Culture
Culture of Folegandros
It’s the medieval settlement of the island. It was built at the beginning of the 13th century by Marco Sanudo, duke of the Aegean Sea, to protect inhabitants by pirate assaults. It has two entrances, Paraporti and Loggia. It’s shape is triangular, base to the East and top to the West where the biggest church of Kastro is (Pantanassa). There are two main streets in Kastro, Kato Roua and Mesa Roua. Most of the houses are single-spaced buildings with tiny yards delimited by short walls. They are all protected from wind even during the winter.
The Folegandros Folklore Museum is in Ano Meria. It’s a “themonia” that reconstucts life in a traditional rural house. “Themonies” are self-contained farmhouses, typical of the agricultural economy that prevailed the area. It consists of the main residence, the cellar, the stone-built oven, the stable and the barn. In the open there are the threshing-floor, cistern, grape press and olive press. The museum opened in 1988 and later on a stone building was added housing its library.
It is called Faros Aspropountas even though it is placed at Giofiri. Initial plans were made for Aspropounta and the name remained so. It was built and put in service in 1921. First functioning on wick then changed to gas-oil mechanism. Since 1986 it runs on automatic solar-energy mechanism. By the lighthouse there is a house where the lighthouse keepers used to live. You can reach Faros by a footpath starting from Ano Meria or from Livadaki beach.