Welcome to Klima

Welcome to the village of Klima near Lidoriki (Phocis, Greece). On the last day of our Lidoriki fieldwork, we chanced upon a jewel of a building, a beautifully preserved (but threatened) church dating to 1812 (note datestone on the keystone over entrance, left). The village Klima is almost deserted. Its single occupant is the amazon farmer Mrs Karachaliou (more on her later). Klima is an important piece in the settlement puzzle of the Lidoriki region. It was the mother village of Kallion, which was itself submerged under the Lake Mornos irrigation project. If our Greek field-school were to adopt a village, this would be it. In fact, we hope that next summer, our students will document the village church Taxiarches inside and out.

Taxiarches contains a painted chancel screen dating to 1842. Mrs Karachaliou has stabilized the roof stopping the water damage on the building and the enclosed arts. Like many such 19th-century jewels of vernacular architecture require urgent scholarly attention. Stylistically, the interior decoration is characterized by the tensions between the Byzantine and Renaissance traditions. Similarly, the architectural typology negotiates between local, national, and global.