Elassona
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Elassona municipality Δήμος Ελασσόνας (Ελασσόνα) |
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| Basic data | |||
| State : |
 Greece
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| Region : | Thessaly | ||
| Regional District : | Larisa | ||
| Geographic coordinates : | 39 ° 53 ' N , 22 ° 11' E | ||
| Area : | 1,568.14 km² | ||
| Residents : | 32,121 (2011) | ||
| Population density : | 20.5 inhabitants / km² | ||
| Post Code: | 40200 | ||
| Prefix: | (+30) 24930 | ||
| Seat: | Elassona | ||
| LAU-1 code no .: | 2203 | ||
| Districts : | 9 municipal districts | ||
| Local self-government : |
3 city districts 37 local communities |
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| Website: | www.dimoselassonas.gr | ||
| Location in the Thessaly region | |||
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Elassona ( Greek Ελασσόνα ( f. Sg. )) Is a Greek town and municipality (Dimos) in the regional district of Larisa , Thessaly . It is located southwest of Olympus and north of Larisa . The river Elassonitikos flows through Elassona, which flows into the Titarisios south of the small town . To the right (east) of Elassonitikos is the so-called “new city”, to the left (west) the “old city”, also called Varosi (Βαρόσι). An old stone bridge from Ottoman times connects the two parts of the city. Elassona is 38 km from Larisa, 70 km from Katerini , 78 km from Kozani and 22 km from Tyrnavos .
The municipality of Elassona was considerably enlarged with the administrative division in 2010 and since then corresponds to the area of the province of Elassona, which existed until 1997 . It is the second largest in Thessaly.
Elassona is known throughout Greece for making cheese. In addition, the small town is the seat of a Greek Orthodox bishop (Mitropolis of Elassona and Deskati).
history
The city was first established in the 8th century BC. Mentioned by Homer as Olosson and was known for its white chalk cliffs. Elassona was at all times an important stopover on the way from West Macedonia to East Thessalia and further south to Central Greece. In Elassona the route started north towards Servia ( Kozani regional district ) over the so-called Melouna Pass between the Titaros in the east and the Kamvounia Mountains in the west of the pass. In keeping with this strategic location, the city assumed a recurring strategic function, although it was not particularly large in terms of population.
The region around Elassona was occupied by the Ottoman Empire from the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century . Previously, the region was under the control of the Byzantine Empire from 395 AD, but not without interruptions. In the 6th century, as in the rest of Greece, the Slavic tribes invaded and searched (and found some of them) settlement areas. In the second half of the 8th century, the first Bulgarian empire under Tsar Samuil expanded to the Greek peninsula and brought large parts of Macedonia and Thessaly under its control, including the region of Elassona. At the beginning of the 10th century, the Byzantines recaptured these areas. In 1204 after the fall of Constantinople by the fourth crusade , the area around Elassona came to the Latin kingdom of Thessaloniki . His rule lasted only until 1224; it was conquered by the despotate Epirus , along with its capital, Thessaloniki . The latter lost the territories it had gained east of the actual Epirus in the course of the years up to 1259, the final defeat against the Nicaea Empire at the Battle of Pelagonia . In 1264 the "revived" Byzantine Empire again ruled Elassona and its region. In the middle of the 14th century, the Serbs under their king Stefan Uroš IV. Dušan conquered large parts of Greece, including the region of Elassona, could not hold their new possessions for long. Byzantine rule ended for good at the end of the 14th century when the Ottomans subjugated Macedonia and Thessaly, with the exception of Thessaloniki and Kassandra.
The Ottoman rule lasted until October 20, 1912. The Greek War of Independence from 1821 to 1829 and the uprisings of the Greeks from 1854 and 1878 as well as the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, Elassona and the surrounding area were repeatedly in combat due to their proximity to the rebels' retreat , Olympus. In 1878 regular Greek troops crossed the border and had to break off their invasion on the intervention of the major European powers. When Thessaly was ceded to Greece as a result of the Berlin Treaty and its successor agreements, Elassona was left as part of the Ottoman Empire. The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 did not change the situation either; rather, the Greek troops at Elassona were defeated by the Ottoman forces after their attack. Only in the first Balkan War of 1912 was Elassona conquered by Greek troops just two days after the start of the war. The main line of attack of the Greek armed forces led via Elassona, the Meluna Pass and Servia, first to Kozani, then to Thessaloniki. To the north of Elassona, partly in what is now the municipality, there were fights between the Greek invasion forces and the Ottoman defenses, which ended victorious for the Greeks.
After the first Balkan War, Elassona became a de facto part of the Kingdom of Greece after the second Balkan War with the Peace of Bucharest in 1913. It belonged - as today - to the administrative region of Thessaly (then Diamerisma) and the subordinate prefecture of Larisa. During the Second World War, German troops captured Elassona after invading Greece in mid-April 1941. Elassona was then occupied by Italian troops until Italy left the axis in 1943 and declared war on Germany on the part of the Allies. Thereupon the Italian occupation was replaced by a German one. In October 1944 the German troops withdrew.
During the Greek civil war from mid-1946 to mid-1949, the area around Elassona was the scene of armed clashes between the communist-controlled insurgents and the regular Greek army under the supreme command of the right-wing government in Athens. Once again, the proximity to the refuge for guerrilla activities, the Olymbos, came into play.
In 1997, the municipality of Elassona (Dimos Elassonas, Δήμος Ελασσόνας) was created with the Greek local government reform. At the same time, the province of Elassona, whose administrative seat had been Elassona until 1997, ended. Their area also included the Deskati area until 1964 , which had to be given to them as part of the creation of the Grevena prefecture . On March 15, 2006, Elassona moved into the focus of Greek domestic politics. For the first time since the Greek local government reform in 1997, a municipality split from a newly created municipality. The municipality of Tsaritsani became independent on March 15, 2006. Until the split from Tsaritsani, the community consisted of twelve localities, which were organized into eight community areas. After the split, the parish still has seven parish areas. The population has decreased by 2321, the area has sunk by 57.791 km².
The 2010 administrative reform not only reversed the secession of Tsaritsani, but also incorporated the communities of Andichasia, Karya, Livadi, Olymbos, Potamia, Sarandaporo and Verdikousa in Elassona, thereby expanding the community to the territory of the former province.
Attractions
The Panagia Olympiotissa , a cross- domed church from the 14th century , stands above the city, on the site of the former acropolis of ancient Olosson . It is the remainder of a monastery consecrated to the Assumption , which was founded at the end of the 13th century by the Byzantine emperor Andronikos Palaiologos . The name "Olympiotissa" refers to the icon of Mary kept in the monastery , which comes from an abandoned monastery in Karya on Olympus . The very large monastery had extensive wealth and was the spiritual and religious center of Thessaly for decades, especially during its heyday in the 16th and 18th centuries.
The interior contains frescoes from the 14th century attributed to an artist of the Macedonian school . The wood carvings of the iconostasis and the gate into the west side of the raised choir has designed Demetrios Metsovitis 1840th
literature
- Lambert Schneider, Christoph Höcker: Greek mainland . DuMont Buchverlag Cologne 1996, p. 336, ISBN 3-7701-2936-9
Web links
- elassona.com.gr - Πάνω από 300 σελίδες και 1400 φωτογραφίες αφιερωμένες στην Επαρχία Ελασσόνας
- Ελασσόνα
- Το μοναστήρι της Παναγίας Ολυμπιώτισσας
- Περραιβία - Ελασσόνα
Individual evidence
- ↑ 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)