Plaka, Lemnos
Encyclopedia
Plaka is a Greek
village 35 km ENE of Myrina
in the municipal unit of Moudros
, Greece
. Its 2001 population was 365 people. It is located in the northeast of the island of Lemnos
. The island of Imbros
in Turkey is just 20 km northeast.
It is situated somewhere in the middle of the straight line between Troy
and Mount Athos
. Some believe that it is the Ermaion lepas of the ancient, through which was transmitted with fire the news of the sack of Troy to Argos and Mycenae. Although the edge has an elevation of just 70 m, the cape comes deep into the sea and it is easily seen from those two areas. That is why in 1912 a 30 m high rotating lighthouse was built with a luminous range of 20 nautical miles (37 km). To the west, the light shines to the shallow waters of Plaka-Sotira and to the east is easily seen as far as the Dardanelles
protecting the sailors from the Mythones shoals.
and Plaka features today a wasteland that was the medieval settlement of Axia (Αξιά) or Naxia (Νάξα), as it was mentioned in 1321 in a patriarchal paper as "Agii Anargyri is tin Nakissa". According to Argyrios Moschidis it derived its name from the ancient area of Akesa (Άκεσα), named after the verb akeomai: regain my health,recover by Philoctetes
who was said to be cured there from a snake bite.
A monastery was later built at the site dedicated to "Agii Anargyri" doctors and healers. In the area coins and pottery were found and thereby was characterized as an archeological site. Angelis Michelis mentions an old pier. Further northward in Roussonia (Ρουσούνια) springs with radioactive water for bathing and mud baths are located. Nearby featured a chapel known as Ag. Charalambos. Sick persons from all of Lemnos used to made it with a donkey for coating themselved with mud. Several decades ago expatriates from the USA built a new chapel of Agios Charalambos and a block of cells for the visitors.
Monastery in Athos
mentioned that there was an embattled camp settlement known as Kastrin (Καστρίν) in the area around Plaka. Probably it is the same Kastrioti Castle where in 1459 Kritovoulos from Imvros landed and kicked out the Venetians
from the island.
In 1521, a Turkish
sailor Piri Reis
named it "Burun Hisãr", (literally the Castle of the Cape). He found it deserted the inhabitants having settled in Palaiokastro Myrina
during the years of Bayezid II
(1481–1512).
This embattled camp settlement was located at a tiny peninsula east of the village next to an old port. The ruins are now known as Palaiokastro or Vriokastro (Βριόκαστρο). As Vriokastro is found in the maps of Conze (1858) and Fredrich (1904). Conze found it ruined. There were many cisterns in the internal, one of these stil strong and in a wall he found an ancient writing.
).
A sunken ancient city is known open to the east coast in Mythones. The ruins first known by Choiseul-Guffier in 1785 were compared with the homeric island of "Chrysi" (Chryse
).
Obviously in the past there was land to the east of the Plaka peninsula, which was either united with the mainland by a narrow panhandle or was a separate island. On this stretch of land was most probably located the city of Chryse
of the Homeric period - sunk in 197 B.C - and other settlements, their ruins easily seen now in the depths of the sea.
and Palaiopoli (Hephaestia) who had land in the area and went to farm. Since 1823 several farmers began to live there permanently and when they became a lot, they established a dorp.
In 1854 there was still no parish, as the village is not mentioned in the catalogs of the local church. Also in 1856 there was no official settlement as the village is not mentioned in the catalog of taxation for non having army obligation men of the island. Conze who visited the aeria in 1858 found only a few separated huts, therefore he did not make any remarks for a hamlet. He found though a few people who lead and guided him to Vriokastro. In the 1863 census it had 60 families and the settlement is referred as Plaka or Neochorion. In 1874 there were 70 families and 87 houses in the village, known then as "Symferoupoli" (Συμφερούπολις:town of public weal). The name was accredited to the eparch Joakim III in whom addressed the residents when they applied to run a community, when they left Agios Ipatios due to public weal reasons.
With the name Simferoupolis the village is mentioned rarely in the community papers until 1888 when eparch Ioakim died. Since that time the now known name was established. As Plaka is mentioned in the traveller's maps and writings of De Launay (1894) and Fredrich (1904).
The chancel screen has a baroque architecture, it is an older one (late 18th century) and was transferred by a monastery in Lesbos. The bell tower is newly made.
and asked to become a community school, in which became in 1887. It had two class and for the rest students attended in nearby Kondopouli
.
It ran in a problematic school facility, it was mentioned as a poor facility in 1904. A new section was added in 1928 and 1929. The property was bought with the council and communal aid by Nikolaos Kondaridis, a trader and president of the community and of the Egyptian Ioannis Piromaglos, and the building was made with personal work of the inhabitants.
