Why Greek Island Houses Are Blue and White

The iconic bluish and achromatic Greek houses of Santorini. Credit: Greek Reporter

World celebrated destinations specified arsenic Mykonos and Santorini are casual to place successful photos acknowledgment successful portion to their chiseled architecture. Influencers emotion taking pictures successful beforehand of the islands’ whitewashed homes and bluish accents and doors. But wherefore are Greek land houses bluish and white?

Many radical admit bluish and achromatic arsenic the iconic colors of Greece. They’re the colors of the flag. They are besides the colors of the agleam oversea and entity synonymous with the beauteous Mediterranean.

However, connected the Cycladic islands, the distinctive bluish and achromatic colors of homes are not based connected the colors’ symbolism wrong Greece. In fact, determination were respective reasons down this iconic diagnostic of Greek land architecture. These were mostly applicable reasons.

Cooling down land homes successful the summer

Many homes connected islands similar Mykonos, Paros, and Naxos were primitively built retired of stone. This was a applicable determination since wood was not easy recovered connected rocky Aegean islands.

However, the rocky terrain is of a darker color. This presented a occupation during the sunny Greek summers. The sunlight beating down connected the homes would beryllium absorbed by the acheronian stones, making the interior unbearably hot.

Hence, residents began coating the stones achromatic successful an effort to chill down their indoor spaces. The process worked, resulting successful cooler, much comfy land homes.

How Cholera Affected Home Design

In 1938, a nationalist bid mandated the coating of land homes successful bluish and white. At the time, Greece was suffering an outbreak of cholera during the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas. In an effort to curb the disease, helium ordered citizens to whitewash their homes.

This mightiness dependable unusual today, but the whitewash utilized to overgarment the houses contained limestone. Limestone is simply a almighty disinfectant, and not galore others were successful communal usage astatine the time.

Greek citizens frankincense whitewashed their homes to assistance sanitize them and trim the dispersed of cholera.

What astir the bluish colour of Greek land houses?

The Greek land of Amorgos, showing aged windmills atop its highest point. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Though bluish is the astir communal accent colour for doors and shutters successful the Cycladic islands, it’s not the lone one. In fact, if you locomotion astir galore islands, you volition announcement accents of red, green, and brown, successful summation to blue.

However, the vibrant blue color inactive dominates the Cycladic landscape. Why is that?

Well, it comes down to cost. Fishermen and different seafaring men painted their windows and shutters with immoderate was near implicit aft coating their boat. Because of its components, bluish was usually the cheapest overgarment colour available.

The bluish utilized for Greek land homes was made from a substance of limestone and a cleaning merchandise called “loulaki,” which was a benignant of bluish talcum pulverization astir islanders had readily disposable astatine home. Therefore, bluish overgarment was a precise casual colour for them to make.

Military dictatorship enforces colour scheme

The beauteous colors of Greek land homes became mandatory during the subject dictatorship that took implicit Greece successful 1967. The authorities believed the colors would animate patriotism and were reflective of Greek nationalism.

Eventually, they passed a instrumentality successful 1974 to mandate the coating of Greek land homes successful bluish and white.

Although these regulations person present been relaxed, the bluish and achromatic colors of the Greek islands person go a immense gully for travelers. Therefore, galore islanders proceed coating their homes successful these colors. Essentially, this is some for the applicable reasons they started utilizing these colors and due to the fact that they are bully for tourism.

Wandering astir the Cycladic islands today, visitors tin easy find homes with archetypal earth-colored stones oregon somewhat antithetic colors. However, bluish and achromatic inactive predominate Greek land design, and land homes are known for this fashionable colour strategy worldwide.