Mykonos is an island in the Aegean Sea and belongs to the Cyclades. Its capital is the city of Mykonos, also known as Chora, which is located on the west side of the island. The permanent population reaches 10,134 inhabitants, according to the 2011 census, with the corresponding de facto population reaching 14,189 during the census of the same year.It is a single island complex together with Delos, Rhenia and some rocky islets with a total area of 105,481 square kilometers and a coastline length of 89 kilometers. Delos, Rhenia and Mykonos, inhabited since the 5th millennium BC. (prehistoric settlement of Ftelia), have shared a long and rich history.
Chora impresses and charms its visitor from the first moment, thanks to its beautiful location, the location of the buildings and its architecture. Despite the intense tourist development of the island, it retains in a unique way the Cycladic physiognomy and many of its traditional elements.
All-white, cube-shaped houses, they shine in the light, arranged wisely and in order in the countless labyrinthine alleys with the whitewashed cobblestones. Further down, on a low hill, the centuries-old windmills, combined with the red domes and bell towers of countless churches, compose an image of incomparable beauty. In its characteristic Gialos, a small colorful fleet of boats, boats and yachts completes this unique landscape with vivid touches
In modern Mykonos, the preservation and protection of the forms of Cycladic traditional architecture even in the newest buildings, ensures in the city and the hinterland a sense of continuity and harmony.
The island of Mykonos has undoubtedly been one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Mediterranean since the 1950s, with many distinctions from institutions and the press. Its reputation and the large number of visitors, including important personalities from all over the world, gave rise to the flourishing commercial traffic that made its market famous.
So , in the streets of Mykonos, with the typical example of Matogianni, one can find shops with branded and non-branded clothes, ornate jewelry and art objects. It is no exaggeration to say that international stylistic and artistic trends that are going to prevail are often first manifested on the island. In the scattered cafes / bars and restaurants of the city, the hinterland and the beaches, one can enjoy a variety of food and drink, which covers every taste and entertainment desire, while gazing at the unique images of the island. Nothing can compare, however, with the emotion that inspires the evocative ruin of ancient Delos. An entire ancient city with streets and markets, public buildings and shrines, admirable houses and shops, cisterns, columns, ancient wells and, of course, mosaics that travel its visitors to the time of its habitation and prosperity. Everything bathed in the abundant light of the god Apollo, spreads between the hill of Kynthos and the port with the transparent waters, giving the impression that they stopped pulsating with life only yesterday .
Mythology
The classic legend wants the Giants, who were exterminated by Hercules during the Battle of the Giants, buried under the imposing rock formations of Mykonos. Its name seems to indicate the “pile of stones” or the “stony place”. According to a later tradition, the island is associated with the hero Mykonos, son of the king of Delos Anios, who was in turn the son of Apollo and the nymph Royus – a descendant of Dionysus.
Antiquity – Roman – Byzantine Years
Kares and Phoenicians are said to have been the first inhabitants of Mykonos, but the Ionians from Athens were the ones who settled and ruled the island around 1000 BC, expelling the previous ones. It is reported that on the poor although agricultural island there were two cities, in which Datis and Artafernis parked in 490 BC. People of worship were mainly Dionysus, Demeter, Zeus, Apollo, Poseidon and Hercules, while it passed from the hands of the Romans to those of the Byzantines and respectively their religious customs were adopted. The latter carried out works for the defense against the Arab pirates in the 7th century and kept the island under their command until the end of the 12th century.
Venetian rule – Ottoman rule
After the sad end of the Fourth Crusade at the expense of Byzantium in 1204, the island was ceded to Andreas and Jeremiah Gizi (relatives of Doge Dandolos). In 1292 it seems to have been looted by 10081_gialos Catalans and left under the direct control of the Venetians by the dying last Gizi, in 1930. Since then, it has been a single Venetian territorial possession with Tinos. During Venetian rule, it was destroyed by Jaredin Barbarossa, admiral of Suleiman the Magnificent, in 1537. commissioners, who try as much as possible to keep equal distances from Turks and Venetians (the latter permanently withdrew from the area with the surrender of Tinos to the Ottomans, in 1718).
Pre-revolutionary years
The population of Mykonos, which typically ranges between 2,000 and 5,000 souls in recent times, has been supported more than once by locals, coming from Crete or the nearby islands of Naxos, Folegandros, Sikinos, Kimolos and others. The main cause, famines and epidemics, as a result of frequent wars, until the late 18th – early 19th century. The island, due to its geographical location, is emerging at a steady pace as an important refueling station for foreign merchant ships.
The people of Mykonos during the same period, considered to be good sailors, gradually became successful in shipping and trade, having previously been properly tested against piracy. Many took an active part in the uprising of the islands, known as “Orlofika” (1770 – 1974), which fortunately ended in favor of Catherine II of Russia and the islanders, judging by the favorable conditions for Greek trade that formed in the very next period. .
Liberation struggle – Manto Mavrogenous
During the Revolution of 1821, the people of Mykonos, led by the heroine of the island Manto Mavrogenous, a descendant of a strong aristocratic family and raised in Trieste with the ideas of the Enlightenment, actively contributed to the Struggle. They zealously repulsed an attack by the Turkish fleet in 1822 and took part in the liberation struggle with four equipped ships, two of which Manto undertook to maintain at his own expense, destroying a significant patrimonial estate.