Students and alumni included father Manolis Christodoulou (1883–86), Kon. Bouroukos (1886–1901), Antigoni Haritonos (1938–47), Stavros Samailidis (1949–54), Kostas Kontellis (1965–71) and Maria Keramidou (1966–75)
The village was self-sufficient and its residents used to have good time in every chance.
Generally, Plaka's inhabitants work and are welcoming and progressive. In 1925, a car road made it near the village but had a miserable length. Then, its inhabitants built a bridge above a stream which hindered access to the village and tried to improve the road little by little every year.
Today, the village continued to be one of the most living village in the island, has an active cultural council, that keeps the old customs, though with the youth of Panagia founded a soccer club, Aetos.
It also has a Plaka-Panagia Fishing Council, the cheese factory in Kafalti and in Athens a council for immigrants abroad.
. In the 1970s and the 1990s, many Imbros descant came here to perceive the island from far. Slowly, the Imbros Council of Lemnos was founded and became an annual festival in Plaka with a revival of traditional Imbrian customs. For this, the Saint Anne Chapel was opened in 2003. It is located exactly opposite one of a corresponding location at Cape Pyrgos in Imbros which was ruined by fanatic Turks. It is notable that Saint Anne in Imbros was built by a Lemnian Ioannis Antoniadis in 1860 fulfilling one offering, as was announced by a relative recording.
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
village 35 km ENE of Myrina
Myrina, Greece
Myrina is a former municipality on the island of Lemnos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lemnos, of which it is a municipal unit. It covers the west coast of the island, and has a land area of 82.049 km², about 17.2% of the island's...
in the municipal unit of Moudros
Moudros
Moudros is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lemnos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lemnos, of which it is a municipal unit. It covers the entire eastern peninsula of the island, with a land area of 185.127 km²,...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. Its 2001 population was 365 people. It is located in the northeast of the island of Lemnos
Lemnos
Lemnos is an island of Greece in the northern part of the Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos peripheral unit, which is part of the North Aegean Periphery. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Myrina...
. The island of Imbros
Imbros
Imbros or Imroz, officially referred to as Gökçeada since July 29, 1970 , is an island in the Aegean Sea and the largest island of Turkey, part of Çanakkale Province. It is located at the entrance of Saros Bay and is also the westernmost point of Turkey...
in Turkey is just 20 km northeast.
Population
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1928 | 518 |
| 1958 | 578 |
| 1981 | 384 |
| 1991 | 365 |
| 2001 | 365 |
Name
Plaka receives its name from a nearby cape of the northeasternmost part of Lemnos with grey white different tiles. The cape was mentioned by older travellers with different names: Palaqa burnu (Piri Reis 1521), Blava (Belon 1548, Dapper 1688, Choiseul-Gouffier 1788, Lacroix 1858) and Plaka (Conze 1858, Tozer 1859, De Launay 1894, Hauttecoeur 1903, Fredrich 1904).It is situated somewhere in the middle of the straight line between Troy
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
and Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
. Some believe that it is the Ermaion lepas of the ancient, through which was transmitted with fire the news of the sack of Troy to Argos and Mycenae. Although the edge has an elevation of just 70 m, the cape comes deep into the sea and it is easily seen from those two areas. That is why in 1912 a 30 m high rotating lighthouse was built with a luminous range of 20 nautical miles (37 km). To the west, the light shines to the shallow waters of Plaka-Sotira and to the east is easily seen as far as the Dardanelles
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...
protecting the sailors from the Mythones shoals.
Axia
Between the villages of PanagiaPanagia, Lemnos
Panagia , accented form: Panagía is a Greek village 35 km ENE of Myrina in the municipal unit of Moudros, Greece. Its 2001 population was 365 people. It is located in the northeast of the island of Lemnos...
and Plaka features today a wasteland that was the medieval settlement of Axia (Αξιά) or Naxia (Νάξα), as it was mentioned in 1321 in a patriarchal paper as "Agii Anargyri is tin Nakissa". According to Argyrios Moschidis it derived its name from the ancient area of Akesa (Άκεσα), named after the verb akeomai: regain my health,recover by Philoctetes
Philoctetes
Philoctetes or Philocthetes according to Greek mythology, the son of King Poeas of Meliboea in Thessaly. He was a Greek hero, famed as an archer, and was a participant in the Trojan War. He was the subject of at least two plays by Sophocles, one of which is named after him, and one each by both...
who was said to be cured there from a snake bite.
