest owner of the building was Theodoros Katharopoulos, who used the ground floor and basement of the building as a distillery, while the first floor was used as a living space.
During modern times it has been repeatedly used as a dining and entertainment area and has the same use today. The distillery in Xanthi has a long history, especially in the area of Avdira which produced from antiquity until today famous wine. There are also ouzo and tsipouro distilleries, while the first Greek rum produced uses sugar cane from the area of Genisea.
The building is a two-storey building with basement, ground floor and first floor. The entrance of the building opens onto Antika Square, the central public space of old Xanthi. The building is characterized by the many openings that offer plenty of lighting inside and by the balconies on the first floor. The windows are surrounded by a simple frame, while there is a stepped cornice under the roof.

Category of thematic interest: ARCHITECTURAL / HISTORICAL INTEREST

History:

The building was built at an unknown date. The oldest owner of the building was Theodoros Katharopoulos, who used the ground floor and basement of the building as a distillery, while the first floor was used as a living space.
During modern times it has been repeatedly used as a dining and entertainment area and has the same use today. The distillery in Xanthi has a long history, especially in the area of Avdira which produced from antiquity until today famous wine.

Elements of architecture:

The building is a two-storey building with basement, ground floor and first floor. The building is characterized by the many openings that offer plenty of lighting inside and by the balconies on the first floor. The windows are surrounded by a simple frame, while there is a stepped cornice under the roof.

Description of other elements:

The entrance of the building opens onto Antika Square, the central public space of old Xanthi. The distillery in Xanthi has a long history, especially in the area of Avdira which produced from antiquity until today famous wine. There are also ouzo and tsipouro distilleries, while the first Greek rum produced uses sugar cane from the area of Yenisea.

Purpose - Use: Residence, Commercial space

Characterization: Preservable, Institution of the Ministry of Education, Category "C", Decision 5385, Government Gazette 1097/95

Dating (period): Unknown

Year of construction: Unknown

Location of the monument: 41.14196508404297, 24.887526065256598

Bibliographic references:

• D. Mavridis (ed.). Xanthi, the city with a thousand colors. Xanthi, PAKETHRA 2008

Address: Maletsidou 2

Visitable: Yes