VIRTUAL: Prague Heritages

Abstract

This paper is focused on a main question as “In what ways can an abandoned building be the reason to investigate the historical and architectural identity of a place?” The aim of research in this paper has been the rescue of the Panagiotopoulos mansion, a country house with an urban architectural style, which has not been recorded in any official literature to date and promotes part of the architectural heritage of the island of Salamis, in Greece. The research brought to light the unseen aspects of the mansion, identified architectural elements of the interwar period, with an emphasis on the “art nouveau” main entrance door. The objective of the research has been to photograph the existing condition of the building before structural elements, that constitute its architectural identity, will be vanished. The abandonment does not favor the extroversion of the mansion so as to become a pole of attraction for visitors both in terms of education and tourism. It is necessary and important to include the mansion in the concept of “monument” as a cultural asset, not only to preserve, highlight and promote its historicity but also to protect the architectural heritage of Salamis. The present research hopes to become the bridge of communication between the mansion and the rest of the world, public and private bodies, aims at retrieving from oblivion the architectural wealth of Salamis, which unfortunately remains unexploited till now and, eventually, paves the way for the economic development and sustainability of the area.