Kambos

Location

Kambos is located south of the town of Chios, encompassing an area of 7 kilometers in length and of approximately 2 kilometers in width. The literal translation of the word Kambos is "plane" (connoting a leveled surface); however, this does not depict at all the splendor of this unique ensemble of agricultural settlements in the island. The descriptions of earlier historians, mostly during the 18th and 19th century, of the mansions and orchards at Kambos, have always been enthusiastic.

Mansions of high architectural quality and auxiliary buildings are equal in number with the estates and elaborate reservoirs, pebble-paved yards, wells and citrus orchards. The land is covered with gardens and orchards of orange, mandarin, lemon and bitter - orange trees flourish behind tall protective walls, in a way that they look like a forest. Each individual estate is dominated by an old house of stately appearance, whose impressive architectural structure is characterized by a series of combinations of architectural forms and features connected with the various historical periods of the island.

In the old Kampos houses or mansions, gateways are only a single element of the architectural characteristics, since they are an independent feature of the house. They normally lead from the road to the courtyard, although in some cases they lead from the grove to the courtyard. Such gateways are ornamented and reveal a tendency of the owners to try to raise their social status by adding originality to these structures. Today, those proud gateways and stone walls are collapsing and shady orchards are transformed into lots on which concrete homes are built.

Behind the tall depressing-looking walls, there was a quite different world of pleasant yards, comfortable houses, leafy lanes and blooming gardens. The colored stone of Thimiana was used as the basis of a unique style in building which is mostly classical rather than similar to the Italian one. The houses were two or three-stored so that the central rooms could have an uninhibited view over the trees, with wide stairs outside and ample room for every use.

Over the course of time, various cultures have dominated Chios, thereby reinforcing the fact that the island has been the crossroad for many civilizations, a connection between the east and the west. Kambos has a history of civilizations that have swept through its estates and evidence of foreign influence has been engraved within its buildings, stone walls and family coat of arms made of marble above each estate entrance. Its history goes back to Byzantium. Events that influenced life in Kambos such as the island's conquerors, the Genoans and the Turks, the 1822 massacre and the terrible 1881 earthquake, followed Byzantines.

However, despite all these disasters, conquests and changes that took place in Kambos, the village managed to keep its character unspoiled from the 14th century until our days. In fact, the prosperity of Kambos is attributed to the Genoese domination dating 1346 - 1566, when the Genoese took advantage of the plentiful water deposits in the soil contained within the Kambos area at the same time as they introduced the island inhabitants to the systematic cultivation of the trees, thereby increasing wealth. This wealth that was initially generated in the 14th century is evident even today. Within the limits of Kambos are approximately 200 historical estates, each of which displays a splendorous mansion, auxiliary buildings, a wheel powered well, cistern, pebble paved courtyard and orchard.

Especially Byzantine architecture appears to have the eldest influence on the buildings of Kampos with the exception of the structure known as " Kamenos Pirgos " (The Burnt Tower), which popular local tradition believes it to have been built during Byzantine years. No other example of pure Byzantine architecture has been saved for us. Features of this architecture, however, are found in many buildings, although after the Treaty of Nympheou in 1261, and particularly after the final occupation of Chios by the Genoese in 1346, the local architecture was influenced by the new invader.

After the arrival of the Genoese, a new style of local architectural tradition gradually began to develop, continuing even after 1566, when the Turks occupied the island. Therefore, the influence of the Ottoman Empire in this intermixing of architectural features should not be overlooked, particularly with the Baroque style.

Most of the Catholic population left the island after the unsuccessful expedition of the Venetians in 1694-1695, and the local elements of the population prospered and flourished without breaking bonds with the West. Apart from other consequences of this financial boom on the island, the desire also aroused for social projection through the means of architecture. We now come to the 18th century, which marks the peak of prosperity for Kampos and the island in general. The most prominent traits of the local traditional civilization then appeared.

Later, the savage massacre that took place in 1822 literally annihilated the population and the buildings. Fustel de Coulanges, who visited Chios in 1856, wrote: "The Turks did not cause the catastrophe in a moment of anger, but with cold blooded coolness, destroying one house at a time systematically with patient cruelty thus exterminating all that was most valued in Greece."

After 1822, the few that were left of the population gradually returned and rebuilt from the ruins where their homes once stood; but the grandeur of the rest was totally lost. The final blow came with the great earthquake of 1881, which forced the last of the original landowners of the Kampos estates to sell their properties and depart.

From this brief historic review it is obvious that after so many disasters very few buildings retain their original form or appearance.

The original proprietors of these estates no longer exist to offer any information. However, in pursuing its aims, the Cultural society of Kampos tries to encourage sporadic individual efforts to save what has survived in the region and to try to inspire the importance of preserving the environment, its architecture and our traditional heritage. Therefore, today, in an effort to preserve this cultural inheritance, renovations have been completed and inhabitants have either taken up permanent residence or utilize the estates as lodges. The residence character of the Kambos mansions survives then in a great extend, while almost all the orchards are being cultivated.

According to the topographic diagram 1:5.000 and beyond it, up to one property width, the area within Kambos' current limits has been identified as an historical location (paradosiakos ikismos), thus limiting construction and renovation within the area. Renovations must be performed by taking into consideration the protective legislature of the area.