Mount Athos, Greece

Mark Hoare and Ted Ridge have been involved in several building crafts exchange projects between the Prince’s Foundation and Vatopaidi monastery in the World Heritage Site of Mount Athos, Greece.

The aim of the projects was to exchange building conservation knowledge, each visit focusing on a building on which repair work was being undertaken or alterations carried out.

In the 2005 visit Mark led a team which worked alongside Petros Kouphopoulos architects and Vatopaidi’s works department on proposals for a new shelter or ‘kiosk’ for those waiting for ferries. The building was built above a fountain on a challenging site between two late-medieval buildings. The roof structure was framed with local chestnut in a method characteristic of many of Vatopaidi’s buildings.