Settlements and Architecture

The boundaries of the Municipality of Prespa currently includes 17 inhabited and 6 deserted villages  of which 5 were abandoned immediately after the Civil War. The most settlements are located in the basin of Prespa  and developed in visual contact with the two lakes, or littoral (Mikrolimni, Agios Ahilleios, Psarades)

  either at the foot of Varnounta (like Kallithea or Agios Germanos) except exclusively mountainous Vrontero. Besides basin lakes are the villages of the valley Korestia (Prasino,Trigono) and Pisoderi at the mountain pass of Vigla. The demographic situation and the residential topography was quite different before the war and particularly in the late 19th and early 20th century and built so many houses and churches  while more were inhabited villages located in direct contact with the lake (Kranies, Agkathoto & Daseri) It is significant that the French traveler Pukevil refers to the early 19th century. for 46 villages in the surrounding Prespa basin, inhabited by 2500 families or 11500 people. Construction activity also occurred after the liberation from the Turks and during the interwar period mainly due to the economic aid sourced from Prespiotes expats who had emigrated abroad (mainly in America).The picture of the relative prosperity  is reflected  also in the demographics as in the census of 1940, the settlement of the Laimos has almost a thousand residents, Psarades has mor than  seven hundred and Agios Germanos exceed two thousand of the total population of the villages near their seven thousand. 

Αfter the civil war many homes or entire villages were abandoned while during the 1950s (When some villages populated by Vlachs farmers)  observed only limited reconstruction. The general abandonment of the next decades resulted in partial preservation of some architectural elements in their original form but the risk of collapse and disrepair for several important buildings. Today there are efforts highlighting the architectural heritage while the regeneration of some old houses in traditional hostels stimulates residential fabric of settlements without altering their profile.  

Far from intense of urbanization processes, the region has maintained until today characteristic forms of traditional architecture, some of which are local specificities.Today, two agglomerations of Prespa recognized as traditional settlements and are under protection as relevant to their architectural character:Psarades on the shores of Prespa and Agios Germanos at the foot of the massif of Varnounta. Most villages in the wider region, however, present interesting data on the local architecture and building techniques as developed in the previous two centuries. 

 Homes of Prespa, depends on the traditional functional use, show different combinations of materials and building styles.In most cases the floor intended for animals in the house and storage areas, while external staircase leads to the upstairs loggia conveniently located where the "sentient beings" and the other rooms. In the past, as the houses were attached or communicated via internal courtyard created patriarchal "neighborhoods" coexisted where two or three families. The materials used were usually uncooked - Sundried - as mud bricks and plastered walls, stone-foundation mainly-  in wood and locally sourced (Oak, beech and cedar in the settlement of Psarades) around the frame of the house, the studs and stairs to the porch, and the roof. Extensive use was also the reed and woven branches floors, roofs and partitions. In settlements with the largest population as Laimos, Agios Germanos, Psarades, Kallithea or Antartiko were  built, particularly in the early 20th century large,Two storey stone-built houses "bourgeois" type, sometimes with rich carved decoration. Generally, we can distinguish three main types to the building of houses.