Mansions

The mansions of Kastoria highlight the elements of the architecture of the past, Constantinople-style combined with some local elements. Multistoried buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries that are of a great interest for their architecture and painting. Distinguished by the imposing and grandiosity of their construction and it's magnificence.  The mansions were built at the time when the Kastoria area was greatly booming and after the development of the Kastoria business activity in Constantinople, the Danubian countries and Central Europe. Architectural elements, exterior and interior wall paintings performed by folk painters and hagiographers, wood carvings, impossing colorful windows dominate in their architecture and decoration.
Today at least 50 mansions are standing with some of them extremely well preserved and others in poor to very bad condition, while open to visitors are no more than 10.

The sites of Dolcho and Apozari, most of the mansions are located in, are included on the 7 Most Endangered list of Europe’s most at-risk monuments and sites, since 2014.

Despite the efforts for restoration and preservation, many mansions are completely lost in the past 20 years.