The rural landscape is of particular cultural interest because it reveals people’s capacity to manage the natural environment in a sustainable and respectful manner, ensuring quality despite the limited natural resources at their disposal.
Kythnos’ rural landscape is characterised by terracing or skales (steps) as well as dry stone constructions known as kelia (cells) or kalyvares (big huts). These dry-stone constructions are typical examples of folk colloquial architecture: they create asymmetrical geometric forms, are flexible and align with the natural relief in their own landscaping.
When we talk about dry-stone, we refer to constructs built with stones without any mortar; they are dry. Dry stone may be patently apparent, such as the grand, impressive arable terracing, or discreet and humble, used for agricultural or animal husbandry purposes. However, they are always aesthetically pleasing and absolutely harmonised with their natural surroundings.
Two are the basic advantages of dry stone that make it an integral part of rural economy. Firstly, no specific technical means are necessary, yet the dry construction ensures isothermal buildings due to air circulation and humidity regulation.
Secondly, the dry-stone technique helps organise the productive territories of rural communities and contributes to the improvement of plant and animal production. Dry stone is used to maintain or create new terracing for cultivation on slopes, facilitates water infiltration and, therefore, protects from erosion, replenishes the aquifer, and enhances both production and nature in general. Additionally, dry stone-built walls separate properties or paths that connect hamlets.
This is why it is a top priority for farmers to preserve the existing or create new dry-stone constructions. The dry-stone craft is passed down from generation to generation in oral tradition and it is implemented in practice during farming chores, when all family members work together. Learning the craft of dry stone reinforces one’s sense of belonging to the community and family solidarity and preserves tradition. Unfortunately, gradually, fewer islanders get involved in the primary sector as time goes by, and dry-stone constructs are left to deteriorate.
However, registering the craft of dry stone in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity List as early as 2003 reflects the need to protect, preserve and showcase this unique self-sufficiency and ecological balance document which -as a living tradition- can become a compass pointing to a sustainable growth model.
