Tradition for sale

The beauty of human creativity in Greece is tied directly to the limits placed by the environment and political-economic conditions. For example, the very marketable narrow streets of Mykonos and other islands were shaped to deal with the dangers of wind and piracy. From the grand mansions of Mount Pilio to the almost "communal" sense of space in the Cyclades, traditional homes in the country were built with locally sourced stone and lumber, with the particular skills of local artisans, reflecting the space - or lack thereof - available in each particular community. This unique beauty is threatened today, not by traditional poverty but by impunity, not from raids by pirates and robbers, but from the great selling-off, from the mentality that everything is for sale, that everything can be built, that everything is permitted. The wearing down of treasures, the destruction of the...