Participation in the events of the 7th Workshop in Traditional Stonemasonry in Langadia, Arcadia

It was with great pleasure that we received the invitation of the Association “Friends of Traditional Architecture - Blossoming Stones” to participate in one of the two evening events organised in the context of the 7^th Workshop in Traditional Stonemasonry in Langadia, Arcadia (Greece), from 27 July to 3 August 2025.

The first evening symposium was realised on 29 July 2025, at the Elementary School of Langadia, with the topic “Stonemasonry schools today – Origins and continuities from the past to the future”. The evening was dedicated to the late master mason Kostas Tarnanas from Pentalofos, Kozani. The event included lectures by Platon Petridis, Professor at the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, Jerome Andre, PhD Researcher at the Universities of Lyon and Lausanne, Thierry Gregor, Expert in stone cutting and researcher at ERC-Graph East, Poitiers (France), and Vassilis Ganiatsas, Professor at the National Technical University of Athens. The lectures focused on aspects of stonemasonry in the past, the relevant scientific research, but also the training framework in France, as well as the current steps towards this goal in Greece.

On the evening of 30 July 2025, the second evening symposium was realised, with the topic “Dry Stone and training”. The lectures were presented by Antonia Theodosiou, Architect and Environmental Engineer, Commissioner for the Environment and Animal Welfare of the Republic of Cyprus and Vice-president of the International Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Dry Stone (SPS), Ioannis Michail, Architect, Konstantina Papageorgiou, Archaeologist, member of the Association Ambassada and Ioannis Tsiaoussis, President of the Association “Blossoming Stones”. In the context of the event, the Mitato of Amorgos member Semeli Drymoniti presented the lecture “Dry stone workshops in Amorgos: goals, results and following projects”. During the lecture, the three dry stone workshops “The Amorgian Craftsmanship” were presented, as well as the current project “Allaximaria: Design and implementation of a standardised dry stone workshop”, as the next step towards a more complete dry stone training scheme, particularly on the Greek islands.

Alongside the evening lectures, we had the opportunity to attend the works taking place on the two sites of the 7th Workshop in Traditional Stonemasonry, as well to be guided through the settlement of Langadia, with its rich stonemasonry tradition. Among other participants, the teachers and students of the 2nd Vocational High School of Agia Paraskevi (Athens) were present, honouring Amorgos in their own way, through their artistic creations brought to be exhibited.

Upon departure, we realised a stop at the neighbouring town of Dimitsana, in order to attend a part of the 6^th Summer School for the Cultural Heritage of Rural Areas, organised by the Directorate of Modern Cultural and Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Hellenic Minsitry of Culture, in collaboration with the Region of the Peloponnese, the Municipality of Gortynia, , the Piraeus Cultural Foundation, the the Social Cooperative Menalon and other local partners.

We would like to warmly thank the organisers of the Workshop for the invitation and excellent hospitality, as well as the opportunity they gave us to integrate our thoughts and projects in the wider framework of initiatives regarding the training and certification of dry stone in Greece.