Syros
— — the neoclassical island the rest of the Cyclades forgot to be.
Not only on a wall.
“Syros is the Cyclades without the whitewash. Its capital, Ermoupoli, was built in the 1820s by refugees from Chios and Psara who arrived with money, taste, and Italian architects, and the marble town they raised is still the administrative capital of the whole island group. Two hills above the harbour: Ano Syros, Catholic and medieval; Vrontado, Orthodox and 19th-century. A working island, lived in all year, and quieter than its neighbours for it. from the studio
Syros, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Syros is an island of about 84 square kilometres in the central Cyclades, roughly 145 kilometres southeast of Piraeus. It is the administrative capital of the South Aegean region and held about 21,500 residents at the 2021 census, more than most of its neighbours. Its capital, Ermoupoli, was founded in the 1820s by Greek refugees from Chios, Psara, and Asia Minor during the War of Independence, and grew into one of the wealthiest port cities of the eastern Mediterranean.
The architectural fabric of Ermoupoli is neoclassical, not Cycladic. Italian and Bavarian architects worked on the public buildings in the mid-19th century: Ernst Ziller designed the City Hall on Miaoulis Square, finished in 1898, and the Apollon Theatre of 1864 was modelled on La Scala in Milan. Above the port, Ano Syros climbs a conical hill to the Catholic Cathedral of Saint George, a medieval Venetian settlement from the 13th century. Across the saddle Vrontado carries the Orthodox church of the Resurrection.
Syros is a year-round island, not a summer one. The shipyard at Neorion has built and repaired vessels since 1861 and still operates. The Apollon Theatre runs a winter season; the Festival of the Aegean brings opera every July. The Catholic and Orthodox communities of Ano Syros and Vrontado celebrate Easter on the same Sunday by local agreement, the only place in Greece that does so. Loukoumi and halvadopita are the local sweets, made here since the 19th century.