The garden and collective memory
Phrygana of the Serifos mines area.
The history of Serifos island is inextricably linked to its ancient mines. The mines were operating from antiquity, in the Venetian times and eventually stopped during the Ottoman period. After the end of the Greek Revolution, in 1830, Serifos reopened its mines, which started operating on a larger scale. The economy of the island was booming but the working conditions in the mines were appalling for the laborers. The exploitation of the workers consisted of extremely long workdays, non-existent protection equipment and poverty wages. As a result, many of the workers died in work accidents or from inhumane living conditions. The labor strike was organized in August 1919 by the workers union. A great fight between the strikers and the police on August 19th, 1919, ended in the death of many strikers and four police officers. Finally, the mining company agreed to proper working conditions for the miners: the workday was regulated to 8 hours per day for the first time in Greece. The mines gradually fell out of use and now the area stands as a landscape monument of recent history.
Everything here is the color of rust. A rare occasion where landscape, its flora and fauna, collective memory and history merge into one. And the most beautifully shaped and colored phrygana[1] area I have ever met. May this place remain intact to inspire and to humble the generations to come.
[1] Φρύγανα [phrygana] or garrigue is a type of shrubland vegetation and plant community typical in the Mediterranean region. It is characterized by low, compact, aromatic shrubs that have developed strong mechanisms of survival in the extremely harsh, dry and rocky conditions of the Mediterranean.
Euphorbia dendroides turned red after flowering next to a weathered miner’s wagonette.
When I was asked to design a garden located in Kato Chora of Serifos, the settlement built on the rocky slopes of the island, I knew it had to be linked to the mine area too. The study of the plant communities found in the phrygana area of the Serifos mines, determined the plant species that would be planted in the garden. The same principle followed the architectural elements: the vernacular architecture of the island consisting of dry stone walls, stone troughs and threshing floors dictated the design. The design of the stone elements of the garden was based on archival drawings featuring the traditional dimensions and use of materials. The stone used was sourced from a local quarry and the individual stones were selected according to their color and shape.
The aim was to build as if it was always there.
The plan of the garden.
The design consists of a main stone path that leads to a threshing floor. The path traverses through a phrygana shrubland, reminiscent of the mine area. The threshing floor serves as an open space and a lookout point to the sea. Other elements include stone walls that hold the terraces in place, stone stairs leading to the different levels and a traditional stone trough.
The path through the phrygana.
The threshing floor.
Creeping white Cistus (Cistus salviifolius) growing among the path stones.
Large stone slabs are used as stepping stones, the vernacular way of building.
Sedum sediforme growing in the stone wall cracks and Satureja thymbra flowers, all of the same colors.
Seating embedded in the stone wall.
Old and new. Left, an archival image of a traditional stone trough. Right, the newly built stone trough in the sitting area of the garden.
Balkan marbled white butterfly on a Phlomis fruticosa leaf.
To build as if it was always there.
Looking for stones.
Sedum and stone remnants from the construction phase were added to a ceramic pot. The mountains in the back.
The dry old stone wall that pre-existed on the site, a true stonemasonry work of art. The new stones were selected based on this wall.
And a tribute drawing of the remaining wagonettes, a standing reminder of what took place here, almost a century ago.
