Many churches dot the Greek island of Kythera. Some date to late Byzantine times, and some are quite modern, but the bulk of them are plain whitewashed rectangular structures, small parish churches, that date to the 17th and 18th centuries when the island was under Venetian authority. The island’s fortunes went from Venice, briefly to France and Russia, then to Britain (after the Napoleonic Wars), and finally in 1864 to the young nation state of Greece. It was at this point in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that elaborate campanile – bell towers – were added to many of these parish churches, transforming these ugly ducklings to graceful swans.
1888 campanile attached to Ayios Nikolaos, Kypriotianika.
1909 campanile attached Ayios Ioannis, Kominanika.
Graceful: The Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge.
Very majestic !
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The 1909 campanile certainly is majestic – particularly since it dwarfs the small rectangular church it is attached to.
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Beautiful, and bells and the white against a deep Greek blue sky.
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Yes, that blue blue sky of Greece certainly looks wonderful with whitewashed structures. No wonder the Greek flag is a bright blue and white!
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