“…history is the essence of innumerable biographies…”

Archipel Mansion is located in the old neighbourhood of “Fraggomahalas” at the highest point of Fira, the capital of Santorini.

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.
Spanish origin from Catalonia, the Family’s history derives from the period of the Crusades, 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 family crest bears a tower and a knife, crowned by a five edge crown, which is the sign of the title of an Earl.

During their long presence on the island of Santorini, members of the family have been representatives of foreign countries, such as Great Britain, Austria, France and Germany.
With that role they have hosted distinguished guests, with the finest amongst them the successor of Prussia, later the Emperor of Germany, Wilhelm II, the Baron Hillier Von Gertingen, archaeologist and the first excavator of ancient Thira and, around 1835, the King of Greece, Otto and Queen Amalia.
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. 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.

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