Monemvasia
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Municipality of Monemvasia Δήμος Μονεμβασίας (Μονεμβασία) |
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| Basic data | |||
| State : |
 Greece
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| Region : | Peloponnese | ||
| Regional District : | Laconia | ||
| Geographic coordinates : | 36 ° 41 ′ N , 23 ° 3 ′ E | ||
| Area : | 947.02 km² | ||
| Residents : | 21,942 (2011) | ||
| Population density : | 23.2 inhabitants / km² | ||
| Seat: | Molai | ||
| LAU-1 code no .: | 4305 | ||
| Districts : | 5 municipal districts | ||
| Local self-government : |
2 city districts 36 local communities |
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| Website: | www.monemvasia.gov.gr | ||
| Location in the Peloponnese region | |||
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Monemvasia ( pronunciation : [ mɔnɛmvaˈsja ], Greek Μονεμβασία or Μονεμβασιά ( f. Sg. ), Anciently also Malvasy , modern partly also Monemvassia, Monemwassia, Monembasia transcribed) is a Greek small town and fortress that was in the Byzantine Empire . It is located on a rock off the coast of Laconia in the southeast of the Peloponnese peninsula . The municipality of Monemvasia was last significantly enlarged in 2011 by the incorporation of four neighboring municipalities. The administrative seat was moved from the city of Monemvasia to Molai , the largest settlement in the municipality.
etymology
The city owes its name to its location, in Greek moni emvasia (μόνη εμβασία) means "only access". It was considered the ' Gibraltar of the East' until the Greek independence from 1821-30 because of the great difficulties associated with attempts at conquest . The city is also the namesake for the Malvasia , a grape variety that was exported from there.
location
The place Monemvasia is located on the seaward southeast side of a rock about 194 meters high and 1.8 km long. The settlement consists of two parts: the walled medieval lower town on the slope of the rock and the citadel on the height of the rock, which can only be reached via a single, often winding, steep and well-secured path. The citadel has not been inhabited since the 1920s.
The municipality of Monemvasia includes (except for a small area of the municipality of Elafonisos ) the entire Laconian Peninsula between the Laconic Gulf in the west and the Myrtoic Sea to the east. In the north, the municipalities of Evrotas and Notia Kynouria border the municipality.
history
In 583 the first settlement was established on the rock of Monemvasia off the coast of the Peloponnese, as protection for the inhabitants of the surrounding settlements on the mainland from the Slavic and Avar attacks, which began with the neglect of the Byzantine Balkan defense under Justinian I and his successors.
The city, where the Chronicle of Monemvasia was written, formed a retreat for Byzantine rule in southern Greece in the following centuries and was the starting point for the reconquest of the Peloponnese peninsula. The city was also important in securing the sea route from Constantinople to Venice .
The fortress was long considered impregnable and withstood both the numerous Arab sieges and the Norman attempt at conquest of 1147. It is reported that there was a cornfield in the citadel which - together with the numerous cisterns - was sufficient to sustain a crew of 30 men; thus the citadel was self-sufficient and could be defended indefinitely.
After the fall of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade , Monemvasia remained a free Byzantine city and could not be forced to surrender until 1249 after three years of siege by the Franks who had controlled the mainland since 1204. In 1263 the Franks had to return Monemvasia together with Mystras to the Byzantine Empire. After the Ottoman conquests of Constantinople in 1453 , Mystras in 1460 and Trebizond in 1461, Monemvasia was the last territorial remnant of the glamorous Roman Empire, alongside the Principality of Theodoro (conquered by the Ottomans in 1475). Unable to survive on its own, the city first submitted to a Catalan pirate who was soon expelled, then to the Pope , who was not in a position to provide sufficient military protection, and finally Venice in 1464, which the city against the city until 1540 Was able to hold Turks.
After Monemvasia became Ottoman in 1540 , it fell back to Venice in 1690 and again to the Turks in the course of the Venetian-Austrian Turkish War in 1715. In the second Turkish epoch, the population began to decline, reducing the population, which in its heyday was between 10,000 and 25,000, to a few hundred inhabitants.
The city was conquered by the rebellious Greeks during the War of Liberation in 1821. Nevertheless, it did not succeed in recovering; on the contrary, it sank almost completely into insignificance and became a dying village, which in 1971 only had 32 inhabitants. On the bank opposite the rock, a modern village called Gefira ("bridge") was built, in contrast to the old town, called Kastro ("castle", see Kastron ). After 1980, the old city began to be rebuilt, which has now become a popular weekend residence for wealthy Athenians. Today the medieval buildings are gradually being restored; many of them have been converted into hotels.
Monemvasia is the birthplace of the Greek poet Giannis Ritsos , who is buried in the Monemvasia cemetery. The Greek state has awarded the Byzantine archaeological site of Monemvasia the European Heritage Seal .
literature
- Rainer W. Klaus, Ulrich Steinmüller: Monemvasia. History and description of the city . 10th edition revised in text and image, Athens 2014 (first edition 1977)
- Rainer W. Klaus, Ulrich Steinmüller: Monemvasia. The Town and its History . English version by Lawrence P. Buck. 9th, revised edition. Athens 2007
- Haris Kalligas: Monemvasia, Seventh – Fifteenth Centuries . In: Angeliki E. Laiou: The Economic History of Byzantium. From the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century . Dumbarton Oaks, 2002, pp. 879–897, ( doaks.org ; PDF)
Web links
- Nature and hiking in the cultural landscape of Monemvasia (trails, photos, maps (GPS data), books and addresses).
- Area information on Skipperguide.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Results of the 2011 census ( Memento from June 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) ( MS Excel ; 2.6 MB) at the National Statistical Service of Greece (ΕΛ.ΣΤΑΤ)
- ↑ Hellenic Military Geopraphical service, map Greece 1: 50,000, sheet Neapolis, Athens 1991