The cultural and folklore character in Xanthi of yesterday and today
The route is about 800 meters long, lasts about 50 minutes and is of low difficulty. In it, the visitor will come into contact with an incomparably rich cultural character, which Xanthi has highlighted over the years and has been indelibly imprinted on its urban fabric. There are several surviving points that remind and can reconstruct the so-called Belle Époque period (1871-1914), during which the city experienced great economic and artistic flourishing.

The frescoes with Bavarian or German landscapes in the Kougioumtzoglou Mansion and the ceiling paintings with decorative and floral motifs in the Daniel Mansion or the Megha Kin cinema and the "Apollo" theater, in which the French actress Sarah Bernhardt is rumored to have played in some performances, give a taste of the arts of painting and theater, as they were expressed at that time.

On the other hand, dozens of places and buildings function today as expressions of the city's folklore, where artistic events and events of small and large scale take place. Starting from the Daniel Mansion and ending at the Adamides House, near Mitropoleos Square, the visitor will have the opportunity to get to know the city through buildings that functioned and function as seats of cultural associations, groups, writers and artists who have been and are active in the city of Xanthi.

Apart from the established Old Town Festivals (late August-early September), some of these spaces are functional throughout the year. They function either as visitable exhibition spaces, such as the Folklore and Historical Museum of F.E.X., the House of Shadow and the Municipal Art Gallery, or as venues for events, concerts, etc., such as the House of Culture of F.E.X.

33. Mansion of D. Chasirtzoglou – Lyceum of Greek Women of Xanthi

Brief documentation:

he Chasirtzoglou Mansion was built in the late 19th century by Dimitrios Chasirtzoglou, a textile merchant, who lived there until 1914, while on the ground floor of the building he kept his fabric shop. The attic of the building had an auxiliary character.
The building was passed into the possession of the Bank of Athens in 1925 and its ground floor housed its branch in 1954. The building has also housed the District and Prefecture of Xanthi, the Post Office and the Municipal Library and the Chess Club of Xanthi. Now the restored building, which belongs to the Municipality of Xanthi, houses the Xanthi Branch of the Lyceum of Greek Women. Here take place the various lessons of the Lyceum, events, while on the first floor there is an exhibition, the Museum of the History of Greek Costume, open to the public mainly during the Old Town Festivals.
The mansion is a two-storey building with eclectic elements, at the intersection of Venizelou and Agiou Georgiou streets, visible from Vasileos Konstantinou street. The exposed carved granite stones and the red bricks of the exterior walls create elaborate lintels and frames in the large windows of the building. Within its backyard there is a second, smaller auxiliary building. The first floor is accessible internally from the ground floor and externally from the enclosed courtyard, through an imposing staircase. The building included extensive painting decoration with frescoes, which can be found both in the residential area and in the shop that existed on the ground floor.


Category of thematic interest:  ARCHITECTURAL/HISTORICAL/CULTURAL/FOLKLORE INTEREST


History:

The mansion was built in the late 19th century by Dimitrios Chasirtzoglou, who was professionally involved in the family textile trading business of his father Kyriakos Chasirtzoglou. The exact date of construction of the building is not known. D. Chasirtzoglou lived in this building with his family until his death in 1914. One of the two sons of the family, Euripides Chasirtzoglou, served as Mayor of the city from 1925 to 1934, while the other son, Aristos, worked as a journalist in the newspaper "Macedonia" of Thessaloniki.
In 1925 the heirs of Dimitrios Chasirtzoglou sold the building to the Bank of Athens, which from that year until 1953 housed its local branch on the ground floor. From 1934 to 1941 the first floor of the building housed the District of Xanthi, while from April 1945 the Prefecture. 
In 1955 the building became the property of the Greek State and in the following years it hosted inside the Post Office of the city, on the ground floor, and the Municipal Library on the first floor. During the 1980s the first floor of the building housed the offices of the Chess Club of Xanthi. In the early 1990s the building became the property of the Municipality of Xanthi and was used as the roof of the local branch of the Lyceum of Greek Women. In 1995 the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace declared the Chasirtzoglou Mansion as a listed building of category A, thus placing the building in absolute protection. During the period 2007-2008, restoration works were carried out by the architects Maria Doussi, Michalis Nomikos and the construction of the project by the construction company MEDUSA SA.


Elements of architecture:

The Chasirtzoglou mansion is located at the junction of El. Venizelou 4 and Ag. Georgiou. It is a two-storey building of eclectic character, with ground floor, first floor and attic, which is located at the junction of Agiou Georgiou and Eleftheriou Venizelou streets. It consists of two independent buildings, one main and one auxiliary of smaller size in the backyard. The ground floor of the main building housed the fabric store of Dimitrios Chasirtzoglou, while the first floor was used as the family's residence. Between the first floor and the wooden roof of the building there was an attic, which functioned as an auxiliary space for the daily needs of the house.
On the back side of the main building there was a smaller auxiliary building, which consisted of two floors and was used for the needs of the servants. Between the two buildings there was a communal courtyard, which was used for the various daily functions of the house. The entrance to the courtyard of the building is through an imposing gate located on the side of Agiou Georgiou Street. From there, through a majestic staircase, access is made to the residence located on the first floor of the building. In the central area of the residence there was a spacious hall around which the rooms were organized. A very important peculiarity in the construction of the building are the four stone columns located on the ground floor, which were placed to hold the main metal beams of its roof, as well as the upper floors. Two of them are made of carved granite stones, while the remaining two are made of full-length granite columns.


Description of other elements:

he exterior of the building is dominated by intense decoration with bricks and carved granite stones, which form the window frames, elaborate arched lintels and the coronation of the masonry of the floor, which is particularly elaborated with special pieces of bricks, which are combined with corbelling bands, also made of solid bricks. The building included extensive painting decoration with frescoes, which are located both in the residential area and in the shop that existed on the ground floor.


Purpose - Use: Residence, Commercial space, Cultural site


Characterization: Preservable, Institution of the Ministry of Culture, Decision DILAP/C/393/7562, Government Gazette 236/89


Dating (period): ΤLate 19th century


Year of construction: Late 19th century


Location of the monument: 41.14133318787194, 24.887007994551823


Bibliographic references:

•    Thomas Exarchou, The mansions on Eleftheriou Venizelou Street, Municipality of Xanthi, Xanthi 1999
•    Dimitris Mavridis, Houses of Xanthi, Holy Metropolis of Xanthi and Peritheoriou – DEAX, Xanthi 2009
•    Dimitris Mavridis, Angelophylaktos Xanthi, Holy Metropolis of Xanthi and Peritheoriou, Xanthi 2007
•    Argyris Plessias, "Old Post Office of Xanthi (Lyceum of Greek Women)", Thrace Technika, 25 (2010), p. 10 – 13
•    Katsari-Vafiadis, J. Ed. 2023. "History and recording of the neoclassical buildings of the traditional settlement". Xanthi: Municipality of Xanthi, p. 143


 Address: Agiou Georgiou 1


Visitable: No

 

Print
image
Terms Of UsePrivacy StatementCopyright 2024 by Municipality of Xanthi
Back To Top