Patmos Chora

Surrounded by the walls of the fortified Byzantine Monastery of Saint John the Theologian, Chora has kept to this day the architectural characteristics of the medieval village from which it derived: narrow, winding streets with a maximum width of 1.5 m., grand mansions and humble houses adjacent to each other, tall yard walls and flat roofs that create an overground road. Simple lines and dazzling white that hide well-made interiors and colorful, blooming courtyards.

Chora, a benchmark of the cultural route of Patmos and of its status, consists of communities that depict its historical development and its spread having the Monastery as the focus point:   

• Allotina, to its west, was the community created by Byzantine families when they fled to the island after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453   

• Cretan, to its east, was the community created by Cretan refugees after the fall of Candia in 1669   

• Aporthiana, to its north, the newest residential center, with sea view, that was developed from the mid-18th century by ship-owners and merchants who wanted to monitor the traffic in the port of Skala.

Among them, the urban tissue maintained its consistency with humble houses, densely structured, reflecting the logic of fortification against the external enemy and creating districts, the boundaries of which are known only by locals: Elemonitria, Kylimountra, Laura, Lorna, Mangouri, Niochori, Pezoula.

Source: www.patmos.gr