Misplaced Pages

Latest revision as of 17:32, 21 November 2024

Kastoria Καστοριά
Municipality
Kastoria and Lake Orestiada.
KastoriaLocation within the region
Coordinates: 40°31′N 21°16′E / 40.517°N 21.267°E / 40.517; 21.267
Country	Greece
Geographic region	Macedonia
Administrative region	Western Macedonia
Regional unit	Kastoria
Government
• Mayor	Ioannis Korentsidis (since 2019)
Area
• Municipality	763.3 km (294.7 sq mi)
• Municipal unit	57.3 km (22.1 sq mi)
Elevation	700 m (2,300 ft)
Population
• Municipality	33,095
• Density	43/km (110/sq mi)
• Municipal unit	16,393
• Municipal unit density	290/km (740/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Kastorian Kastorianos (Greek)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code	521 00
Area code(s)	24670
Vehicle registration	KT

Kastoria (Greek: Καστοριά, Kastoriá [kastoˈrʝa]) is a city in northern Greece in the region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria regional unit, in the geographic region of Macedonia. It is situated on a promontory on the western shore of Lake Orestiada, in a valley surrounded by limestone mountains. The town is known for its many Byzantine churches, Byzantine and Ottoman-era domestic architecture, its lake and its fur clothing industry.

Name

In the 6th century, the historian Procopius wrote the name Kastoria was used for the lake. The first reference to the town of Kastoria is by historian John Skylitzes writing about the late 10th century. The toponym Kastoria means "place of beavers" and is derived from kastori (καστόρι), the Greek word for beaver and an animal whose local habitat was along the shores of lake Kastoria. The name of the town is sometimes written as Castoria, especially in older works. The town is known as Kesriye in Turkish, Kostur (Cyrillic: Костур) in Bulgarian and Macedonian, Kosturi in Albanian and Kusturea in Aromanian.

Municipality

The municipality Kastoria was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 9 former municipalities, that became municipal units:

• Agia Triada
• Agioi Anargyroi
• Kastoria
• Kastraki
• Kleisoura
• Korestia
• Makednoi
• Mesopotamia
• Vitsi

The municipality has an area of 763.330 km, the municipal unit 57.318 km. The municipal unit consists of the town Kastoria and the settlements Aposkepos, Kefalari and Chloi.

Districts

• Apózari
• Doltsó
• Dailaki (Myloi)
• Doplitsa
• Kato Agora
• Kallithea
• Lyv

Climate

Kastoria has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa). As a result of the moderating effect of the lake, it records less extreme temperatures than the rest of Western Macedonia.

History

Antiquity

Kastoria was the site of previous settlements, the first being Celetrum (or Keletron), a town located near a lake in Orestis and mentioned by historian Livy in reference to the events of 199 BC. Celetrum surrendered to Publius Sulpicius Galba during the Roman war (200–197 BC) against Philip V of Macedon. The ancient town was possibly located on a hill above the town's current location.

The Roman Emperor Diocletian (ruled 284–305 AD) founded the town of Diocletianopolis (Διοκλητιανούπολις) in the vicinity. After Diocletianopolis was destroyed by barbarians, Emperor Justinian relocated it on a promontory projecting into Lake Orestiada, the town's current location, and Procopius writes the emperor "gave it an appropriate name", perhaps indicating that he renamed it Justinianopolis (Ίουστινιανούπολις). References to Justinian's settlement cease during the 7th and 8th centuries, due to the possible abandonment of the location. Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus made an anachronistic mention of Diocletianopolis in his work De Thematibus (10th century).

Middle Ages

The origins of Kastoria are from the 9th century, as its surrounding walls and oldest churches, such as St. Stephan and the Taxiarchs, date from the era. The first mention of the settlement of Kastoria was by Skylitzes in relation to events of the late 10th century during the Byzantine–Bulgarian wars. The town was in Bulgarian hands until 1018, when it was conquered by Basil II.

Kastoria was occupied by the Normans under Bohemond I in 1082/83. In October 1083, emperor Alexios I Komnenos forced the garrison to surrender, recovering thus the town and convincing many Norman troops, including Peter Aliphas, to enter his services.

During the 13th and 14th centuries, the town became contested between several powers and changed hands often. The Second Bulgarian Empire held the city under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II. Under the Bulgarians, Kastoria had a significant Romaniote Jewish community, with prominent individuals such as scholar Tobiah ben Eliezer.

Later, it was recovered by the Despotate of Epirus. The Nicaean Empire captured it in ca. 1252, but lost it again to Epirus in ca. 1257, only for the Nicaeans to recapture it following the Battle of Pelagonia (1259).

