Visit Kois Mansion

Immerse yourself in the culture of the island, by visiting a place where time has stood still, only to serve as a testament to the aesthetics that one discovers here in abundance. Nestled deep in history, the Kois mansion sits quietly on the city center’s main street, where the beating heart of Hermoupolis resides.

Built in 1860, the edifice once belonging to Christos Nikolaidis became the home of the Kois family, and it soon turned into a wonderful creative hub: Change, culture and heritage have always been welcomed in the Kois family mansion, where the chic intellectual society would meet in the most popular jour-fix of the city, sharing thoughts and fostering new ideas that would cultivate the island’s art and entrepreneurial scene and support all that was new and innovative. Expressing the classicism prevailing in the architecture of Europe at the time, the mansion is adorned with an imposing pediment, which occupies the entire facade.

Decorated with an elaborate marble staircase in the interior, and completed with beautiful frescoes, the mansion is famous for its impressive orophography: The ceiling of the ballroom, depicting eight of the gods of ancient Greeks – Zeus, Hermes, Themis, Apollo, Dimitra, Athena and four leading features of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottomans back in 1821; Rigas Feraios, Georgios Karaiskakis, Theodoros Kolokotronis and Constantine Kanaris. The fresco is completed by a frieze panting, and crowned with a brim which leads to an ornamentation typical of the Ionic order.

As the years passed, the seasons changed and people grew, one thing always stayed the same, here. An unquenched thirst for innovation, progress and high aesthetic living. A respect for the past that fosters a bright and successful future.

Now open to the public, the mansion is available for visits. You will find it right above the Kois Optics store, where Stavros Kois gathers the most impressive glasses and optical products of the world. Mr. Kois will be happy to walk you around the history of the mansion.

Today, on the mansion grounds, you will also get a chance to discover an impressive array of works created by university students for the design competition organized by the Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering of the island, together with Kois Optics, aiming to embody the core values of the company’s identity. A display is also set up in the mansion, featuring the OROPHOGRAPHIA collection, with limited-edition sunglasses, jewelry, scarves and accessories, adorned with details from the ceiling fresco in the Kois Mansion.