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Vouni Palace
The Vouni Palace was constructed in the 5th century by the Persian
sympathizer Doxandros, the king of the city of Marion, to keep
the settlements supporting the Greeks (Soli) under control.
There are 137 rooms in the palace. These include the administrative
sections, bedrooms, storerooms, offices and bath rooms. When
the Persian rule in the region was replaced by the Greek rule
in 449 B.C. the palace lost its function. The palace stood erect
for seventy years, but was destroyed by the people of Soli in
380 B.C., and was never reconstructed. Cisterns carved out of
the rocks were used to meet the demand for water. In some of
the storerooms, holes for amphoras can be noticed. The baths
are old examples of hot-baths. Excavations have brought to light
eathenware jugs blackened by the fire that destroyed the palace
containing what has been described as ‘the Vouni treasure’.
The treasure includes gold and silver bracelets, ornamented
silver cups, and hundreds of coins with the Marion, Kition,
Lapithos and Paphos seals. The archaelogists have come across
signs of settlements belonging to the pre-neolithic age on the
island of Petra tou Limniti visible from Vouni. To the south
of the palace are the remains of the Temple of Athena built
towards the end of the 5th century B.C. The temple has two courtyards
and an enclosed sacred ground. The holes in which the statues
were placed is visible. The different sections of the Vouni
remains are: the entrance, the residential rooms, the courtyard
with columns, the kitchen courtyard, the cistern, granaries,
baths, living rooms and offices.
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