History

During archaic period Naxos is realizing a great prosperity. The island plays a leading role in plastic art the architecture: The two Kouroi in Melanes and in Potamia, as well as «Apollo» or «Dionysus» in Apollonas that are a semi-work statutes found their original positions inside ancient quarries, are unique testimonies of that age. An open air sanctuary in Flerio, probably the dedicated to Nymphs, with a strong enclosure, rectangular foundations and ruins of wide and flat opening where the offerings were placed, is related to operating of the ancient marble quarries in the area!!!

According to the tradition craftsmen from Naxos were the first to construct buildings totally made of marble. What is more, Naxos was the motherland of Ionic Marble architecture. The sanctuary of Dionysus in Iria with Four successive Temples (800- 550 B.C), Shows the transition from the simple one room house to more refined marble shapes. The visitors will see ruins of the last monumental Temple. The marble highlights the crucial parts of the buiting and it is carved on a primary level resulting in the early forms of Ionic column and of the pro-style Ionic Temple generally. People of Naxos had already applied architectural elements (Big Door ways, Visual refinements, the double roof ceiling) that were adopted later by the classical Attica architecture. This is evident in the marble building that was built in Gyroulas, near Sangri, as a place of worshiping, Demeter and Apollo during the Tyranny of lygdamis around, 525 B.C.

The most Famous monument of Naxos Island which is considered to be "Trademark", is the marble temple of Apollo Delios in the islet o Vakchos (Palatia) . it is called 'Portara' due to the huge portal of its cella that is still standing. This temple as well was built during the tyranny period, around 530 BC.

Another smaller construction project of the same or later period is a characteristic sample of Cycladic construction projects of antiquity. It is an aqueduct, a liner construction 11 km long, that's are from Melanes, follows the banks of the massifs of the area goes through the settlement of Agios Thalaleos and Aggidia and crosses the plain of Katsagra in order to end up to the Chore of Naxos.

In 1207, when the venetians Marco Sanudo conquers Naxos, a new era starts for the island, as the ancient Town to build the imposing Castle of Chora. The Castle had many Towers and was build on the Hill constitutes a natural citadel. The Venetians ruled until 1537. That year, the island was captured by Barbarossa and was under Turkeys Domination. The Turks preserved the feudal system. The island was under Ottoman rule until 1829, when it was annexed to the newly Greek established state along with the rest of the Aegean island.