Archaeological site of Mystras
Greece, 2022 – Under construction
Permanent exhibition lighting, museum lighting, façade lighting, outdoor circulation lighting, 2022- under construction. The Despots Palace of Mystras is a unique example of the Byzantine architecture and one of the few byzantine palaces preserved until today. The archaeological site of Mystras is an Unesco world heritage monument, with construction phases dating from the 13th century until the 19th century when it was abandoned.
Project credits
- Client: Ephorate of Antiquities of Laconia, Ministry of Culture
- Ephorate of Antiquities of Laconia Project team: Evangelia Pantou / Archaeologist, Head of Ephorate, Konstantina Douvi / Architect-Engineer, Head of Works and Studies Department, Danae Charalambous / Archaeologist, Head of Department of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Antiquities and Museums, Aggeliki Mexia / Archaeologist
- Archaeologist-Museologist: Elia Vlachou
- Exhibition Architect: Spyros Nasainas
- Digital Specialist: Dimitris Nastos
- Film Director- Architect: Ifigenia Dimitriou
- Lighting design team: Matina Magklara, Melina Lasithiotaki, Maria Alexopoulou
Project services
Design: Concept to detailed design
The exhibition lighting is based on the museological narrative which focuses on the everyday life of the Palace’s residents, creating ambiance, assuring legibility of digital and physical media and assisting orientation throughout interior and exterior visitors’ areas. The lighting approach respects the preserved and protected building fabric with interventions that are fully reversible and concealed in the architectural elements, while revealing materiality, colours, volumes and scale. The lighting analysis evaluates daylight and direct sunlight exposure so as to provide guidance on daylight controls.
The illumination of the exterior building fabric aims to assist legibility of the Palace’s volumetric composition from both close and distant views while keeping a consistent identity of the complex’s distinct construction phases. The lighting scheme respects the preserved nocturnal landscape including the night sky with applications of high visual comfort and low environmental impact.