A monastery was later built at the site dedicated to "Agii Anargyri" doctors and healers. In the area coins and pottery were found and thereby was characterized as an archeological site. Angelis Michelis mentions an old pier. Further northward in Roussonia (Ρουσούνια) springs with radioactive water for bathing and mud baths are located. Nearby featured a chapel known as Ag. Charalambos. Sick persons from all of Lemnos used to made it with a donkey for coating themselved with mud. Several decades ago expatriates from the USA built a new chapel of Agios Charalambos and a block of cells for the visitors.
Kastrin
A 1355 paper under the census of the Great LavraGreat Lavra
This is the monastery on Mount Athos. For the monastery associated with Saint Sabbas, see Mar Saba.The Monastery of Great Lavra is the first monastery built on Mount Athos. It is located on the southeastern foot of the Mount at an elevation of 160 metres...
Monastery in Athos
Athos
Athos may refer to:* Athos , one of the Gigantes in Greek mythologyAthos may also refer to:-Places:* Athos, a village in France, part of the commune Athos-Aspis...
mentioned that there was an embattled camp settlement known as Kastrin (Καστρίν) in the area around Plaka. Probably it is the same Kastrioti Castle where in 1459 Kritovoulos from Imvros landed and kicked out the Venetians
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
from the island.
In 1521, a Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
sailor Piri Reis
Piri Reis
Piri Reis was an Turkish Ottoman admiral, geographer and cartographer born between 1465 and 1470 and died in 1554 or 1555....
named it "Burun Hisãr", (literally the Castle of the Cape). He found it deserted the inhabitants having settled in Palaiokastro Myrina
Myrina
Myrina may refer to:*Myrina, Greece, capital of the Greek island of Lemnos*Myrina , ancient city on the coast of Mysia *Myrina , name of several female characters in Greek mythology...
during the years of Bayezid II
Bayezid II
Bayezid II or Sultân Bayezid-î Velî was the oldest son and successor of Mehmed II, ruling as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512...
(1481–1512).
This embattled camp settlement was located at a tiny peninsula east of the village next to an old port. The ruins are now known as Palaiokastro or Vriokastro (Βριόκαστρο). As Vriokastro is found in the maps of Conze (1858) and Fredrich (1904). Conze found it ruined. There were many cisterns in the internal, one of these stil strong and in a wall he found an ancient writing.
Chryse
In the southern part of the Vriokastro peninsula at a distance of 800 m from the coast and east of the shoal Vina, ruins of a sunken ancient city were found, examined by professor Moutsopoulos in 1969. He spotted a block of buildings with walls up to 2 meters, monolith lintels and stone paved roads. The entire complex thinks it is a prehistoric city of Lemnos (PoliochnePoliochne
Poliochne was a settlement on the east coast of the island of Lemnos, settled in the Late Chalcolithic and earliest Aegean Bronze Age, believed to be one of the most ancient towns in Europe, preceding Troy I. Anatolian features of the earliest layers were affected by cultural influences from...
).
A sunken ancient city is known open to the east coast in Mythones. The ruins first known by Choiseul-Guffier in 1785 were compared with the homeric island of "Chrysi" (Chryse
Chryse
In Greek mythology, Chryse may refer to:*Persons:**Chryse, a lover of Ares and mother of Phlegyas.**Chryse, nymph of Lemnos**Chryse, daughter of Pallas and consort of Dardanus*Places:...
).
Obviously in the past there was land to the east of the Plaka peninsula, which was either united with the mainland by a narrow panhandle or was a separate island. On this stretch of land was most probably located the city of Chryse
Chryse
In Greek mythology, Chryse may refer to:*Persons:**Chryse, a lover of Ares and mother of Phlegyas.**Chryse, nymph of Lemnos**Chryse, daughter of Pallas and consort of Dardanus*Places:...
of the Homeric period - sunk in 197 B.C - and other settlements, their ruins easily seen now in the depths of the sea.
The founding of Plaka
The area around Plaka was at the beginning a place for contemporary living for the inhabitants of Agios YpatiosAgios Ypatios
Agios Ypatios is a settlement in the Greek island of Limnos, it is in the municipal unit of Moudros and the community of Kontopouli. The population was 13 in the 2001 census. It is located ENE of Myrina and is connected with a road linking to the southern, central and western portions of the...
and Palaiopoli (Hephaestia) who had land in the area and went to farm. Since 1823 several farmers began to live there permanently and when they became a lot, they established a dorp.
In 1854 there was still no parish, as the village is not mentioned in the catalogs of the local church. Also in 1856 there was no official settlement as the village is not mentioned in the catalog of taxation for non having army obligation men of the island. Conze who visited the aeria in 1858 found only a few separated huts, therefore he did not make any remarks for a hamlet. He found though a few people who lead and guided him to Vriokastro. In the 1863 census it had 60 families and the settlement is referred as Plaka or Neochorion. In 1874 there were 70 families and 87 houses in the village, known then as "Symferoupoli" (Συμφερούπολις:town of public weal). The name was accredited to the eparch Joakim III in whom addressed the residents when they applied to run a community, when they left Agios Ipatios due to public weal reasons.
