The 2nd Drystone-wall School of Andros Island, 12-19 March 2022, is a fact
With the cleaning of the path to Ancient Zagora of Andros Island, the 2nd Drystone-wall School of Andros Island was concluded. The School, carried out within the framework of the LIFE TERRACESCAPE project, was attended by 23 participants originating from island and mainland Greece. They were trained in building and restoring of drystone walls with "stimata" and were intellectually introduced into the importance of terraced landscape of the Aegean.
Trainees and trainers were challenged by extreme weather conditions (frost temperatures, snowstorms, strong winds), which they encountered with bravely, as well as coronavirus incidents. Everything was handled flexibly, adopting small necessary changes in the School program, such as moving the originally planned excursion from the seventh day to the second day of the School, under snowy conditions that engraved the landscape of Andros Island indelibly on the memory of all of us. In any case, and throughout the school, the group did not lose in terms of enthusiasm, joy –also thanks to Violanto Vratsanou and her accordion–, and efficiency.
The 2nd Drystone-wall School of Andros, like the 1st one, included two sessions: the drystone workshop, in the mornings, and the theoretical training, in the afternoons. The drystone workshop was set-up on the access path to the Archaeological site of Ancient Zagora. After locating the damaged parts of the drystone enclosures of the path, structured with the technique of "stimata", the trainees proceeded to their gradual restoration, under the supervision of the craftsmen Iraklis Gavras and Giannis Papadopoulos from Andros. The restorations carried out include 36.90 m. point repairs (meremetia) and 55.00 m complete reconstruction of drystone-wall sections after their complete demolition. Eventually, a large part (approx. 1,000 m) of the right drystone-wall of the path leading from the church of the Holy Trinity to the Archaeological site of Ancient Zagora was restored.
The afternoon meetings, as well as the first acquaintance meeting on the morning of Saturday, March 12, took place in the emblematic hall of the Environmental Education Center of Korthi, the first school of Andros and one of the first to operate in pre-revolutionary Greece (1813). Due to coronavirus, during the last two days, the meetings were carried out online. The trainees of the School had the opportunity to get in touch with and listen to important speakers who introduced and analyzed a variety of topics related to the art of drystone (Grigoris Koutropoulos: Drystone Constructions - Notes from the projects of the Itinerant Workshop and Customary mutual aid practices and modern participatory management tools of drystone landscapes, Nikos Hazapis: Drystone construction techniques); the ethnology of the drystone (Anta Akovitsioti-Hameau: The bee houses of the Western Mediterranean); the culture of drystone (Tassis Papaioannou: Folk architecture of stone and drystone, Stavroula Fotopoulou: The registration of the art of drystone in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity: benefits and obligations of Greece, George Speis: The cultural landscape and Andros, and Manolis Korre narrating on his own hand drawings and drawing from his multifaceted life); training in drystone (Ioulia Papaeftychiou: Modern workshops for drystone constructions: international and domestic practices, Nikos Hazapis: Environmental education in the drystones of Andros); the legal protection of drystone (Theodoros Chiou: Drystone construction as an object of legal protection, on the threshold of tangible and intangible cultural heritage); and, finally, presentation of the LIFE TERRACESCAPE project (Theodora Petanidou: Evaluation of the TERRACESCAPE project: and then what?).
The purpose of the Drystone Schools of Andros was to promote the art of drystone through theoretical and practical knowledge transfer to young stone craftsmen. The ultimate goal is the preservation of the art of drystone that has shaped the landscape of the Aegean islands over time, hoping that the same art will continue shaping it.
Thanks to all those who participated in any way and role, in the 2nd Drystone-wall School of Andros Island: all the trainees from Andros Island, Attica, Karditsa, Ios Island, Syros, Lesvos, Kos, Spain, the Netherlands; the craftsmen Iraklis Gavras and Giannis Papadopoulos from Andros, who made all possible efforts under adverse conditions; Ioulia Papaeftychiou who took on unexpected tasks; the officials of the Environmental Education Center of Korthi for the hospitality; the speakers of the afternoon meetings, for the knowledge and the documented experiences that they provided to this School and the priest –Dimitris Stefanou for the possibility of using the leeward roof of the Holy Trinity, at the entrance of the path to Zagora.
The 2nd Drystone-wall School of Andros Island, except from the joy of apprenticeship, trained us under the objective difficulties of hostile weather and the coronavirus. Trainees and trainers, we faced them together, with undiminished creative mood and flexibility. We enjoyed an unparalleled in beauty landscape that was transformed day by day, a landscape that is timeless, that our intervention makes it perhaps even more timeless. Our hope is to complete this project as soon as possible!
The 2nd Drystone-wall School of Andros Island is dedicated to the memory of Eleni Alexaki-Pagratiou who was not with us this time.
Theodora Petanidou, coordinator of LIFE TERRACESCAPE project
