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Kalamitsia - Jesuit Resort

Kalamitsia - Jesuit Resort

Εικ 1 Θέρετρο Ιησουιτών ΚαλαμίτσιαOne of the buildings of the Roman Catholic Church in Naxos, which was not a place of worship, was the Jesuit resort in Kalamitsia. The Jesuit resort is located in a valley between the villages of Potamia and Melanes. In this area are located the ruins of a ducal palace called "Kalamitzia". The site, where the resort was built between 1679-1681, was purchased by Robert Saulger (French Jesuit abbot) from the Theoligitis family in 1678. The architecture of the building has French Baroque elements. The building is two-storey and around it, there are two auxiliary spaces and a dovecote. Around the building, there were gardens and orchards that reached the village of Melanes. Most of the Jesuit property was located around the areas of Melanes, Potamia and Tzitzamolagados, a total of about 2300 acres of arable land. After the dissolution of the Jesuit order in 1773, the resort and the estates were ceded to the Lazarist order until 1878 when the order relinquished its rights to the area. In 1891 the property was taken over by the order of the Salesians until 1927. Then followed a court battle in 1929 and 1937 between the Association of the Holy Cross and the Catholic Church for ownership of the building. Today, the area of Kalamitsia, the complex of buildings, is included in the assets of the "Holy Cross" Foundation based in Naxos, which in turn is subject to the supervision of the State and in particular, the Ministry of Finance. The state expropriated the estates which framed the area of Kalamitsia but not the buildings.

Text Em. Anevlavis (Museologist)

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