Pyrgos, Santorini, Greece

Pyrgos, Santorini, Greece

Pyrgos, Santorini Greece

Pyrgos is one of the largest villages on the island and is definitely the centre of marble art in Tinos. The birthplace of remarkable master sculptors such as Halepas, Sochos, and Filippotis, as well as painters like Lytras and Gyzis, this village is essentially an open‑air marble sculpture museum. All around it, the impressive natural landscape is made up of rocky hills and narrow stretches of fertile land. Within it, whitewashed houses and simple mansions form an architectural whole of unique Cycladic beauty, decorated with marble lintels, coats of arms, and signs. The central square rests in the shade of an age‑old plane tree and enjoys the coolness of the spring built in 1784. Marble is everywhere: on the arches, on the columns, on the signs above the springs, and on the icon screens in the churches. Visit the cemetery, which could easily rival a sculpture gallery. There you can admire wonderful tomb plaques and busts, the houses of Giannoulis Halepas and Nikiforos Lytras – now turned into museums – the Museum of Artists from Panormos, and the Museum of Marble Art. In the latter, multimedia material and models of marble quarries and workshops introduce you to traditional techniques for turning marble slabs into works of art. But even if you don’t feel like visiting a museum, you can still watch craftsmen at work, sculpting marble in the village workshops.
Recommended airport
Santorini (JTR)
Nearby destinations
  • Santorini Island a 3.27 km
  • Fira, Santorini a 3.51 km
  • Kamari, Santorini a 3.94 km