19th – 20th Century
With the establishment of the new Greek state, Mykonos sees a dynamic bourgeois and petty bourgeois class being reborn on its social frontiers. It cultivates special ties with southern Russia, mainly with Odessa and the Crimean cities, Livorno of Italy and Marseille of France, Alexandria, Izmir, Constantinople, but also with the rising Syros. However, the full prevalence of steam technology, at the end of the 19th century, and the opening of the Corinth Canal in 1904, deprived it of much of its activity, with the result that more and more people from Mykonos emigrated in search of better luck. Some abroad, first in Russia until World War I and then in the United States, and more in the new urban centers of the interior such as Piraeus and Athens. Demographic recovery will be observed again after the first economic upheavals of Tourism, in the 30s, and then its establishment as the main commercial service of the island.The archaeological excavations that had begun, in 1873, in Delos, the French Archaeological School of Athens, had highlighted the area from a very early age in the consciousness of the “elite” of people who had the comfort and desire to travel to Greece.As mentioned above, as early as 1930 many celebrities visited the island and discovered together with the impressive antiquities of Delos, its own rare graces. With the rapid growth of the tourism industry in southern Europe after the war, Mykonos effectively assimilates the new data and, with the diligence, unparalleled finesse and entrepreneurial perception of its people, claims one of the most enviable positions in the international tourism market.
Mykonos is located in the Central Aegean region and belongs to the prefecture of Cyclades.
Its total area is 105,481 square kilometers while the length of its coast reaches 89 km.
Its total permanent population amounts to 10,134 inhabitants according to the census of the National Statistical Service for 2011.It has a maximum length of about 14 km and a width of 10 km.
Its coastlines form bays that penetrate deep into the land.The most important bays are Chora, Panormos and Ornos.Two ecosystems that are of interest are two coastal wetlands in the bay of Panormos and north of it, which periodically flood forming small lagoons.In addition, in the sea area of Panormos as well as in other places around the island, seals are often observed.In the same area there is the game shelter of Moroergos (4,200 acres).
SIGHTS
The Town Hall is an elegant, early neoclassical style, two-storey building from 1780 with a tiled roof that was built during the post-Orlof period to be the seat of the Russian Consul General of the Archipelago. However, a few years later it came under the jurisdiction of the Community (the local self-government body of the island that operated before the Revolution), to house the offices of the Municipality of Mykonos until today.Next to it, the simple and imposing “Black” building was the first public school of Mykonos, built during the reign of Otto (1859) to the designs of the Bavarian engineer Weiler, with distinct romantic elements.
The “Little Venice”
Between Kastro and Skarpa is the picturesque neighborhood that with its colorful balconies and wooden “bounties” hangs – calmly – above the sea.One can definitely enjoy one of the most beautiful sunsets in Greece from here.
Mills
Perhaps one of the most characteristic elements of Mykonos is the Mills. The most photographed are the mills located in the south of Chora, between the picturesque Alefkandra and the district of Niochori and impress every visitor with their all-white imposing volumes in a row, facing the sea.The existence of windmills in island Greece dates back to the early 15th century. Later, at the end of the 18th century until the middle of the 19th century, it was established that 28 windmills were operating in Mykonos. Apart from Chora, windmills also operated in Ano Mera. In general, the high frequency of winds in Mykonos favored during this period the milling and grain trading business.The ownership of the mills was usually cooperative. Their owners were wealthy landowners, merchants, sailors, etc., that is, they were people who held power and authority in every local community. Mills also belonged to the Monasteries, such as Panagia Tourliani, mainly as a result of donations. Towards the end of the operation of the mills, in the middle of the 20th century, several mill owners became millers.There are many reasons for the popularity of the windmill in the Cyclades, because the Cyclades are one of the most windy areas in the Mediterranean and especially Mykonos, where the days with absolute apnea do not exceed an average of ten per year. With the help of the windmill, the inhabitants were able to take advantage of an abundant source of energy, the wind, and improve their living conditions in the small and remote communities in which they lived. In addition, during that period, flour was the main ingredient in their diet, making the mill facilitate the process of grinding grains.Today, seven of the ten are preserved (in the whole island they used to be more than twenty), which existed until the beginning of the 20th century and grind the local cereals with the inexhaustible power of the north. The mills of Mykonos in the financial strength of the island which, as a necessary station for the ships passing through the Aegean, supplied them with nuts. One such monumental oven that always operates with wood, is the well-known “Oven of Giora” in Niochori.
Bonnie΄s Mill
This mill was probably built in the 16th century and is one of the well-known “Upper Mills”. It once belonged to the Boni family, a name with critical and Italian roots The Mykonian windmill is a stone-built three-storey and cylindrical construction. The raised ground floor is used for the collection and weighing of barley. The flour is collected on the middle floor, while the ancient mill operates on the second floor. The windmill of the windmill has 12 wooden antennas with an equal number of triangular sails.
Lenas House
Lena House is a 19th century Mykonian house and is one of the annexes of the Folklore Museum of Mykonos. It took its name from its last owner, Lena Skrivanou, and is a single-storey building of the 19th century along with its old furniture, which is located in Tria Pigadia, in the town of the island. It operates autonomously, is open to the public and one can get a taste of a typical middle-class house of Mykonos of the 19th century.The layout of the house is typical of its time. It has a large hall in the front with an arch in the middle to support the roof and two smaller rooms in the background. There is also an auxiliary space and two small courtyards, in one of which there is a dovecote.The furniture of the house is generally of the 19th century or even older, although it has been enriched by both its donors and the Folklore Museum with more modern pieces. There you can see an interesting collection of European and domestic furniture of the 19th century in their organic place as well as useful and decorative (embroidery, mirrors, engravings, etc.) pieces of household goods.
