The benefactors of the Greek Orthodox community of Xanthi
The route is about 2 km long, lasts about 80 minutes and is of moderate difficulty. In it, the visitor will be able to tour buildings of architectural or religious interest, which were either built thanks to the funding/donation of a Xanthi benefactor, or are related to the residence/shop of the benefactor's family.

The role of benefactors was particularly important for the Greek Orthodox Christian populations during the Ottoman period, since they took care of the construction of schools, churches and buildings of public character (e.g. clubs) and preserved through them the ethnic and religious identity of the community.

The visitor, starting from the chapel of Zoodochos Pigi on Lefkou Pyrgou Street and ending at Kavaki, will learn about the tobacco merchants-benefactors Sigalas, Stalios, Matsinis, Kougioumtzoglou, Chasirtzoglou, Michael Floris who rebuilt the Church of Agios Vlasios and the metropolitans of Xanthi and Peritheoriou Eugenios and Ioakeim Sgouros, who rebuilt or renovated churches, the Metropolitan mansion and the monasteries in the suburban forest.

Important were the donations of icons of professional guilds to churches, such as the union of cobblers and shoemakers, or the Epirote Georgios Kagialidis or the elders of the Velios family. There are many more known and unknown benefactors, whose donations and work we can admire today through their material remains.

94. D. Chasirtzoglou Building – Folk Art Store

Brief documentation:

The building originally belonged to Dukas Chasirtzoglou and must have been built in the late 19th century, as well as the diagonally opposite mansion of Moses. Chasirtzoglou was a teacher in Xanthi, trustee of the Monastery of Panagia Archangeliotissa with many benefactions to it.
The building was sold in 1930 to Efrosini (Frosinoula) Koulakloglou, a legendary seamstress of the interwar period in Xanthi, who was declared Miss Xanthi in 1929. Today it still belongs to the Koulakloglou family and operates as a folk art store.
It is a building with neoclassical elements, such as the false pilasters with the surfaces that barely protrude on the façade, the rough stepped base, which defines the level of the ground floor on the sloping ground of the area, the cornice that defines the upper end of the ground floor and the first floor as well as the false pilasters that frame the front door.
The building is on a corner and has two entrances, one on each street. It is built entirely with Mandra stone, a yellowish local stone from the quarries of the homonymous area, located in the south of Xanthi and was a stone mining site since antiquity.
In this shop the stone reliefs with various representations (animal, anthropomorphic, vegetable) are impressive, crown the arched openings of the ground floor (doors and windows) and are the so-called "keys". On the first floor the windows are fewer in number and rectangular.


Category of thematic interest:  ARCHITECTURAL / HISTORICAL INTEREST


History:

The building originally belonged to Dukas Chasirtzoglou and must have been built in the late 19th century, as was the diagonally opposite building of Moses. Chasirtzoglou was a teacher in Xanthi, trustee of the Monastery of Panagia Archangeliotissa with many benefactions to it.
The building was sold in 1930 to Efrosini (Frosinoula) Koulakloglou, a legendary seamstress of the interwar period in Xanthi, who was declared Miss Xanthi in 1929. Today it still belongs to the Koulakloglou family and operates as a folk art store.


Elements of architecture:

It is a building with neoclassical elements, such as the false pilasters with the surfaces that protrude slightly on the façade, the rough stepped base, which defines the level of the ground floor on the sloping ground of the area, the cornice that defines the upper end of the ground floor and the first floor as well as the false pilasters in the frame of the front door. The building is on a corner and has two entrances, one on each street.


Description of other elements:

 The building is built entirely with Mandra stone, a local stone from quarries of the homonymous area located south of Xanthi and was a stone mining site since antiquity.
In this shop the stone reliefs with various representations (animal, anthropomorphic, vegetable) are impressive, crown the arched openings of the ground floor (doors and windows) and are the so-called "keys". On the first floor the windows are fewer in number and rectangular.


Purpose - Use: Commercial space


Characterization: YPO/YPO/DILAP/G/1895/30606/11-08-1987, Government Gazette 483/Β/04-09- 1987


Dating (period): Late 19th century


Year of construction: Late 19th century


Location of the monument: 41.1426, 24.8873


Bibliographic references:

•    Katsari-Vafiadis, J. Ed. 2023. "History and recording of the neoclassical buildings of the traditional settlement". Xanthi: Municipality of Xanthi, p. 89


 Address: F. Amiridi 11 & Mavromichali


Visitable: Yes

 

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