GREEK DESIGN & DECORATION Three Centuries of Architectural Style

286 pages

445 color and 13 b/w photographs, 10 drawings

hardback

28x24.5 cm

This book is about the design and decoration used in architecture in Greece. Its particular architectural milieu comprises the richly decorated Greek traditional mansions built before mid-18th and early 19th century as well as the equally opulent neoclassical mansions that followed, once Greece became a free state in 1827. Also included are the forms of decoration used in rural areas and in working-class neighbourhoods over the above periods.

The book is divided in three equal parts. The first, and rather more abstract, deals with the theoretical issues inherent in a study of the decorative arts. The second singles out the crucial factor of change in the decorative arts, be it temporal or spatial. Finally, the third concentrates on the meaning of the decorative arts in their social context.

Acknowledgements

Foreword

 

Part I

Limits and Definitions                                                                    

Five Myths

The Boundaries

Part II

In the stream of time

Historical continuity and rift

Stability and Chance

 

Part III

Interpretation

Location

Content

 

Selected Plans of Mansions

Bibliography

Map of Greece

Index

List of Photographic Credits