Xenia (hotel)
Xenia (Ξενία) was a nationwide hotel construction program initiated by the Hellenic Tourism Organisation (Ελληνικός Οργανισμός Τουρισμού, E.O.T.) to improve the country's tourism infrastructure in the 1960s and 1970s.[1][2][3][4] It constitutes one of the largest infrastructure projects in modern Greek history.
History
[edit]Until the 1950s, Greece featured only a few major hotels, mostly situated in the country's great cities, and a few smaller ones in islands like Corfu or Rhodes. In 1950, EOT began a program to construct and operate hotels across the country, especially in the less-travelled areas. Locations were specially selected and the architecture combined local knowledge with standardized elements. The buildings were embedded in the landscape, but at the same time followed a modernist style.[5][6]
The first manager of the project was the architect Charalambos Sfaellos (from 1950 to 1958) and from 1957 the buildings were designed by a team under Aris Konstantinidis. Many private hotel projects in Greece were inspired by the Xenia hotels and the program had reached its aims in the early 1970s.[7][8] In 1974 the construction program was complete. The Xenia program itself was officially terminated in 1983, and the hotels were given over to private operators or eventually sold off.[9][10]
Some hotels are still operated privately under the Xenia name.[11] Many of the program's hotels have been designated as historic monuments for their architectural value. Three have been demolished, while other surviving examples have been substantially altered or are in a dilapidated state.[12][13][14]
Α special category of hotel units was created under the name "Xenia Helios"[15][16][17] for school of tourism operate in Anavyssos in Attica, Parnitha in Attica housed in the former Parnitha Sanatorium, Peraia in Thessaloniki,[18] Kokkini Hani in Heraklion. Xenia Helios they were both hotels and school of tourism, as model tourist units in which students of the country's tourist schools were training with a combination of theoretical training and practical training in real time hotel operating conditions. "Xenia Helios" in Peraia, Thessaloniki launched in 1978 exclusively for housing the School of Tourism Professions of Thessaloniki, where in the summer it operated as a 3 stars, with a capacity of 77 rooms and the rest of the year as a model training school, where students stayed in the rooms as boarders.
In 2025, as part of the general effort to upgrade state tourism education, the Ministry of Tourism is proceeding with the utilization of historic Xenia Helios hotels for their long-term lease.[19] The private individuals who prevail in the tenders will undertake the obligation to renovate the hotels to operate them as hotels and for employing students from state schools of tourism education of the Ministry of Tourism that will be located relatively close to it.
Xenia hotels
[edit]This section lists the tourist establishments according to the administrative region to which they belong:[20][21]
Attica Region
Central Macedonia Region
- Xenia Edessa (1963), Architect I. Rizos
- Xenia Paliouri (1962), Architect A. Konstantinidis
- Xenia Platamon (1960), Architect F. Vokos
- Xenia Serres (1960), Architect K. Stamatis
- Xenia Ouranoupoli (1959), Architect P. Sakellariou
Western Macedonia Region
- Xenia Florina (1958), Architect G. Nikoletopoulos
- Xenia Kastoria (1952), Architect Ch. Sfaellos
- Xenia Kozani (1963), Architect K. Levidis
Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Region
- Xenia Xanthi (1964), Architect G. Nikoletopoulos
- Xenia Drama (1961), Architect K. Stamatis
- Xenia Samothrace (1954), Architect K. Spanos
- Xenia Thasos (1955), Architect Ch. Sfaellos
Epirus Region
- Xenia Igoumenitsa (1959), Architect A. Konstantinidis
- Xenia Arta (1958), Architect D. Zivas
- Xenia Ioannina (1958), Architect F. Vokos
Western Greece Region
- Xenia Nafpaktos (1980), P. Architect Manouilidis
- Xenia Olympia (I) (1963), Architect A. Konstantinidis
- Xenia Olympia (II) (1966), Architect A. Konstantinidis
- Xenia Missolonghi (1953), Architect I. Triantafyllidis
Thessaly Region
- Xenia Kalabaka (1960), Architect A. Konstantinidis
- Xenia Larissa (1959), Architect A. Konstantinidis
- Xenia Skopelos (1961), Architect F. Vokos
- Xenia Skiathos (1963), Architect G. Nikoletopoulos
- Xenia Portaria (1957), Architect K. Kitsikis
- Xenia Tsagkarada (1955), Architect Ch. Sfaellos
Central Greece Region
- Xenia Ypati (1956), Architect Ch. Sfaellos
- Xenia Karpenisi (1959), Architect F. Vokos
- Xenia Delphi (1953), Architect D. Pikionis
- Xenia Skyros (1955), Architect G. Doxiadi
Peloponnese Region
- Xenia Nafplio (1958), Architect I. Triantafyllidis
- Xenia Sparta (1958), Architect X. Mpougatsos
- Xenia Vytina (1965), Architect K. Mpitsios
North Aegean Region
- Xenia Samos (1958), Architect K. Stamatis
- Xenia Chios (1958), Architect K. Stamatis
- Xenia Mytilene (1961), Architect I. Antoniadis
South Aegean Region
- Xenia Mykonos (I) (1962), Architect A. Konstantinidis
- Xenia Mykonos (II) (1953), Architect P. Vasiliadi
- Xenia Andros (1958), Architect A. Konstantinidis
- Xenia Paros (1955), Architect A. Konstantinidis
- Xenia Kos (1959), Architect F. Vokos
- Xenia Patmos (1960), Architect M. Dalla
- Xenia Kythnos (1970), Architect E. Tsiller
- Xenia Sifnos (1961), Architect A. Papageorgiou
Ionian Islands Region
- Xenia Corfu (1955), Architect Ch. Sfaellos
- Xenia Argostoli (1955), Architect Ch. Sfaellos
- Xenia Zakynthos (1955), Architects: E. Voureka; P. Vasiliadi; P. Sakellario
- Xenia Cephalonia (1955), Architect Ch. Sfaellos
- Xenia Lefkada (1978), Architect A. Michalakis
Crete Region
- Xenia Karterou (1963), Architect A. Konstantinidis
- Xenia Heraklion (1961), Architect G. Nikoletopoulos
- Xenia Chania (1961), Architects: I. Tzompanaki; S. Kountouri
- Xenia Rethymno (1961), Architect Aik. Dialisma
Bibliography
[edit]- Post-war Modernism Architecture, Politics and Tourism in Greece 1950-1965 (in Greek). Athens: National Technical University of Athens. School of Architecture. Basic Research Support Programme (PEVE) 2010. 2012. pp. 223–276. Archived from the original on 10 July 2024 – via Academia.edu.
Myrianthe Moussa, Xenia Programme: Naming, design + construction, typology & project catalogs.
- Donat, John: "Architecture of the Xenia Hotels" in World architecture, Volume 3, 1966. Page 145ff
- Books, L. L. C., ed. (2 April 2017). Hotels in Greece: Grande Bretagne, Porto Carras, Xenia, Makedonia Palace, Titania, Hilton Athens, President Hotel Athens. General Books LLC. ISBN 9781158399420 – via Google Books.
References
[edit]- ^ Thanasis Diamantopoulos (29 June 2024). "Hotels "Xenia": The story behind the post-war tourism" (in Greek). Archived from the original on 29 June 2024.
- ^ "The rise and fall of Xenia hotels" (in Greek). LiFO. 15 September 2019. Archived from the original on 24 June 2023.
- ^ "The architecture of the Xenia Hotels: The organization, the basic compositional principles and the course of Xenia" (in Greek). 13 August 2009. Archived from the original on 6 May 2023.
- ^ Giorgos Lialios (3 September 2018). "The renaissance of the legendary Xenia Hotels" (in Greek). Kathimerini. Archived from the original on 29 June 2024.
- ^ "Hora Sfakion accommodation – Xenia Hotel". Archived from the original on 3 April 2015.
- ^ "Ιnhospitable state for 44 «Xenia hotels»" (in Greek). 24 January 2005. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011.
- ^ Fessa-Emmanouil, Eleni. "The architect Aris Konstantinidis and the EOT's Xenia hotels" (in Greek). Archived from the original on 26 February 2024.
- ^ Vamiedaki, Viki (4 June 2022). "Xenia: The legendary history of the jewels of Greek architecture" (in Greek).
- ^ "Hotel "Xenia" in Andros: An example of indifference for the greek modern architecture". 25 February 2007. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022.
- ^ Christos E. Dimakis. "Photographs of the abandoned Xenia hotel in Paliouri, Chalidiki (1962-today)" (in Greek). Archived from the original on 17 December 2007.
- ^ Tratsa, Maxi (1 September 2018). "Seeking a second life for the Xenia" (in Greek). To Vima.
- ^ "Xenia: The history and design of an innovative program" (in Greek). 4 January 2024.
- ^ "The contribution of the Greek National Tourism Organization (EOT)". tourismmuseum.gr (in Greek and English). Museum of Tourism. Archived from the original on 21 February 2024.
- ^ Athinakis, Dimitris (7 August 2018). "Xenia, the long pending issue of Andros island" (in Greek). Archived from the original on 9 May 2023.
- ^ "Reviving the hotel-education model with Public-Private Partnerships" (in Greek). 7 May 2025. Archived from the original on 8 May 2025.
- ^ "The three Xenia hotels that come out in competition - They will be hotels and tourist schools at the same time" (in Greek). 8 May 2025. Archived from the original on 8 May 2025.
- ^ "With SDIT the Ministry of Tourism will revive the model hotel - training school in 3 hotels" (in Greek). 8 May 2025. Archived from the original on 8 May 2025.
- ^ "Experimental school for training in tourism". 9 May 2024. Archived from the original on 8 May 2025.
- ^ "New lease of life for old Xenia Helios state hotels". 8 May 2025. Archived from the original on 9 May 2025.
- ^ Kachrila, Eirini-Maria. "Spatial, morphological and economic criteria for the development of Xenia hotels in Greece" (in Greek). Archived from the original on 18 October 2023.
- ^ "The Xenia hotels of Macedonia" (in Greek). 20 July 2016. Archived from the original on 7 May 2023.