Ios: Conditional approval for five-star hotel in Manganari

Greece's Culture Ministry has conditionally approved a study by Stamania Enterprises Company Limited, a firm linked to the Tsakos group, for a 24-bed five-star hotel in Manganari, Ios. The decision reverses a negative opinion issued in April, when the Directorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities had rejected the project over its location within a designated archaeological zone, its scale, and buildability concerns.

The company filed a hierarchical appeal on June 16, while the Thira municipal building authority had already issued preliminary building permit approval. The Central Archaeological Council unanimously endorsed the project on September 9, leading to the ministry's new decision.

According to the ministry's reasoning, archaeological remains lie about 500 metres from the planned buildings, and their position and orientation do not create visual disturbance from the archaeological site's viewpoints.

The approval comes with conditions: increasing the plot's uncovered surface areas, banning permanent or movable structures on rooftops, prohibiting air conditioning units on building facades, and requiring visible stonework with local stone for the perimeter walls. The revised study must still be submitted to the Cyclades Antiquities Ephorate for further review.

Excavations must be supervised by an Ephorate official, notified at least ten days before work begins, and will be halted for rescue excavation if antiquities are found.