House Styles in Crete - Then and Now

We were told, during our sojourn on Crete, that house styles on the island hadn't really changed much over the past three thousand years.  I was skeptical of this claim, of course, but a comparison between the old and the new really did suggest that the similarities were remarkable.

Here's a model of a Minoan House, made from clay:-

Okay, so it's got a very natty colonaded upper storey, but it's basically a square box, with a very small footprint.  It's almost cellular in character.  What this clay model represents is more difficult to interpret.  We were told it was probably an architectural model, but that doesn't seem very likely to me.  I'd like to know more about the context of this model, but contextual information about Minoan artefacts is a bit thin the ground when it comes to the museum displays.

Anyway, here's some views of modern Cretan houses so you can perform your own comparison.  Even today the vernacular style seems very similar , in that these structures are cellular and box-like on plan.  To those of you who are interested in buildings, there's only one surefire way of identifying an old building in Crete and that's by checking the material it's made of.  If it's rubble-built, it's old (perhaps dating back several hundred years): if it's concrete, obviously it's recent.

Unfortunately, most of the buildings are painted or rendered, so it's impossible to tell what they really look like.  But some of the older structures are still revealed in all their glory, and very handsome they are too:-

 

On reflection, this probably reflects neglect on the part of the owner, as most of Cretan buildings are well-maintained and brightly painted or rendered.  In the picture below, I particularly like the house in  the middle distance - it was quite run down and dilapidated and needed a lick of paint, which meant that its structural details were clearly visible:-

 

Little cellular boxes they may be, but they're still extremely picturesque. 

House Styles in Crete - Then and Now

We were told, during our sojourn on Crete, that house styles on the island hadn't really changed much over the past three thousand years.  I was skeptical of this claim, of course, but a comparison between the old and the new really did suggest that the similarities were remarkable.

Here's a model of a Minoan House, made from clay:-

Okay, so it's got a very natty colonaded upper storey, but it's basically a square box, with a very small footprint.  It's almost cellular in character.  What this clay model represents is more difficult to interpret.  We were told it was probably an architectural model, but that doesn't seem very likely to me.  I'd like to know more about the context of this model, but contextual information about Minoan artefacts is a bit thin the ground when it comes to the museum displays.

Anyway, here's some views of modern Cretan houses so you can perform your own comparison.  Even today the vernacular style seems very similar , in that these structures are cellular and box-like on plan.  To those of you who are interested in buildings, there's only one surefire way of identifying an old building in Crete and that's by checking the material it's made of.  If it's rubble-built, it's old (perhaps dating back several hundred years): if it's concrete, obviously it's recent.

Unfortunately, most of the buildings are painted or rendered, so it's impossible to tell what they really look like.  But some of the older structures are still revealed in all their glory, and very handsome they are too:-

 

On reflection, this probably reflects neglect on the part of the owner, as most of Cretan buildings are well-maintained and brightly painted or rendered.  In the picture below, I particularly like the house in  the middle distance - it was quite run down and dilapidated and needed a lick of paint, which meant that its structural details were clearly visible:-

 

Little cellular boxes they may be, but they're still extremely picturesque.