About marble carving at Tinos
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This course will introduce the history of marble carving in Tinos island, Greece. The text is from the Guidebook of the Museum of Marble Crafts of PIOP, written by Alekos E. Florakis and published by PIOP in Athens in 2009.
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Marble was used in the Cyclades already from the third millennium BC. However, the first identified use of Tinian marble is dated to the fourth century BC, in the sanctuary of Poseidon and Amphitrite at Kionia, and specifically for the construction of the elaborate fountain there. During the period of Roman rule, until the second century AD, Tinian marble was used extensively on the island, as well as on neighbouring Delos, in the theatre and the foundations of the large temple of Apollo.
From the Hellenistic period, quarries of green marble began operating too, the exploitation of which seems to have continued into Early Christian times. Few sculptural works from the years of Iconomachy have been identified on Tinos, whereas there is a proliferation of creations from the tenth to the twelfth century and after.
In the centuries of Venetian Rule (1204-1715), the relative security and stability prevailing on the island played a significant role in shaping its cultural physiognomy and contributed to the development of marble crafts. The Byzantine sculptural tradition was enriched with works in Western style, which underline the strong Venetian presence here. The favourable attitude of the Catholic Church to sculptural decoration and the contacts with Venice, as well as with Venetian-held Crete, boosted the burgeoning of local marble carving. The earliest extant stone reliefs of this period, primarily coats of arms, are dated to the fifteenth or sixteenth century and to the early seventeenth.
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During the seventeenth century marble-carvers followed builders all over Tinos, making marble architectural members and decorative reliefs. In this period the first organised teams of marble-carvers and builders appeared. The first craftsman among them to leave his signature (1661) was Ioannis Frangiskos Apergis, from Pyrgos, followed by his son, Frantzeskos. Their works offer valuable information on the hierarchy of craftsmen and the movements of teams, the knowledge of techniques and the hereditary succession in the profession. They also point to the operation of quarries on the island, if not yet systematic.
During the eighteenth century the profession of marblecarver was established gradually in its own right. With the conquest of Tinos by the Turks, in 1715, and its inclusion in the Ottoman Empire, Tinian marble-carvers now had the opportunity to extend their activity beyond the confines of their native island. This was a period of economic and cultural heyday for Tinos, which took full advantage of the regime of self-administration and the privileges granted by the Turks. Intense competition developed between the local centres of marble crafts and the workshops, while concurrently techniques improved and the tool kit became more specialised and sophisticated.
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The development of workshop-based marble carving in the second half of the eighteenth century coincided with the appearance of Baroque. Contacts with Constantinople were decisive for the import of innovations (by Tinians working in or running workshops in the Ottoman capital), and especially elements of Ottoman Baroque, though in its remodelled version. The last and best-organised of these workshops was that belonging to the marble-carver and masterbuilder Hadjisimos Nikolaou (born 1790) from Ysternia, who produced, among other creations, the marble constructions in the Evangelistria church on Tinos.
After the wide dissemination marble carving enjoyed, thanks to the current of Neoclassicism in the nineteenth century, Tinians continued to settle in Athens and in other towns and cities of Greece, where they set up marble-carving workshops. From the early 1930s, the Neo-Byzantine style became fashionable in ecclesiastical decoration, consistent with the more general ideological climate, while from the late 1970s ‘folklorism’ and tourism brought folk motifs back into vogue, in a modern handicraft in a naïve mode.
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The need to establish a school of marble crafts had been apparent since the mid-nineteenth century, when some marble-carving workshops fulfilled this role unofficially.
Following some unsuccessful attempts, the Panormos Preparatory and Professional School of Fine Arts was eventually founded at Pyrgos, in 1955, with the aim of providing professional training in marble crafts. The school operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and its principal sponsor is the Panhellenic Holy Foundation of the Evangelistria of Tinos. Studies last three years and courses include marble carving, sculpture, painting, free and technical drawing, as well as art history. Each year, the two top graduates of the School are entitled to enter the Advanced School of Fine Arts in Athens without examination. Graduates of the school at Pyrgos work as specialist craftsmen in ateliers of marble sculpting and carving, as well as on projects for the conservation and restoration of monuments in Greece and abroad.
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