Paloumba
Encyclopedia
Paloumpa is a town in southern Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, positioned on a balcony overlooking the plain of Elis
Elis
Elis, or Eleia is an ancient district that corresponds with the modern Elis peripheral unit...

 towards the Ionian Sea
Ionian Sea
The Ionian Sea , is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by southern Italy including Calabria, Sicily and the Salento peninsula to the west, southern Albania to the north, and a large number of Greek islands, including Corfu, Zante, Kephalonia, Ithaka, and...

. It was the seat of the former municipality
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 of Iraia
Iraia
Iraia is a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Gortynia, of which it is a municipal unit. It consists of 27 villages. Population 3,063 . The seat of the municipality was in Paloumpa. The municipality is named...

. The town is off the beaten track, but contains a post office and a KEP - Centre for Serving Citizens. The inhabitants are mainly concerned with animal husbandry
Animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock.- History :Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals....

.

Landmarks

The town was almost completely leveled in an earthquake in the 1960s and as a result contains very little architecture from before this period.

Church of Saint George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...

The church was built in the nineteenth century on a basic basilica groundplan in a central location within the town. It is dedicated to Saint George, but celebrates on the Dormition of the Virgin. In 2004 a fire which was most likely caused by an unattended oil-lamp gutted the church destroying the exquisitely worked carved wooden iconostasis
Iconostasis
In Eastern Christianity an iconostasis is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a church. Iconostasis also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere within a church...

 which had been granted as a gift by King Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I was a German king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.-Crown prince:...

, father of King Otto
Otto of Greece
Otto, Prince of Bavaria, then Othon, King of Greece was made the first modern King of Greece in 1832 under the Convention of London, whereby Greece became a new independent kingdom under the protection of the Great Powers .The second son of the philhellene King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Otto ascended...

 the first King of the newly established Independent Greek State. Work has commenced under the supervision of the local Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities to repair the damage and re-roof the structure.

Church of Saint Panteleimon

The church is on the western edge of the town and is used as a cemetery church.

Church of Saint Paraskevi
Parascheva of the Balkans
Saint Parascheva of the Balkans was an ascetic female saint of the 11th century...

The church is on the hill overlooking the town near a spring.

House of Dimitris Plapoutas
Dimitris Plapoutas
Dimitris Koliopoulos Plapoutas was a Greek general who fought during the Greek War of Independence against the rule of the Ottoman Empire....

The House of the Revolutionary
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...

 hero is very centrally located in the town. Once known as "ο πύργος" (The Tower) because it was the biggest house in the town, the house used to be a tri-level mansion with stables. The upper two levels were destroyed in a 1960's earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

.

Famous inhabitants

  • Dimitris Plapoutas
    Dimitris Plapoutas
    Dimitris Koliopoulos Plapoutas was a Greek general who fought during the Greek War of Independence against the rule of the Ottoman Empire....

     (1786-1864) general and politician
  • Liakos Liakopoulos
    Liakos Liakopoulos
    Liakos Liakopoulos was a fighter in the Greek war of independence who died during the siege of Karytaina....

  • Panourgias Eliopoulos
    Panourgias Eliopoulos
    Panourgias Eliopoulos, or Panourgias Iliopoulos was born in Paloumba in 1787. He was among the first soldiers of Theodoros Kolokotronis during the Greek War of Independence. He took part in the war against Napoleon I of France in Sicily during the Napoleonic Wars. He died in 1865 in Paloumba...

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