Xerolithies

The amazing Aegean stone lace

Xerolithies are the dry stone walls that create the characteristic images of the Aegean landscape; local stones combined together, without any cohesive material, forming walls that spread all over the island surface, in perfect harmony with the morphology of the land. Those well designed walls, curvy and proud, standing untouched by time, run through our islands like a stone lace, imitating nature so wisely that they seem part of it.

It’s hard to distinguish the character of the scenery where the xerolithies are present; are we talking about a human environment, or about a natural environment? The magic of the traditional Aegean architecture is all about this perspective: human intervention inspired by the nature, respecting the volumes of the land.

The xerolithies, had a very important role helping the development of life here at the Aegean: holding back soil, they created surfaces of cultivable land in the form of levels, in the mountains and in areas exposed to the strong sea winds; The stones used for the walls were taken from the nearby areas, which were cleared for farming; they held back the rainwater directing it to the crops and they served as boundary fences for the adjoining properties. Those stone walls created biotopes, providing protection for an important number of local plants and animals.

You can see those unique samples of our architectural legacy even in the smallest Aegean islands. You can see them in the mountains and you can see them near the sea. This traditional way of stonework was used to build stables and bridges, windmills, paths and fences. Covered with mosses and lichens, beautiful in their simplicity, the xerolithies carry the traces of an art that is about to be forgotten.

words by maria alipranti

photography by christos drazos