Architecture

What gate you walk through to enter the castle, does not matter. By entering into this, the city bustle stays outside. A traditional settlement is scattered through the Ottoman buildings like Soufari Seraglio and Aslan Pasha mosque, which houses the municipal museum and the Jewish synagogue.

A crossroads of cultures and religions. And high above, the Kale, the Acropolis: a cultural park with small museums and collections. In summer this is the area of cultural heart of the city, with concerts and other events that take place.

Municipal Ethnographic Museum Ioannina is located in the castle and is housed in the mosque of Aslan Pasha built in the early 17th century (probably in 1618) by Aslan Pasha, who ruled in Ioannina during the period 1600-1612.

It was built on the site where according to tradition during the Byzantine era, the church of St. John was there.

The Mosque of Aslan Pasha was the core of a large religious - educational complex, from which today survives the homonym Tourbes (mausoleum), the Mendreses (seminary) and Mageiria (hearth and home).

The church of St. Nicholas Kopanon, is located north of the city of Ioannina, near Limnopoula in the north exit of the town, on the way to Perama. In this area women used to wash clothes and beat the rugs in the water. This is why the church got the name of Kopanon (beaten).

Old mansion built in the late 18th century, is the only that survived the fire of 1820, thanks to the extensive vineyards that surrounded it. During the Turkish occupation it belonged to the family of Hussein-Bey. The name 'House of the Bishop' was given as it was for a considerable time the seat of the Metropolitan of Ioannina. This mansion is a classic of its kind. Considered a masterpiece of traditional architecture.

The building that houses the City Hall of Ioannina, was built in 1938 to house the local branch of the National Bank. In the long history of the building, it was occasionally used as accommodation by public figures, as a scientific club and an area of Zosimaia Library, eventually conceded to the Municipality of Ioannina. It is the work of the great architect Aristotle Zachos.

Kaplaneios School was built in 1926 and is one of the perfect examples of new-byzantine style. Creator of it, Pericles Melirritos in the age of maturity. The school complex is named after the national benefactor Kaplani Zois (1736-1806). Today the building houses the municipal schools and kindergartens.

The mosque of Veli Pasha or Tsiekour-mosque is located on the south side of the hill of Litharitsia, in the middle of a large uncovered area formed by the southeastern outskirts of the hill and from the eastern slopes of the central plateau of the "upper city". South and east of the area the Tsiekour districts and Plithokopio grew. Together with Mendrese (seminary) that is built to the north of it, they were inseparable foundations of seraglios, which were built alongside by Ali Pasha for his son Veli.

The Mosque of Kaloutsianis is located in the central square of the homonymous district of the city. According to the wall inscription (unknown date) the Mosque was built in 1740 by Haci Mehmet Pasha, vali (governor) of Ioannina, in place of a metzit (Ottoman temple without a minaret).

The modest, discreet and calm neoclassical building located in Kourabies, next to Xenia, is the work of Sigismondou Mineiko.

When in 1885 Chivzi Pasha of Yianniotis descent was placed vali of sancak of Epirus and Albania and he was renowened for the impartial character and charitable feelings, he found out a serious lack of medical care in the region.

On February 17, 1902 the foundation was laid on which the inscription was engraved : <<Evandrou Ipirou Paides Evergetais Zosimades AIEN Evgnomones Ton the Themelion Lithon ZOSIMAIAS SCHOOL Katethrndo Etei Sotiriou 1902 FEBRUARY 17 ARCHITECT P.MELIRRYTOS >>.

The Neoclassical building, Pericles Melirritos' work and perhaps the first since the establishment in Ioannina. The school was built at the expense of Zagoria benefactress Angeliki Papazoglou. The Papazogleios Weaving School today does not work and the building serves the city's teaching needs. The mansion is classified as a protected historic monument.

Mansion Soufari (horsemen) - "Soufari Serai" was built in between 1815 and 1820 by Ali Pasha with the walls of the Castle. It is one of the most important buildings cantonment period. The building with the impressive dimensions is located opposite the Turkish baths, outside the Northeast Acropolis Castle.

Stoa was built after the arsony of Ioannina in 1869, during which most of the old Ioannina market was destroyed.

The shops housed inside, were built with stone and had arched doors of thick iron door wing, large windows and cellars.

Stoa Louli was built in 1875 and its arches were imported from Italy. Initially the gallery functioned as an inn, where people from villages stayed when in Ioannina. Gradually the inn became point - node, where people gathered from across the continent, to start the great, for the season, trip to Athens. The constant motion of so many people resulted in the conversion of the Stoa into the mall of the time. First to develop commercial activity Lodge, were Jewish merchants of Ioannina, who operated shops with fabrics and leather.

In short distance north of the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Ioannina lies the building complex of the Turkish Cookeries, built in the late 18th century or early 19th by Ali Pasha and his son Veli, to serve the needs of staff of the seraglios of Veli Pasha, which was built at the lower levels of the hill Litharitsia.

It is a rectangular, large building. Many interventions were made during the use by the military. After extensive mounting works, made between 1995 - 1997 by the Municipality of Ioannina, it now houses the departments of the Cultural Center.

