In the Chora of Kythnos, on the south side of the hamlet, alongside the stream, there are four large public wells (the word pigadi [well] is a diminutive of the ancient Greek word pigi [spring]). Pano Pigadi or Pano Piadi, as they say in the local dialect, Cheiropigado, Mesiano, and Fountana. The well is an opening in the ground that provides access to groundwater. It is usually internally lined with stone for stability. Shallow wells provide drinking water, without requiring mechanical pumping.
You are at Pano Pigadi in Panochori (the upper part of Chora), beside Panagia Nikous and opposite the old abandoned electricity production plant. This well was the main source of water for Panochori residents until 1962, when public fonts with running water started being constructed. Until then, Thermia locals carried the water home in ceramic jugs on their shoulders, for cooking and household cleaning. Water was drawn by hand, using a bucket tied to a rope, which was lowered into the well and raised without mechanical assistance. By the well was the basin, a large carved marble rock, which was placed at such a height as to help water domestic animals.
Pano Pigadi was a meeting point, mainly for women, but also for men when they took their animals to be watered (donkeys, bulls, domestic sheep and goats), serving as a point of social fermentation. This was where love blossomed, matches were made, people argued, deals were struck, marriages were arranged, acquaintances were made, and, sometimes, it was where celebrations were held. In the 1960s, on the day of Epiphany, the well water was blessed. The priest, accompanied by his congregation, dropped a cross into the well and released doves held in a basket.
The wells and fonts were the only works of popular architecture, and their construction was mainly overseen by the community and the church, indicating their importance. They can be found in squares and busy crossings due to their public-use character, as well as beside churches, praising water as the main source of life. Essentially, they were a central element of the organisation of constructed space, with important social functions and an highly symbolic dimension. This makes these humble forms of water supply infrastructure a symbol of each land’s identity.
