Arta (Greece)
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Arta municipality Δήμος Αρταίων (Άρτα) |
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| Basic data | |||
| State : |
 Greece
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| Region : | Epirus | ||
| Regional District : | Arta | ||
| Geographic coordinates : | 39 ° 9 ′ N , 20 ° 59 ′ E | ||
| Area : | 436.76 km² | ||
| Residents : | 43,166 (2011) | ||
| Population density : | 98.8 inhabitants / km² | ||
| Community logo: |
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| Seat: | Arta | ||
| LAU-1 code no .: | 1901 | ||
| Districts : | 5 municipal districts | ||
| Local self-government : |
1 city district 30 local communities |
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| Website: | www.arta.gr | ||
| Location in the Epirus region | |||
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Arta ( Greek Άρτα ( f. Sg. ); Albanian Arta , the golden one) is a city with 43,000 inhabitants (2011) in the Epirus region in Greece and the administrative seat of the municipality of the same name. It was last enlarged significantly in 2010 by incorporating four neighboring communities.
geography
Arta is located on the Arachthos River , over which a picturesque bridge runs, 13 kilometers above its mouth in the Ambracian Gulf , a bosom of the Ionian Sea on the west coast of Greece.
history
Arta lies on the site of the ancient Ambrakia (neugr. Amvrakia ), which dates back to about 640 BC. Founded as a colony of Corinth and 295 BC. Was made the capital of his empire by King Pyrrhus I. This was the city's first heyday, traces of which can still be found in excavations for new buildings. The conquest of the fortress of the mythological Ambrakos in the year 219 is described by the Greek historian Polybius (2nd century BC) in his historical work (Book IV.62f.). In 146, Ambrakia became part of the Roman Empire .
The city was first called Arta in 1082 AD. After the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders, Arta became the capital and bishopric of the Despotate Epirus , founded by Michael I Comnenus Dukas Angelos and independent from Byzantium, in 1204 , which had its greatest expansion at the time of Theodoros (1214-30). Arta remained in the possession of the Komnenen until 1318 and experienced a second heyday, as the many churches in the city and its surroundings bear witness to. Through cautious opportunistic policies, the rulers succeeded in keeping Arta away from the effects of power-political interests and at the same time opening the city to western and eastern influences. Prosperity and diversity of artistic and architectural forms of expression were the result. Arta then fell to the Italian dynasty of Orsini , Count Palatine of Kephalonia (1318-1337), then under Tsar Stefan Uroš IV. Dušan to the Serbian Empire (1337-1359), then to local Albanian princes (1359-1416).
Arta was finally conquered by the Ottomans in 1449 and renamed Narda .
On July 16, 1822 the Turks under Reşid Mehmed Pascha defeated the Greeks under Maurokordatos and Normann , and in 1881 the Greeks recaptured Arta. Since then Arta has been the capital of the Greek prefecture of the same name (Nomos) and one of the two associated eparchies . Arta was the seat of an archbishop, a court of first instance and a state high school, and in 1881 had 4,328 inhabitants, two thirds of them Greeks, who traded in the country's products. A derelict fort stands on the site of the old citadel .
Byzantine churches
Panagia Parigoritissa
The Metropolitan Church of Our Lady of Consolation is the largest and most famous church in Arta. It was built around 1290 under the despot Nikephorus I (1271–1296) and is an example of the city's cultural diversity.
The imposing, cube-shaped building with the five round roof towers looks more like a palace from the outside. The four-storey interior is formed by a graceful buttress of spoilage and Gothic arcades and clearly shows the influence of Western European late Romanesque and early Gothic in architecture and building sculpture. The dome, however, is dominated by the pantocrator typical of Byzantine art , executed as a mosaic. These and other mosaic works in the church were carried out by artists from Constantinople and Thessaloniki and are among the most important works of Byzantine art of the 13th century.
