The Castle

Housed in one of the few famous castle houses of the island it was built in 1803. The so-called “Castle” by the locals, is waiting for you to take a tour inside. Tour its premises and discover a magical world, where history comes alive and the cultural heritage of the unique community of Kastromenes emerges authentic and untouched by time.

About the castle

Below you will come accross even more interesting information about the Castle directly from the founder of the Museum Mr. Antonis Syrianos, who through his pen and memories, tells us the unique story of the Castle house.

“The castle house, alternatively castle, is a three-storey building, built on a slope and has the peculiarity all seven entrances of its three floors to be directly located on streets. Imagine a small village on the side of a mountain with the houses descending almost like a river from top to end”.

“It was one of the few, famous castle houses built by the Tinians at the beginning of the 18th century, specifically in 1715, date of the building of Tinos Town.

The lower part of the castle, according to testimonies of all those who inhabited it, was a crypto-tarsana, (tarsanas: ancient greek rooted word meaning shipyard / hidden shipyard) used for the fear of pirates. Despite it being on the coastline it was not visible, but rather hidden in a kind of a narrow alley in which the waters of the sea and a valley (the valley of Varis) met. On the upper part as well as the lower part of this Tarsana, at the end of which there was a small church of St. Minas, the Black Virgin and the Three Hierarchs, the other parts of the castle were built. According to the marble inscription at the central entrance on the higher located road, one of them was built at about 1712 and the others in 1803”.

“From its beginnings, Chora of Tinos was divided into two neighbourhoods. The aristocratic Pano Vrisi and Parakatiani, according to the criteria of Pano Vrisi and Kato Vrisi.”

“The conflicts between these two neighbourhoods are the basis of my three-volume book “Kastromenes”. This gave me the impetus to turn the castlehouse in which Kastromenes lived a place that can be widely visited.

These women, the majority of whom were spinsters and few flourishing widows spinsters by conviction, moved in together with or without their offsprings. They moved in the Castle with their dowry “uneaten” as they used to say, creating a kind of a small unique palace, if one takes into consideration the time they lived and the way the rest of the island inhabitants lived.

Rich captains from Pano Vrysi brought home goods from all over the world. In the castle houses of Pano Vrysi one could see goods from Istanbul and Venice. “Even Kings that had seen the whole world’s goods, oh my dear eyes, were left in awe once they entered our houses” boasted in pride the women of Pano Vrysi (Panovrisians).”

“Captivated by the beauty of Art and luxury, Κastromenes reverently possessed the best of what the era had to offer. They themselves as well as their grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Ηeirlooms, precious objects, pictures, works of art as well as local artisans’ works of art, were for them the ultimate sign of the nobility and continuity of a place and a whole family that most and above all passionately respected and honored its roots.”

“It is a time during which Greece wavers between East and West and Tinos leans towards the East. With its people being closer to Smyrna and Istanbul than they were to Athens ships left directly from Panormos to Smyrna (Panormos: port on the north side of the island). All the above are to justify the uniquely warm interior and exterior decoration, something completely different to the European reality of the era. An east-west “marriage” combined with the characteristic east-west unique stone architecture and the Tinian behavior deeply rooted.”

“This Castle is not just an urban Tinian house of the 19th and 20th century with precious objects even from times before its existence, nor is it a museum with inanimate things and silent photographs of people who lived in it and are long gone. It’s rather the house that Kastromenes bequeathed, the way they bequeathed it. With all the carelessness that characterized them, to such an extent that entering the castle you get the feel that you’ll suddenly see them popping from some corner around the house. Having read the book surely makes this feeling even more intense.”

“P.S. There are written and acoustic explanations in the Tinian dialect in every single spot of the house, such as the lamp holders and the baptistery where the weddings and baptisms of the rich took place, or in Halepa’s Corner with the famous marble hand. Some of which written even by Kastromenes themselves.”