14 Aug About Tinos island
Most people travelling to Tinos visit the island on a pilgrimage to “Megalochare”, the church built in the 19th century and dedicated to the grace of Virgin Mary, without discovering the real beauties of this multidimensional island of the Cyclades.
Once poor and ravaged by numerous pirate and Turkish attacks the people of Tinos managed to find strength to fight not only for survival but also to enrich their lives culturally. The Tinians overcame poverty by working hard. They built endless networks of dry stone walls called “xerolithies” in order to contain the top soil on the rocky and mountainous terrain of Tinos in order to create land to cultivate.
These dry stone walls are very characteristic of the island’s landscape and can be seen from great distances away such as the islands of Mykonos and Delos, where the sanctuary of Apollo once was.
The Tinian artist worked with marble, which was and is in abundance on the island, and expressed his artistic inclinations by creating wonderful shapes such as “The sleeping beauty” of Giannoulis Chalepas among other. Pyrgos village alone is the birthplace of numerous famous artists, painters and sculptors; Gyzis, Chalepas, D. Philippotes, S. Philippotes, Gaites and many others.