Skamneli - Buildings

Buildings

While some of the grander houses, such as those of the Noutsos and Saitzis families, became ruins, other houses were repaired by the few remaining impoverished inhabitants. Repairs were not always sympathetic to the traditional forms. However, there are some old manors still in existence, built in the traditional style of Zagori, notably that of the Gennadios family, near the village square and those of Cyparrisos, Frangoulis and Theodosiou. A unique characteristic of these manors were murals with floral themes covering the interior and they were also characterised by their unique carved wooden ceilings. While the older ceilings are now mostly gone, a very fine example of modern work in the old Scamneliot style can be seen in the hotel "To Rhadio" (το Ραδιό), along the main road, near the church of the Apostles.

The church of Agioi Apostoloi was built in 1793 next to the village square by a benefaction from two Skamneliots living in Moldovlachia, Demetrios and Christodoulos Saitzes. Ιτ has beautiful wooden panelling and is of considerable historical significance as a representative of the style of the period. Young Skamneliotes used to study in Ioannina or in Italy and in Constantinople during the Ottoman period and would emigrate for work to Constantinople, Asia Minor, Russia, the Danubian principalities of Moldova, Wallachia and Bessarabia, known collectively as Moldovlachia, in Romania and also to Egypt. More recently there has been emigration also to the U.S.A.. There used to be two large monasteries near the entrance of Skamneli, that of Agios Nikolaos housed monks while that of Agia Paraskevi originally housed nuns. The Monastery of Agios Nikolaos dates from 1683. Parts of the monk's quarters, the church and a picturesque roofed well still remain.

The Monastery of Agia Paraskevi dates from the 12th or 13th century, as some of the oldest murals suggest, during the period of the Despotate of Epirus. It was founded as a nunnery with 60 nuns. On the record of its last commissioner, it became a "Stavropegiac" monastery in 1453, after the Fall of Constantinople, and has remained under the direct jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. It was refounded in 1697 as a male monastery. Some of the frescoes were painted in 1717 and 1773 by painters from nearby Kapesovo and from Chionades. The exterior fresco mainly around the theme of the Final Judgement was apparently made by a hagiographer from nearby Koukouli. The frail frescoes were restored in 1933 and 1984. The monastery became ruinous and only the central church remains out of the original foundation. Another old church, that of the Panagia (Church of the Yperagia Theotokos or the Dormition of the Theotokos) has suffered from disrepair and, although still standing, has been closed to the public.