Today Kythera holds 62 settlements. This large number is mainly due to the feudal system which was installed during the Venetian occupation. Initially, these were small settlement cores around which more houses and other facilities were built. The housing model was for purely agricultural purposes. In the 18th century, the largest settlement cores were those of Hora (today’s capital), Kato Hora of Milopotamos, Logothetianika and Potamos. Agios Dimitrios, Paleohora was never re-inhabited after the destruction it suffered from the raid of the pirate Hairedin Barbarossa. Other areas such as Potamos and Karavas, Aroniadika and Mitata, Livadi and Kalamos were developed later on.
The houses are usually built with the doors and yards facing to the South and to the West. A prevalent procedure is the successive extension of rooms on top of the initial single-room house. The buildings’ architecture is frugal, lacking special decorations and designs. The Aegean Sea and Venetian influences as well as the characteristic palette of Mani create pluralism in their aesthetics. Building dimensions do not keep specific guidelines and symmetry in designs is met in very few cases. Most of the buildings are single-floored. Some houses have two floors, of which only the upper was usually lived in. The roofs are constructed either with arches, forming the well-known long spans, or with a flat roof which is supported by wooden beams and cane lattices. Tiled roofs are usually found on the Northern part of the island, an influence from the architecture of Mani. They are usually buildings with two floors. Flat roofs, on the other hand, prevail on the Southern part, the “water tanks” which collect water and store it in cisterns. Chimneys, coats of arms, window-side flower beds, pigeonholes and arcades are few of the characteristic elements of decoration within Kitherian architecture. Porous stone is the main material used for decoration. Equally noteworthy are the high campaniles (free-standing bell towers) on the churches.
Many public works were constructed in Kythera during the British occupation. For the completion of these works, the British, obliged the locals to forced labor. Under the guidance of British engineers major road crossings were constructed, bridges, school buildings, the market (Merkato) in Hora, the Quarantine Building (Lazareta), the Aqueduct and the Kapsali lighthouse.
Kythera (Hora), Aroniadika, Kastrissianika, Kato Hora and Milopotamos have been declared traditional housing settlements. The preservation and maintenance of architecture, functionality and aesthetics of these housing settlements are promoted by today's local inhabitants. The fact that the island’s touristic progress was timely delayed has left the impressions of a different age almost untouched. However, the increase in unruly construction works, the use of foreign characteristics dissonant to the local element as well as a “standardized” kitsch decoration style ring a warning; action needs to be taken to prevent a loss to the island's unique and traditional charm in the near future.
