In the neighborhoods of Agios Vlasios and Agios Georgios

The route is about 2 km long, lasts about 60 minutes and is of moderate difficulty. In it, the visitor will discover the influence of the Greek Orthodox community on the urban fabric of old Xanthi.

Focusing on the two Orthodox churches of Agios Vlasios and Agios Georgios, two homonymous districts were developed, with buildings of rich tobacco merchants, who benefited the two churches respectively. These neighborhoods were inhabited by members of the rising class of tobacco merchants, who built large mansions such as the Michaloglou Mansions, the Karabetsis Mansion with its painted exterior decoration and the majestic Mansion of Hilmi Pasha.

The development of these districts around religious and at the same time social centers, in a multicultural regime, led to the diverse urban landscape that the visitor will encounter. The route starts from shops that existed in the commercial part of these districts, passes by mansions, such as the mansion of Hamdi Bey, and ends by highlighting various points around G. Ladas or Antikas Square.

Points Expand/Collapse

65. Chapel of Zoodochos Pigi

Brief documentation:

The chapel, located on the Lefkou Pyrgou street, was built, as evidenced by the marble inscription, in 1934 by the tobacco industrialist Anargyros Sigalas, in memory of his mother Margarita. He planted about 1200 pine and cypress trees in the surrounding area. In the courtyard there is a column for his mother, who was born in 1855 and died in 1931, originally from Santorini.
Anargyros Sigalas started as a tobacco worker and became Prefect and Member of Parliament for the Rhodope Prefecture in 1936 with the Liberal Party of El. Venizelou. He is related to a mansion on Eleftheriou Venizelou Street that he bought from the Stalios family and to this chapel of Zoodochos Pigi that he built on Lefkou Pyrgou Street.
It is a small one-aisled chapel built within a large free space. The bell tower is embedded in the roof of the chapel, above its entrance to the west and has neoclassical features. Above the entrance door, a stepped cornice is formed, which is interrupted by the marble dedicatory inscription.
A second chapel dedicated to Zoodochos Pigi is located on Pindarou Street in the old Xanthi.

Category of thematic interest: ARCHITECTURAL/HISTORICAL AND RELIGIOUS INTEREST

History:

The chapel, located on the White Tower, was built, as evidenced by the marble inscription, in 1934 by the tobacco industrialist Anargyros Sigalas, in memory of his mother Margarita. He planted about 1200 pine and cypress trees in the surrounding area. In the courtyard there is a column for his mother, who was born in 1855 and died in 1931, originally from Santorini.
Anargyros Sigalas started as a tobacco worker and became Prefect and Member of Parliament for the Rhodope Prefecture in 1936 with the Liberal Party of El. Venizelou. He is related to a mansion on Eleftheriou Venizelou Street that he bought from the Stalios family and to this chapel of Zoodochos Pigi that he built on Lefkou Pyrgou Street.

Elements of architecture:

obacco worker and became Prefect and Member of Parliament for the Rhodope Prefecture in 1936 with the Liberal Party of El. Venizelou. He is related to a mansion on Eleftheriou Venizelou Street that he bought from the Stalios family and to this chapel of Zoodochos Pigi that he built on Lefkou Pyrgou Street.
6. Elements of architecture It is a small one-aisled chapel built within a large free space. The bell tower is embedded in the roof of the chapel, above its entrance to the west and has neoclassical features. Above the entrance door, a stepped cornice is formed, which is interrupted by the marble dedicatory inscription.

Description of other elements:

The inscription reads "HOLY CHURCH OF ZOODOCHOS PIGI ERECTED BY ANARGYROS N. SIGALAS IN 1934 IN MEMORY OF HIS MOTHER MARGARITA".

Purpose - Use: Church building

Characterization: Government Gazette 612B/30-4-1976 and Government Gazette 661/Β/17-5-1976, Government Gazette 1097/14.12-1995

Dating (period): Interwar period

Year of construction: 1934

Location of the monument: 41.14201101655997, 24.883842240468223

Bibliographic references:

• Thomas Exarchou, "Two monographs. Anargyros Sigalas, Aristos Chasirtzoglou". Xanthi, 2014

Address: White Tower 2-4

Visitable: No