A New Home for the Symi Gallery

Part of the original salon ceiling, complete with a house martin's nest.  Four babies hatched in the time that the room was cleared and painted.

The upstairs entrance.  There's is still plenty of work to be done.

The steps up the side of the building, from the Kali Strata.

Looking down the corridor to the salon and balcony.  Unfortunately my camera does not do the view justice but one can see across the rooftops to Nimos.

After a year without a base the Peripatetic Symi Gallery has now found a home in an old mansion near the top of the Kali Strata. Belonging to a Symiot family now living in Rhodes the house has been uninhabited for decades with the inevitable damage that neglect and a broken tile or two brings. Ian Haycox and members of the Symi Gallery have been hard at work, removing junk and clearing rooms to reveal what is salvageable of the original stencil work and to determine how the space can best be used. As is often the case in traditional Symi 19th century houses, the salon is the only reasonably sized room in the house, the rest being a warren of small rooms used as for sleeping, dressing and cooking. For the present the intention is to optimise the upper storey which comprises the salon and a long corridor with several smaller rooms branching off it.

The initial exhibition which opens in early August will be of Ian Haycox’s work. Posters will be going up shortly.

Entrance is up steps to the side of the building, next to the grove of conifers.