Walking in Mastiha Villages - Chios

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What makes the island unique is the mastikahoria, the famous mastiha villages of Chios. These are a series of fortified villages built in the 14th century during Genovese rule (1346-1566). These villages had an economy based on the cultivation of mastiha, a gum like sap from the mastic trees that are unique to the island and were so prized that the Genovese built fortresses to protect them, and when the Turks massacred the inhabitants of Chios, the mastic villages were spared.
The villages’ turbulent history is miraculously reflected on the architecture of the buildings: for defensive purposes the villages were built out of sea sight surrounded by high walls with a central tower – the last resort in case the walls were breached by Arab pirates. The tower had no door at street level but was entered by ladders which were used as bridges from the rooftops and then pulled up.
Of these villages the most impressive is Pirgi with its intricately painted houses, and Mesta which is a medieval fortress town pretty much intact.

Pirgi is the largest of these mastic villages. Its outer wall is mostly gone enabling the village to creep out beyond its former boundaries. Like the other fortified villages there was a central tower. In Pirgi the tower still exists and sections of it have been turned into residences. Above the main square is the church of Kimissis Tis Theotokou (Our Lady's Dormition), a three-aisle basilica built in 1694. The most interesting feature of Pirgi is the decorative design scratched into the exterior walls of the houses, known as ksista. Mostly geometric forms, ksista has gone through several periods and may have originated in Genoa or in Constantinople. The process, which is still practiced today, begins with the spreading of a mixture of sand, asbestos and cement on the walls of the house. This is then covered with white asvestis. When it dries the patterns are drawn onto the outer layer and then scratched with a fork to reveal the darker layers beneath.

Mesta, a completely intact fortress town of 300 people, the best preserved of the mastic villages,. In the Turkish genocide of 1922 many of the inhabitants were captured to be used as slaves. Because mastic was so important a product, those who knew how to grow and process it were freed and sent back to the village.The tower of Mesta had three floors and an underground tunnel that led to the well so that even in a siege water would be available. In 1858 the defensive tower which was no longer considered necessary was demolished to build the Church of the Taxiarchis, still the largest church in Chios. The streets were also designed for defensive purposes, narrow and dark with blind alleys that would not only confuse the invaders but enable the villagers to attack them from above using the walkways and arches that connected the buildings. The houses themselves were small individual fortresses and were an essential part of the whole castle and defensive system. The ground floor has one entrance and no windows. The animals lived downstairs. The main characteristic of the house is the pounti, a sort of patio on the first floor reached by a staircase which led to the sleeping areas, usually two bedrooms. The pounti had a ladder that went to the roof. In the case of an invasion the ladder could be pulled up and the villagers could walk to the central tower for protection. These fortress towns were based on the designs of the ancient Greek towns of Ionia

The Chios Mastic Museum located in the Mastichochoria, in Southern Chios, the only site in the Mediterranean where the mastic tree, or Pistacia lentiscus var. Chia, is cultivated; called by its generic name of skínos in Greek, this is an endemic variety of pistacia plant from which mastíha (gum mastic) is produced.
The permanent exhibition centres on Chios mastíha as a unique natural product. The tour is organized in different modules. The introductory module provides information on the mastic tree and mastíha, its resin, which in 2015 was recognised as a natural medicine. The first module presents the traditional know-how of mastic cultivation. The second module focuses on how managing the cultivation and its produce shaped the agricultural landscape and the settlements of southern Chios and the Mastichochoria historically. The third module is dedicated to mastíha resin’s cooperative exploitation and processing in modern times, which marks an important chapter in the productive history of Chios.