With the name Simferoupolis the village is mentioned rarely in the community papers until 1888 when eparch Ioakim died. Since that time the now known name was established. As Plaka is mentioned in the traveller's maps and writings of De Launay (1894) and Fredrich (1904).
The church
In 1896, the church of Agios Dimitrios was built by the inhabitants in a location of an older temple in which a section was inaugurated by the eparch Joakim III along with the founding of the village, so it should not be before 1860.The chancel screen has a baroque architecture, it is an older one (late 18th century) and was transferred by a monastery in Lesbos. The bell tower is newly made.
The school
In 1870, the residents opened a school. In 1866, a school building was built by the people with the residents from PanagiaPanagia, Lemnos
Panagia , accented form: Panagía is a Greek village 35 km ENE of Myrina in the municipal unit of Moudros, Greece. Its 2001 population was 365 people. It is located in the northeast of the island of Lemnos...
and asked to become a community school, in which became in 1887. It had two class and for the rest students attended in nearby Kondopouli
Kontopouli
Kontopouli is a settlement in the northeastern part of the Greek island of Limnos, in the municipal unit of Moudros. Its 2001 population was 661 for the village and 703 for the municipal district. Its total area is around . The vicinity was founded from a tiny characteristic farming settlement....
.
It ran in a problematic school facility, it was mentioned as a poor facility in 1904. A new section was added in 1928 and 1929. The property was bought with the council and communal aid by Nikolaos Kondaridis, a trader and president of the community and of the Egyptian Ioannis Piromaglos, and the building was made with personal work of the inhabitants.
Students and alumni included father Manolis Christodoulou (1883–86), Kon. Bouroukos (1886–1901), Antigoni Haritonos (1938–47), Stavros Samailidis (1949–54), Kostas Kontellis (1965–71) and Maria Keramidou (1966–75)
Economy - Other
From the memorization of the extremity of Lemnos, the village founded its economic support mostly on wheat and cotton production, even in manufacturing, honeycomb, fishing and sponge productions. Until 1922, its revenue came from its immigrants from the beaches of Asia Minor.The village was self-sufficient and its residents used to have good time in every chance.
Generally, Plaka's inhabitants work and are welcoming and progressive. In 1925, a car road made it near the village but had a miserable length. Then, its inhabitants built a bridge above a stream which hindered access to the village and tried to improve the road little by little every year.
The modern years
The settlement was developing continuously until the 1960s. In 1928 it had 518 people, in 1961 had 578. In 1938, the school had 107 students. It became two-tier from 1929 until 1966 and was elevated to a three-tier. Later on, it began to lose roots. In 1975, the school returned to a two-tier and in 1991, it had 365 people.Today, the village continued to be one of the most living village in the island, has an active cultural council, that keeps the old customs, though with the youth of Panagia founded a soccer club, Aetos.
It also has a Plaka-Panagia Fishing Council, the cheese factory in Kafalti and in Athens a council for immigrants abroad.
Other
The annual meeting at Agia Anna (Saint Anne). Plaka is only 12 nautical miles (20 km) from ImbrosImbros
Imbros or Imroz, officially referred to as Gökçeada since July 29, 1970 , is an island in the Aegean Sea and the largest island of Turkey, part of Çanakkale Province. It is located at the entrance of Saros Bay and is also the westernmost point of Turkey...
. In the 1970s and the 1990s, many Imbros descant came here to perceive the island from far. Slowly, the Imbros Council of Lemnos was founded and became an annual festival in Plaka with a revival of traditional Imbrian customs. For this, the Saint Anne Chapel was opened in 2003. It is located exactly opposite one of a corresponding location at Cape Pyrgos in Imbros which was ruined by fanatic Turks. It is notable that Saint Anne in Imbros was built by a Lemnian Ioannis Antoniadis in 1860 fulfilling one offering, as was announced by a relative recording.
People
- Komninos Piromaglou, politician, writer and historian (1899–1980), founder of EDES (ΕΔΕΣ) and member of the Parliament with EDAEDA- Organizations :* Eating Disorders Association, a British medical charity organization, known as beat since February 2007* Economic Development Administration, US agency providing economic grants to communities* Ejército del Aire, Spanish Air Force...
(ΕΔΑ) in 1958. - Spyridon P. Pilitsis, one of the first Greek air pilot during the interwar period.