A plan for renovation of the historic centre of Kissamos, which includes more green space and the designation of cultural, religious and “green” walks, was presented at Kissamos town hall on Friday 12th January. The plan, based on local research and consultation, has been passed by the Central Archaeological Council and the first part relating to Skalidi Street, with a budget of €1.4 million, is expected to be put out for tender within the next three months. A second part, for the remodelling of Tzanakaki Square (adjoining the Archaeological Museum), is to be submitted to the Regional Authority of Crete for funding.
Professor Dimitra Nikolaou of the School of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens, who was responsible for the research programme, told Haniotika Nea that the project “gives emphasis to pedestrians and not to wheeled traffic, with the car being of secondary importance. We are interested in people, in the elderly, in children. This is a comprehensive plan which examines not only the historic centre but also the wider area, putting forward specific proposals,” she said. Professor Nikolaou stressed that the proposals were put out for consultation and “there was fruitful collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the Municipalities of Kissamos and Chania, to ensure that the renovation plan can fulfil actual needs and can be implemented.”
Specific interventions
Some basic elements of the research project, as presented, are as follows.
Skalidi Street is the first area of Kissamos’s historic centre to be scheduled for a makeover.
Skalidi Street
Following the proposal of the town’s General Urban Development Plan, Skalidi, which is the central commercial street, will be turned into a “reduced traffic street”, with residents able to park at particular points, rather than unrestrictedly as at present, and with the provisioning of shops carried out from the parallel streets. The street will be laid out with route changes so as to reduce traffic speed and noise. The façades of the shops are to be painted in colours recommended by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Chania which are based on their classification by the period of construction. In the next stage there could be proposals for the awnings and sign-boards to be used in the aesthetic upgrading of the shops.
Tzanakaki Square, in front of the Archaeological museum, will be landscaped, while cars will be able to pass only on the eastern side.
Tzanakaki Square
Here there is emphasis on the Church of the Archangel Michael and the Archaeological Museum. Two gardens will be created, around the church and in the northern section of the square towards the sea. Around the Archaeological Museum, the ground will be levelled and a small excavation will create an amphitheatrical space to be used for events. Cars will be able to pass on the eastern side and access to the remaining area will be restricted to emergency vehicles (ambulances, fire service etc).
A garden will be created around the Church of the Archangel Michael in Tzanakaki Square.
Plantings
Another characteristic of the study’s proposals is for numerous plantings and the creation of small gardens at different points.
Cultural walks
Three different walks are planned with special signage:
– a “cultural” walk around the monuments, 3 km long
– one for “water and greenery” of 1.4 km
– a “religious” walk of 5.7 km.
Traffic
The research included the recording of traffic loads, accidents and parking in a number of streets which resulted in specific proposals.
The presentation was opened by the architect Nektaria Lainaki, while in a short concluding speech the mayor of Kissamos Giorgos Mylonakis thanked the planning team and emphasised that it was a positive sign that funding for the work on Skalidi Street is assured, while the Regional Authority has made a commitment to fund that in Tzanakaki Square.
(Haniotika Nea, 12/02/24)
History of the renovation plans
The “historic centre” of Kissamos has long been a point of concern for the local authorities. Half a century go, Skalidi Street was indeed a thriving commercial centre. Photos from the period show it thronged with people – perhaps even then it was pedestrianised at least on some days. However, at some time in the intervening period the centre started to die. Today, while the section west of Tzanakaki Square remains lively and populated, largely because of the presence of several cafés, the section east of the Church of St Michael the Archangel has few functioning businesses and many empty shops.
In the 1970s, Skalidi Street was a thriving commercial centre. Photo: Old Chania Photos, Facebook.
Perhaps 10 years ago a first attempt was made to reduce traffic and make it more people-friendly. The pavements were extended, reducing the width of the roadway, with a few parking bays half-jutting out into the road and slowing down passing vehicles. Iron barriers were installed to stop pavement parking, decorative lamp standards, small trees and planters with shrubs were introduced. A local news site records the Council’s decision to partially pedestrianise the street in 2015. These efforts, however, seem to have done little to halt its decline.
Visiting the town shortly after the makeover, we counted that some 80 per cent of the shops in the eastern section of Skalidi were empty. It seemed clear to us then that the efforts to prettify the street had basically killed it as a commercial centre, since it was not longer possible to park, go into a shop and pick up a bag of fertiliser or a shrub and then drive off – the established model for small-town living in Crete and no doubt the rest of Greece. (The centre of Kolymbari will be a familiar example to many people.) On a visit this week there were still some two dozen empty shops.
Today the section of Skalidi Street east of Tzanakaki Square has some two dozen empty shops, with only a few new businesses.
That being the case, it is difficult to see how a new makeover will improve matters. While the remodelling of Tzanakaki Square is certainly welcome, the vision of Skalidi as a green and pleasant, mostly pedestrianised space filled with happy shoppers and tourists may prove to have been an illusion since as it appears at present there is no viable business model to support them. The few new businesses which have opened – a beauty shop and an ice-cream parlour – are not such as will support the street, although a few stalwarts like the book shop and the Blue Star ferries office remain.
The current renovation plan itself has been some time in gestation, its completion having first been announced in 2022 – the intervening period presumably taken up in getting the approval of the Central Archaeological Council. It is part of an overall proposal, first put forward in 2019 by the ministry of Economy and Development, which envisages the transformation of a central area, bounded to the north, south and east by the streets running parallel to Skalidi (Kampouri and Papagiannaki) and to the west by Vardantoni, into an “open mall” of the kind planned for the area around 1866 Square in Chania.
Again, it is difficult to see how much effect this will have on the overall dereliction of the area, at a time when business patterns have changed and shoppers are more inclined to visit larger stores with better parking outside the town centre – such as the SYNKA stores and the Kakaounakis tool shop on the road to Drapanias. One wishes the best for the plans, and hopes that the reported consultations with local authorities have indeed resulted in some practical solutions.
Kissamos has many attractions – the beach area with its hotels and restaurants is always lively in summer. The inhabitants appear at home in their environment, and the service in cafés and bars is always friendly and helpful. But we feel that it may be some time before the town can shake off the aura of a gritty farming town which in essence it is, and which for us forms a large part of its charm.