The Bath is outside the Northeast Acropolis Castle, south of the Library. It is one of the earliest preserved Ottoman monuments in Ioannina (early 17th century). It seems that it replaced the northern detected Byzantine bath.

The building, which has received many later alterations, consists of a large square hall west, an intermediate narrow vaulted room, the main hall of the bath, the vaulted tank and ovens for heating water. The main hall of the bath has a stone floor, which was based on the stanchions of hypocaust, most of which survived.

In 1879 Rasim Pasha founded the building that today houses the VIII Merarchia in the place once was the palace of Mukhtar. In this historical building, which was known as "Konaki", the last decisions were taken for the unconditional surrender of the city to the Greek army on February 20, 1912.

Located in the center of town and is a successful mixture of neoclassical, Mediterranean and Oriental style with characteristic fountains covering the four sides. Osman Pasha the Kurd, vali and general commander of Epirus and southern Albania from 1897 to 1905, wanting to celebrate the Jubilee of Sultan Abdul Chamit Khan decided to erect a commemorative tower employing for this purpose Pericles Meliryttous, an architect who used for the construction marble carvers and masons from Konitsa, Kastaniani and Vourbiani.

Τhis elegant mansion at Ioannina is known as the '' old Commercial School ''. It is a prestigious and very interesting building with strong neoclassical traits but, clearly the French influence.

Built in the 1870s as the residence of vali vilayet of Ioannina. This is a beautiful building with impressive pediment, large balcony on the back side, framed windows and compact ornate railings.

It is one of the many Jewish-owned buildings that survived. Built in second half of the 19th century by Davitzon Levi, who was a military surgeon. The building housed for many years a private school and so it is known as the 'High School”.

Typical Jewish 19th century building, currently inhabited. Street Kountourioti, in which the building is located, and the street Yosef Elijah, were the roads where mostly Jews lived.

It is one of the most successful projects of Melirritos. This symmetrical two-storey building with neoclassical elements is a jewel for the city. The building was constructed in 1905 by progressive Pasha Osman the Kurdish. In this mansion housed the first Ottoman Girls' school (Middle Urban School Girls), while next to it was already operating a lower primary Turkish school.

In this house with striking features of Renaissance architecture, combined with the local tradition, the master builder of the company Continental Research, Constantine Frontzos (1904-1986) lived fifty years, who took over the building's design. The building was built in 1938 and was inherited to the company of Continental Research to house the Folk Museum.

The Mansion Mission is the largest, most representative and most famous of the surviving mansions of the city. It has all the typical elements of Turkish-GIANNIOTI style and is considered an excellent model of traditional architecture. The mansion was finished on May 18, 1844 and was built on the traces of the preexisting building burnt in the fire of 1820. The house has hosted during the liberation of Ioannina in 1913 the Prince and later King George II, the successor to Constantine and the Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos. Today the monument belongs to the Ministry of Culture.

One of the most beautiful bourgeois houses of Ioannina with neoclassical architectural elements. Participation of an architect in the design of the building is evident and his name was not rescued. Historical the family of the founders. The lawyer Georgios Tzavellas was a national fighter. His daughter Ismene gave her home in the municipality with the entire high value household in order to become a museum of Ioannina's traditional house.

Located in the city center, built by the family Kappa in the early 20th century and is the only one of the private buildings of Pericles Meliryttos surviving. The Mediterranean character is due to lighter components. The current owner of the distinguished doctor Dimitrios Parlapas retained the original interior decoration and the original furnishings. Finally, this cheerful building has been classified as an architectural monument and artwork.

It is the largest in space and volume, building of Ioannina. Its construction went through many adventures. Construction began in 1935 according to plans of the gianniotissas architect Erikaitis Ioannidou (1910-1984).

The building of the Prefecture was bombed in 1940 and for many years after the war remained a ruin. It was rebuilt later and finished just in 1960. In 1970 a third floor was added in a traditional Gianniotiko shape but it contrasts with the austere and rigorous neoclassical style of the original building.

Northwest of the mosque, there is the monument that houses the tombs of Ali Pasha and one of his wives.

This rectangular monument, which is divided into two sections. In the first the graves are located. Undoubtedly, the initial construction of the tomb, where the headless body of Ali was, it was grand and very impressive. The existing iron railing, an imitation of the authentic wrought iron balustrade, which survived until 1940.

In the center of Kale and adjacent to the church of St. Anargyroi, there is the building known by the oral tradition as a «The treasure chest." It is an impressive building that probably belonged to a wider group of seraglios of Ali Pasha, whose remains were found in a short distance to the south of the building.At the western end of the south side, there is a vaulted opening that probably led to the next, vaulted space, which later was formed to the present church of St. Anargyroi.

The mansion Pyrsinella - Makris family is correct – was built between 1830 and 1840 on the ruins of the destroyed by fire in 1820 prior house. In its original form it was surrounded by tall, stone, walls as all the mansions of Ioannina. The historic and artistic monument, belonged to the family Makris, old rulers. Founder of the illustrious family is the Teacher of the Nation Vissarion Makris (1635-1699).