Poyiatzis Water Fountain

The Poyatzis fountain is very close to the Folk Art Museum and the chapel of Agios Georgios. It is an arched fountain that carries a wall plate from the year 1733.

Descending a few steps, you can see the fountain from which a small icy brook passes, it comes from Esso Galata (Centre of Galata) and ends at Karkotis River. A perfect place to rest and quench your thirst from the cool tap water.

The fountain got its name from Demosthenis Loizou Pogiatzis, who from 1910 until 1930, washed the vrakes* he used to dye. He used a very difficult and overly tedious way of dying the vrakes. This attire was very popular for most Cypriots until the 1930s. He would take the white ‘trousers’ that the women or the village seamstresses would sew, throw them over his  shoulder and walk down to the water fountain or the Karkotis river, which was very close. He’d wash them then took them back to his house, where they had to soak in a special copper sulphate solution with dried pomegranate leaves. It took four to five times for the dye to be complete. The whole vraka preparation process, dying and pleating using a small iron plaque since he had no iron, took at least 22 days.

Location

Monuments

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