The Greek Ghost Village of Epirus That Resisted Tyranny

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Paleo Mavronoros, an abandoned colony successful the Greek state of Epirus, has a agelong past of valiant absorption to tyrannical overlords and unsocial quality each its own.

Epirus, successful the north-western country of Greece is 1 of the country’s best-kept secrets. It is location to spectacular beauty, quaint and tranquil oversea resorts, and mountaintop villages. Paleo Mavronoros is simply a beauteous and astatine the aforesaid clip haunting spot that takes the enactment away.

Sometime betwixt 1850 to 1860, a set of Greek villagers from the adjacent villages of Glusta, Gardiki, Vortopia, and Tziouboukatika, who were chafing nether Ottoman rule, banded unneurotic and made a pact to make a caller village.

Searching for a spot that would beryllium distant capable to support them from their Ottoman overlords, they decided to ascent up Cassidiari Mountain. There, astatine an altitude of astir 1,000 meters (3,200 feet), they built the caller colony of Paleo Mavronoros connected its slopes.

Mavronoros (mavro – oros) means “The Black Mountain” successful Greek. The caller inhabitants of the Epirus colony gave it this sanction due to the fact that it seems to go precise acheronian and ominous each clip a tempest sweeps done the region.

One of the archetypal buildings the caller set of villagers constructed was the religion of Saint George. The villagers’ houses each had 2 stories and were each made sturdily of rock.

The caller townspeople got connected with their lives and continued successful their peaceful idyll until, successful 1912, the Turks attacked, burning down the full colony of Paleo Mavronoros.

Only 50 years aft leaving their birthplaces to flight from the Ottomans, the radical of Paleo Mavronoros had to woody yet again with the demolition caused by hatred and war.

The Epirus colony ne'er surrendered

But Mavronoros did not surrender. Using immoderate means they had, the intrepid villagers wholly rebuilt their municipality conscionable arsenic it had been.

However, radical began leaving the colony for greener pastures during the decades aft the instauration of the modern Greek state.

Many families who moved retired went to a caller settlement, established astatine a little altitude, aft the years of WWII. The past antheral who lived successful the colony moved distant successful 1964, and Paleo Mavronoros has lain abandoned since that time.

Now, the beauteous small chromatic village of Epirus is conscionable a ammunition of its erstwhile self. Yet, it reminds america of the eternal determination of the Greek radical to unrecorded their lives successful freedom.

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