ARTA, GREECE

'Arta' (Greek: Άρτα) is a city with a rich history in north-western Greece, capital of the Arta Prefecture which is part of the Epirus province. The city was known in the ancient times as ''Amvrakia'' (Greek: Αμβρακία). Arta is famous for its old bridge located over the Arachthos river, situated west of downtown. Arta is also known for its ancient sites from the era of Pyrrhus of Epirus and its 13th century old castle, one of the best preserved in Greece. Arta's rich Byzantine history can be also traced today via its many Byzantine churches; perhaps best known is the church of the Panayía Parigorítissa (Mother of God the Swiftly Consoling), built about 1290 by Despot Nikephoros. The city is the seat of the Technological Educational Institute of Epirus.

Contents

History

Antiquity

Byzantine/Ottoman Era

Landmarks

Classic

Byzantine

Museums

Technological Educational Institute of Epirus

Transportation

Municipal districts

Subdivisions

Historical population

Famous People

Professional sports

See also

References

External links

History

The history of Arta stretches back to the Paleolithic ages. The fist settlement in the area of the modern city was established at the 9th century B.C. Amvrakia (ancient name of Arta) was founded by the Corinthians at the 7th century B.C.

Antiquity

In 295 BC Pyrrhus of Epirus, king of Molossians transferred the capital of his kingdom to Amvrakia, which he used as a base from which he attacked the Romans. Pyrrhus managed to achieve great but costly victories against the Romans and he became famous for the phrase "Pyrrhic victory" which refers to an exchange at the Battle of Asculum. In 146 BC Amvrakia became part of the Roman empire and the province of Epirus was renamed to Epirus Vetus, to distinguish it from Epirus Nova to the east. The town is not mentioned under the name of Arta until 1082.

Byzantine/Ottoman Era

In 1204 after the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders, it became the capital of the Despotate of Epirus. Despotate of Epirus was extended up to the Dyrrahio, and included the entire north-western Greece and regions of Thessaly and north-western Macedonia. Its founder was Michael I Aggelos Komninos Doukas (1205-1215), relative of the imperial Byzantine family of Komninos. After brief conquers of the city by the dynasty of Italian Orsini (1318-1337), Albanian clans (1359-1416) and Italian rulers (Carlo II Tocco, Leonardo III Tocco), the Ottoman Turks conquered it in 1449. The city was eventually liberated from the Ottomans and annexed to Greece in 1881 with the Treaty of Berlin.

Landmarks

Classic

The modern city has been built on the ancient Amvrakia. Remains of the classic era include the ancient walls of Amvrakia, the ruins of the ancient temple of Apollo, the small theatre of Amvrakia and remnants of the southwest cemetery of Amvrakia.

Byzantine

The castle of Arta was built by Michael II Komnenos Doukas in the middle of 13th century. It is representative of Byzantine architecture and is well preserved. The most important Byzantine church is the Church of Parigoritria that was built during 1285-89 by Nikiforos I Komninos Doukas and his wife Anna Palaiologina Katakouzini. The church of Saint Theodora is another fine example of Byzantine architecture. The temple is dedicated to the protector of Arta and is the only saved department of the abbey that was founded in the 13th century from the queen of Despotate of Epirus, Theodora, in honour of Saint George and functioned as a woman monastery. After the death of her husband, Theodora became a nun in the abbey, buried there and the temple is honoured in her name. Other important Byzantine] monuments iclude the churches of Saint Vasilios, the Abbey of Kato Panagia, Saint Vasilios of the Bridge, Panagia Vlaherna, Panagia Brioni in Neohoraki, Saint Demetrius Katsouri in Plisioi, the Red Church in Vourgareli, Panagia of Coronisia in Coronisia and the church of Pantanassa in Filippiada.

Museums

★ Museum of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of Arta

★ Church of Parigoritissa

★ Folk museum 'Skoufas'

★ Historical museum 'Skoufas'

★ Private folk museum in Kypseli.

Technological Educational Institute of Epirus

The Technological Educational Institute of Epirus (T.E.I.) [1] of Epirus has a main campus and its administration seat in Arta and has branch campuses in the three other main cities of Epirus, Ioannina, Igoumenitsa and Preveza. It has four (4) Faculties and thirteen (13) Departments.

Transportation

The city is linked with the GR-5 (Antirrio - Ioannina) and the GR-30 which links with Peta and Trikala. Arta is located NNW of Antirrio, Messolongi and Agrinio, NE of Preveza, SSE of Ioannina and nearly SW of Trikala. The Arachthos River flows to the west with its reservoir lying directly to the north.

Municipal districts

★ Keramates

★ Kostakioi

★
★ Thanasseika

★
★ Syngouneika

★ Limini

Subdivisions

★ Agia Triada

★ Agioi Anargyroi

★ Agios Georgios Glykorrizou

★ Eleousa

★ Glykorrizo

★ Kato Panagia Artas

★ Marathovouni

Historical population

Year	Population	Change
1981	20,004	-
1991	23,710	+3,706/+18.53%
2001	23,863	+153/+0.65%

Famous People

★ Maximus the Greek

★ Samuel ben Moses Calñi, fifteenth century rabbi author of Mishpeṭe Shemuel

★ Yiannis Moralis

★ Napoleon Zervas

★ Dimitrios Strevinas

★ Former General Theoharris Spentzas

★ Antonios Nikopolidis, Footballer

★ Pyrrhus of Epirus

★ Nikolaos Skoufas

★ Georgios Karaiskakis

★ Saint Theodora

★ Yiannis Makriyiannis

★ Kostas Krystallis

Professional sports

'Handball'

★ http://www.anagenisi-artas.gr
'Basketball'

★ Pyrros Artas
'Football'

★ http://www.anagenisiartas.gr

★ http://www.doxa-artas.gr/
'Volleyball'

★ http://www.anagenisi-artas.gr/volley

★ http://www.filia.gr/

See also

★ Bridge of Arta

★ Arachthos River

★ Despotate of Epirus

References

External links

★ Arta Prefecture

★ Municipality of Makrakomi on GTP Travel Pages (in English and Greek)

★ Makrakomi (community) on GTP Travel Pages (in English and Greek)

★ 'Map and aerial photos':

★
★ Street map: Street map from Mapquest or Google

★
★ Satellite images: Google or Microsoft Virtual Earth - image now available

★ Coordinates: