Medieval village · South Chios
Mesta
A medieval village built like a castle, where time seems to stand still.
History
A village built to protect
Mesta sits in south-west Chios, about 35 km from Chios town and just 4 km from the sea. It was most likely built in the 12th century, in Byzantine times, set back from the coast to keep it safe from pirates.
Each house rests on its neighbour, and together they form a single stone enclosure: the village itself is the castle. Under Genoese rule (1346–1566) the fortifications were strengthened, giving Mesta the shape it still has today.
Timeline
Mesta through the centuries
The village was laid out as a pentagon. Its outer houses stand shoulder to shoulder with hardly any openings facing out, so together they act as a wall, and only two gates led inside. At the centre stood a round defensive tower.
12th c.
In Byzantine times the village is built inland, out of sight of the pirates who sailed along the coast.
1346–1566
The Genoese hold the exclusive trade in mastic and, to protect this precious resource, strengthen the fortifications of the mastic villages.
1412
The Old Taxiarchis, the village’s oldest church, is built: a single-aisled vaulted basilica that would later gain a second aisle.
1566
Chios passes to the Ottomans. Mastic becomes highly prized at the Sultan’s court, and stealing even a small amount is severely punished.
1822
During the destruction of Chios, the mastic villages suffer less than the rest of the island, because their mastic is valuable to the Ottomans.
1833
The Old Taxiarchis receives its wooden iconostasis, carved by hand with Biblical themes and counted among the finest works of Chian woodcarving.
1868
The Great Taxiarchis, among the biggest churches on Chios, is completed where the old central tower once stood. The “glory” now passes to the new church, whose iconostasis keeps two icons of the Archangels from the Old Taxiarchis.
Today
The village is a protected traditional settlement, and mastic is still grown in the fields around it, just as it was centuries ago.
Wander
A labyrinth of alleys
Step inside and narrow cobbled lanes twist, split and meet again beneath vaulted stone arches. The maze was no accident: it was designed to confuse anyone who entered uninvited.
Today it is an invitation to wander without a plan, and to stumble upon a courtyard full of flowerpots, a door painted in a bold colour or a cat dozing on a doorstep.
A detail worth noticing
The carvings above the doors
As you walk through the alleys, look up above the front doors. On many houses the stone lintel is more than a beam: it bears carved symbols, reliefs or inscriptions.
The custom of carving something over the entrance came to Chios with the Genoese, who cut their family coats of arms into door lintels (14th–16th centuries). In the 19th century ordinary village families took it up too: with folk reliefs, protective symbols and inscriptions they marked their home and recorded their family’s good fortune.
Each lintel is a small signature in stone, left by the people who lived here before us.
Tradition
In the heart of the mastic villages
Mesta is one of the mastic villages of southern Chios, the only place in the world where the mastic tree yields Chios mastic. The traditional know-how of cultivating mastic is recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
In summer, in the fields around the village, you will see growers scoring the trees and patiently gathering their precious “tears”.
The heart of the village
The square and its churches
Sooner or later every alley leads you to the central square, the beating heart of the village. Here rises the church of the Great Taxiarchis, while the Old Taxiarchis hides a finely carved wooden iconostasis.
Sit down for a coffee on the square and let the afternoon pass the way it always has here: with conversation, quiet, and a light that turns the stone to gold.
Day trips
Around Mesta
From Mesta you can easily explore the neighbouring mastic villages, such as Pyrgi with its distinctive black-and-white “xysta” façades and Olympi, as well as the beaches of the south-west coast. The small port of Mesta is just a few minutes away by car.
Stay inside the village
At Parakathi you stay inside the medieval settlement itself. Open your door and you are already in the alleys of Mesta.