Agia Theodora
The three-aisled basilica was founded by Theodora, the later canonized wife of the despot Michael II (1237-1271). Her sarcophagus , decorated in relief, stands in the domed narthex and shows her and her son Nikephorus between two angels. The church has three aisles with three apses on the east side and an open portico on the south side.
Agios Vasilios
The small basilica was probably built in the 2nd half of the 13th century. The outer walls are decorated with bricks in a herringbone and meander pattern and also contain colored faience panels and ceramic inlays. The murals inside are from the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
Arta Bridge
The Arta Bridge , which was mentioned in antiquity, is a sight . The current 142 m long arched bridge was built in the Ottoman period between 1602 and 1606. It is also immortalized in a Greek folk tale.
sons and daughters of the town
Antiquity
- Pyrrhos I (* approx. 319/18 BC; † 272 BC ), leader ( hegemon ) of the League of Epirus and king of the Molossians
- Epicrates of Ambracia (4th century BC), comedy poet
- Silanus of Ambracia (5th century BC), fortune teller in Xenophon's anabasis
- Epigonus of Ambracia (6th century BC), musician
Byzantium
- Michael I. Komnenos Dukas Angelos , founder and first ruler of the Despotate Epirus (1205–1215)
- Theodoros I Angelos (* 1180/1185; † around 1253), Despotate Epirus (1215–1230), Byzantine counter-emperor in Thessaloniki (1224–1230)
- Theodora Petraliphaina, saint of the Orthodox Church as saint Theodora of Arta (* approx. 1225, † after 1270), wife of the despot of Epirus Michael II. Komnenos Dukas Angelos
- Michael II. Komnenos Dukas Angelos (* 1205; † 1266/1268), Despotate Epirus (1230-1266 / 1268)
- Nikephorus I. Komnenos Dukas Angelos (* around 1240, † around 1297), Despotate Epirus (1267/8 – approx. 1297)
- Thomas Komnenos Dukas Angelos (* around 1288; † 1318), Despotate Epirus (c. 1297-1318)
Modern times
- Maximus the Greek (1475–1556), monk, writer, humanist and translator
- Nikolaos Skoufas (* 1779, † 1818), member of the Filiki Eteria, a secret organization aimed at eliminating Turkish rule over Greece
- Georgios Karaiskakis (* 1782, † 1827), General of the Greek War of Independence
- Theodoros Tzinis (* 1798, † 1869), hero of the Greek War of Independence
- Besim Ömer Akalın (* 1862 or 1863; † 1940), professor of medicine, pasha , director of the Turkish Red Crescent and between 1921 and 1924 the sixth Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Turkey
- Napoleon Zervas (* 1891, † 1957), Greek general and resistance fighter during the Second World War , organized and headed the EDES , a resistance organization against the German occupation of Greece
- Konstantinos Karapanos (* 1840; † 1914), Greek banker, politician and archaeologist
- Alexandros Karapanos (* 1873; † 1946), politician and diplomat
- Antonios Nikopolidis (* 1971), football goalkeeper
literature
- Gustav Hirschfeld : Ambrakia 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 2, Stuttgart 1894, Sp. 1805-1807.
- Franz N. Mehling: Greece. (Knaurs Kulturführer), Droemersche Verlagsanstalt, Munich / Zurich 1982, ISBN 3-426-26053-0 , pp. 39–43.
- Lambert Schneider, Christoph Höcker: Greek mainland. (DuMont art travel guide ), DuMont Buchverlag , Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-7701-2936-9 , pp. 273-279.
- Rainhardt Hootz: Greece I The Mainland. (Picture Handbook of Art Monuments), Deutscher Kunstverlag Munich / Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-422-00375-4 , pp. 397-399.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Results of the 2011 census at the National Statistical Service of Greece (ΕΛ.ΣΤΑΤ) ( Memento from June 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (Excel document, 2.6 MB)
- ↑ a b c d Lambert Schneider, Christoph Höcker: Greek mainland.
- ^ A b c d Franz N. Mehling: Greece.
- ^ A b c Rainhardt Hootz: Greece. I. The mainland.