Akrotiri
village covered by volcanic pumice,
began the discovery in 1967 by Professor Spiros
Marinatos of an entire seaside city with roads,
squares, multi-storey buildings, workshops, etc.
Wall paintings of significant art value
decorated the rooms, hundreds of utensils and
stone tools, clay and metal which show the peak
and wealth of the city have been discovered.
Akrotiri
was the center of a major Aegean
civilization of the mid 16 th century
B.C. This center, although influenced
significantly by Crete, the dominant power in
the region at the time, nevertheless managed to
retain its own characteristic features. The
wealth and quality of the houses which have been
discovered to date demonstrate that Akrotiri was
a flourishing city. The inhabitants led a
comfortable and refined life, reminiscent of
Minoan Crete, while the architecture of the city
contains strong Cycladic elements. The buildings
were two – or three- storey's high with many
rooms. The most luxurious were constructed of
fitted stone (which is why the archaeologists
call them “xestes” (scraped); the others were
made of mud mixed with straw. The ground floor
communicated with the upper floors by a wooden
or stone interior staircase. To reinforce the
buildings against earthquake tremors, wooden
frames were used, as they were in Crete. The
floors of the houses were usually of tamped
earth, often paved with uncut slabs of slate. In
other floors, the earth was inlaid with pieces
of seashell, or covered with a kind of pebble
mosaic.
The roofs must have been flat and strewn with
earth for insulation, a technique prevalent in
the Cyclades until a few years ago. The
storerooms, workshops and grain mills were
always located on the ground floor. The spaces
on the upper floors were the residential rooms.
Many of the walls were embellished with
exquisite frescoes.
The roads of the town were narrow and paved with
flagstones. The drainage network consisted of
built-in channels laid under the surface of the
pavement. The sewage was led to the channels by
clay pipes, which were incorporated in the walls
of the houses.
Akrotiri was one of the fortified castles of the island
during the medieval years. After Santorini was occupied by
the Turks, the strong Venetian castle was torn down. The
remains of its towers are easily discernible. The old
churches of Aghia Triada and Ypapanti tou Soteros are found
in the area.
From here road leads to the southern part of island, where
Faros is. The sunset viewed from stone wall around its
courtyard is one of the most beautiful on the Santorini.
You will find here picturesque atmosphere by the view
towards Fira and Oia and numerous beautiful beaches nearby.
The small harbour at Akrotiri is not suitable for swimming.
We suggest you to visit famous Red Beach (10 min. from
Akrotiri), the boat to Aspri beach or one of the dirt tracks
leading to the deserted beaches Messa Pigadia, Almyra,
Kambia, Gialos.
Akrotiri -
Archaeological Site
Akrotiri is one of the most important prehistoric
settlements of the Aegean .Evidence of habitation at
Akrotiri first came to light in the second half of the 19th
century. However, systematic excavations were begun much
later, in 1967, by Professor Spyridon Marinatos under the
auspices of the Archaeological Society at Athens.
He decided to excavate at Akrotiri in the hope of verifying
an old theory of his, published in the 1930's, that the
eruption of the volcano was responsible for the
collapse of the Minoan civilization.
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