At the turn of the 18th century in Macedonia, an economic renaissance takes place. Cities such as Kastoria, Siatista and Veria flourish and the new class of merchants and craftspeople, wanting to show off their wealth, indulge in the construction of elaborate manors. The rich, educated bourgeois class, familiar with progressive European ideas and Byzantine memories, but also open to Ottoman influences, comission the construction of manors to competent guilds of specialized craftsmen. Macedonian architecture is born and soon influences other parts of Greece, such as the Peloponnese and the islands. The architectural idiom of these manors incorporates both the Byzantine heritage of tower houses, descendants of the military tower, elements of Ottoman Baroque, as well as certain morphological elements from the ancient Greek residence, such as the atrium.
Characteristics of Macedonian architecture are the sachnisi (Greek: σαχνισί, from the Turkish word şahniş) a bay window supported by beams, and the hagiati, a a partially open area in front of the house. The "ondas" or "mantzato" were personal rooms, for sleeping and storing things. From the onda, often a narrow steep staircase ascended to a small space above, a kind of gynkonite, from where unmarried women could discreetly watch the happenings in the manor.
In many residences, the spaces were distinguished into winter rooms- often arranged on the lower levels, because the spaces were smaller, low-ceilinged, with fewer openings and thicker walls. On the upper floor, on the other hand, where the walls were thinner, a multitude of windows opened and the spaces were used for summer residence, feasts and family celebrations.
The materials used were plain- wood, mud, and stone for the mountainous and semi-mountainous areas and raw bricks for the lowlands. The forms of the buildings were integrated harmoniously into the surrounding environment, while their arrangement in space, as well as the choice of the location of the settlements, was made according to the terrain, the orientation, the view, and various social reasons.
The thematic exhibition presents architectural drawings, floorplans, and paintings, as well as photographic evidence from Macedonian manors of the 17th-19th centuries. A group of young architects and artists under the supervision of Architect Dimitris Pikionis and the Greek Folk Art Association traveled in Macedonia in the 40s to document the manors. Some of these drawings are works of art in themselves - works by well-known creators such as the architects Dimitris Moretis, Alexandra Paschalidou-Moretis, and the artists Nikos Eggonopoulos and Yiannis Tsarouhis.
The exhibition contains items from the following institutions:
