Architektur auf Tinos

The Cycladic island of Tinos is very special in several respects. For the Greeks it is the Holy Island of the Greek Orthodox Church. Thus concerning religion and in respect to the long time of Venetian occupation the island is divided into islanders belonging to the Roman Catholic or to the Greek Orthodox Church. For this reason there are a lot of churches with two naves one next to the other used by the two different religious groups. The ceilings of the naves are corbelled vaults. The middle wall is usually perforated by large openings using the principle of the true arch. Also the Ottomans occupied the island for a longer period causing a lot of influences as the beautiful dove coats contrary to the common mind which were obviously brought by them to the island. They are of great international interest. The great number of pilgrims might have caused that the island never became a very touristic place. Therefore the natural and cultural landscape including very archaic elements could survive. One of these elements is the corbelled vault. This kind of archaic ceiling construction was continuously used until the 20 th century and they are still in use. We find them at dwellings and churches, at stables, boathouses, dove coats and water- and washing house as well as at wind- and water mills. The history of architecture on the island shows at least three different phases: 1. Very early, archaic dwellings were narrow one-room stone-structures with corbelled vaults. Such structures were used for all functions. 2. Later buildings were higher and had often two parallel rooms. The middle wall is usually open by one or two large arches using the principle of a true arch. It is amazing to see the combination of such two very different construction principles within one building. It can be seen at churches as well as at dwellings, water- and washing houses, in dove coats and at all other types of island architecture. 3. In the youngest of the three phases walls were only a bit corbelling to the inside and beams instead of cape stones were layed over. The corbels are shortening the span for the beams. Early architecture on the island was very massive. Through time it was developed into lighter constructions. Thuss the constructive thinking of the islanders in corbelled constructions must have started very early and was never given up till to the end of the 20th century. Barrel vaults are seldom used and if so at sacral structures. Until the 21th century we find a very special kind of wooden door locks on the island. Compared with traditional wooden looks in Yemen or Morocco or the iron ones of the Romans it functions different and demonstrates the need of security combined with creativity. A special kinds of bee keeping could be recognized until the end of the 20 th century. On the one hand there were boxes made of flat stones within walls which could be opened. On the other hand they use amphoras of thin ceramic in prefabricated wall niches. Both kinds are very seldom. Bee keeping in amphoras was used in the Egyptian Old Empire. Thus it goes back to earlier examples in Central Africa. These examples show the island as a cultural "ecological niche". This was caused by a conservative population on a pilgrimage island and a late international tourism.