Author: James Prineas
When Published: 2013
Publisher: Kytherian World Heritage Fund
Available: In Australia from the Kytherian
World Heritage Fund & The Kytherian Association of Australia
George C. Poulos: 02 93888320
Order more of the 30+ books from the KWHF
catalogue by downloading the Order Form, here:
http://www.kythera-family.net/download/Book_Order_Form.pdf
Kytherian Association of Australia, Book Orders
http://www.kythera-family.net/download/Book_Order_Form.pdf
Kytherian Association of Australia, Book Orders
In Europe, available from James Prineas.
From 2014, the book will be available from all
good book shops on the island of Kythera.
Description: Beautiful coffee table book
printed on 118gsm art paper. 272 pages. Hardback.
ISBN: 978-0-9872473-2-2
Other contributors:
Essays: Kiriaki Mavromattes-Orfanos
Translation: Irini Renieri
Greek Editing: Elena Panagopoulou
Plane piloted by: Kyprianos Biris
The book contains photographs of the various villages and places on the island of Kythera, taken from the air.
Subjects: Kythera, also known as 'Cerigo', is a
Greek island situated between the southern tip of the Peloponnese and Crete.
Its more than sixty villages reveal their organic development from neolithic to
modern times. Roads twist like climbing plants into almost every corner of the
island. These 280 aerial photographs taken in the verdant winter months,
capture the beauty of the entire island.
Typical photographs from the book.
 |
| Logothetianika from the air. |
 |
Ayia
Pelagia from the air
View / Download a .pdf of 8 sample pages,
(pp.72-79) here:
Kiriaki Mavromattes-Orfanas on what makes the
book special and unique
In one of her essays in the book, Kiriaki
Mavromattes-Orfanas explains how she always sits in the window seat of a plane
in order to catch first glimpses of the Mediterranean and the seas around
Kythera. She points out that these views, beautiful as they are, are seen in
movement, you cannot ‘fix’ the image and peruse it at your leisure. With James
Prineas’ book in your hand, that is precisely what you can do, however.
As Kiriaki states, “it is this view which makes
this publication such an interesting one.
Because here in these images, you get to see
the villages and towns of Kythera, its beaches and hillsides, its monasteries
and churches, its vineyards and olive groves, its cypress trees, its roads and
rivers and gullies and ravines, its hidden ponds and ancient waterways. You
become aware of the precipitous nature of its cliffs and the stark rise of its
mountains. You get to see where worked land ends and wilderness begins. The
islands wounds and scars become apparent to you and you cn hear the e echoes of
the silence of those now still, but once vibrant villages left' ‘erima kai
mona’ as their population slowly deserted them. You can follow the coastline,
noting were it is accessible and where it is not and wonder about which beaches
Helen went to with Paris, looking for a private moment with her lover before
she made that fateful choice and plunged her world into war. And your favourite
beach, or your grandfather s house, or the home you grew up in, is presented in
a different way and you can finally see the sense of the division of family
property - the ‘adelfomerasmata’.
From the ground you may not be aware that your
village is surrounded on three sides by a ravine, or how high it sits above the
sea, but seeing it from above, you get to understand why itis where it is and
how the terrain is king”.
Some reactions to the book:
Georgia Pine, California, USA.
"I've been enjoying the various photos and
reading the essays. It's going to take a while to get through it as it is heavy
to handle. What a terrific legacy for all of us and for future generations!
Great idea to include surnames with each village."
Dimitris Koutrafouris, a Bank Manager of the of National Bank of Greece, Kythera, placed the book on display in the Potamos branch in the summer of 2013.
As locals and Kytherians of the Diaspora
thumbed through the book, their first instinct was to try and find their own
houses, or those of their grandparents and relatives.
Most were not satisfied until that were certain
that they had found their houses. Often they had to solicit the help of
relatives and friends to help locate them.
The book contains virtually every structure on
the island, in every part of the island, which makes it a very valuable
Kytherian resource.
πηγή: kythera-family.net
