History is the essence of innumerable biographies
Archipel Mansion is a historic private house, located in the old neighbourhood of “Fraggomahalas” at the highest point of Fira, the island's capital. Spanish origin from Catalonia, the Family’s history derives from the period of the Crusades.
The Duchy of the Aegean
The family crest bears a tower and a knife, crowned by a five edge crown, which is the sign of the title of an Earl.
Francesco Delenda being the founder of the Greek sector of the family first settled in Athens as far back the 14th century, subsequently at Naxos and finally in the mid 16th century at Santorini, making them part of the aristocracy of the “Doukato tou Aigaiou” (Duchy of the Aegean 1207-1537).
The original Mansion was built in the early 18th century and was completed, before 1830, by a monumental second floor, crowned by a characteristic triangular pediment.
At that time, the Mansion housed an important collection of archaic and Hellenistic sculptures and ceramics, coming from the Ancient Thira excavations, which today are displayed in the archaeological museum of Fira, where they were donated in 1956.
Archipel Mansion proudly continues the 600 year old heritage of the Family in Thira, gazing at the very same islands that form the Archipelago of Santorini.
The actual house has been built by its present owner, the architect Nikos Delendas, in the place of the old Mansion, following the morphological rules of the initial neoclassical palazzo.
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