Paros is of great interest as far as its architecture is concerned. The multiplicity of shapes that characterizes its buildings and the original traditional architecture, which is harmoniously joined to neoclassical influences, qualify the island as being one of the most picturesque in the Cyclades. With the neoclassical buildings as the only exception, all the houses are white. This element, combined with the high windmills, the narrow, little streets and the built-up areas, is what makes Paros a beautiful Cycladic island. On Antiparos, the bright white colour of the houses is interrupted by the vivid red of the bougainvillea which are planted everywhere, in yards and public squares. The folk traditions and customs of Paros are derived from antiquity. Many of those, of course, have vanished now, but still the islanders manage to preserve most of them. Feasts, small and large, have their own colour and the celebrations on the island are very vivid, where the loud sounds of the "tsambouna" along with the drums, the "nei", the lute and the tambourine, are dominant. The Parians are great dancers and they have managed to keep the same light pace and the same ability to dance "balos" (a kind of island dance), till today. The spiritual life of the island, which nowadays has reached a high level, has its roots deep back in antiquity. Archilochos, the lyrical poet, lived here in the 7th century BC, while the sculpture-school operating in the 6th and 5th century BC was quite famous, with Scopa and Agorakrito as its main representatives. Nowadays, a great number of scientists, literary men and historians come from Paros, as well as classical and modern painters who have reproduced, on their canvases, the most beautiful images of their island.