In the early 14th century, Kastoria was part of the domain of John II Doukas, "doux of Great Vlachia and Kastoria". After his death, the town became part of the semi-autonomous domain of Stephen Gabrielopoulos. After the latter's death in 1332/3, the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos took over the town, but in the very next year (1334) it was surrendered briefly to the Serbs by the renegade Syrgiannes Palaiologos.

The Serbian ruler Stephen Dushan finally captured Kastoria in 1342/3, taking advantage of the ongoing Byzantine civil war, and made it part of his Serbian Empire. After Dushan's death, Kastoria became the seat of Symeon Uroš.

The town came later under the Epirote ruler Thomas Preljubović, and then under the Albanian Muzaka family, until it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the mid-1380s.

Ottoman era

The Ottoman Turks conquered Kastoria around 1385, but it is unclear whether by force or by an agreement with its Albanian rulers. Following the conquest and depopulation of Constantinople, the Romaniote Jews from Kastoria were forcefully resettled by the Ottomans in Balat district as part of efforts to repopulate the city. Toward the end of the 15th century, Jews expelled from Italy, Sicily, Portugal and Spain settled in Kastoria. In 1519, Kastoria was a zeamet of Chamberlain Mehmed Bey, and the infantry commander of Thessaloniki, Hızır. The town also had Voynuks.

The establishment of Ottoman rule resulted in the demise of the local Greek landowning class, and funding of the arts and culture in Kastoria was undertaken by its wealthy merchants. The Greek merchants Georgios Kyritses and Manolakis Kastorianos financed Greek education in Kastoria. Greek schools were established in Kastoria, with the oldest in the town and Macedonia being founded in 1614; a second was founded in 1705, and a third in 1715, funded by Kyritses.

In 1797–1798, the Greek revolutionary Rigas Feraios was partly based in Kastoria. Among his co-conspirators were several Kastorian Greeks, such as Georgios Theocharis, and the brothers Panagiotis and John Emmanuel. When they were arrested by the Austrian authorities and handed over to the Ottomans, John Emmanuel admitted that he had smuggled a copy of Feraios' revolutionary song "Thourios" (Greek: Θούριος) into Kastoria and sang it there many times. Theocharis escaped execution thanks to his Austrian citizenship, but those of Feraios' companions that did not possess foreign citizenship were executed. When the Greek War of Independence broke out in 1821, there was Greek revolutionary activity in Kastoria as throughout the towns and villages of western Macedonia. John Papareskas was a notable Greek revolutionary from Kastoria. Revolutinary activity attracted the attention of the Ottoman authorities and the Ottoman commander Mehmet Emin took several Greek notables as hostages from towns in western Macedonia, including Kastoria.

Following the destruction of Moscopole (late eighteenth century), some Aromanian refugees attempted to settle in Kastoria, and their efforts were unsuccessful due to concerns by local Kastorians over economic competition from newcomers. Later, Aromanians with origins from Moscopole, Nikolicë, Vithkuq and other locations settled in Kastoria, and by the mid–nineteenth century the upper class of the town's Greek community was formed mostly by Aromanian families.

In the late Ottoman period, Kastoria was the seat of a kaza belonging to the sanjak of Görice, within the Vilayet of Monastir.

The older presence of Greek cultural tradition led to the establishment of strong Greek national feeling among town inhabitants in an era of conflict arising from nationalism (late 19th and early 20th centuries). As a result, Kastoria became the main location for the Greek movement in west Macedonia during this period.

Macedonian Struggle and Balkan Wars

As a largely Greek town in west Macedonia at the turn of the 20th century, Kastoria featured prominently in the Greek efforts during the Macedonian Struggle. A notable figure was Germanos Karavangelis, who served as the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop of Kastoria from 1900 until 1907. Karavangelis thought that the post-Ottoman future of Macedonia would be decided by Balkan states, and viewed Bulgarian influence in the area as the greatest threat to Greek interests. He formed the earliest Greek armed groups fighting for the region. During the Macedonian struggle, Karavangelis, an imposing figure, traveled in rural areas and directed the Greek response toward supporters of the Bulgarian cause, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO) and the Exarchate. He supported close interaction among local Turks and Greeks, but only when it was needed. Greece sent more funds, men and arms to individuals such as Karavangelis in Macedonia. When the Greek fighter and officer Pavlos Melas was killed in action in 1904, Karavangelis arranged to have his body buried within the Metropolis of Kastoria, after first having threatened to mobilize the town's Greek population if the Ottoman authorities did not surrender Melas' body.

Modern Greece

Ottoman rule ended in Kastoria after it was taken by the Greek Army in the First Balkan War (1912). In 1913, the town was annexed and the treaties of London and Bucharest formally recognised Kastoria and the wider area as part of Greece.

World War II

During both World War II and the Greek Civil War, the town was repeatedly fought over and heavily damaged in the process. It was nearly captured by the Communist Democratic Army of Greece in 1948, and the final battles of the civil war took place on the nearby Mount Gramos in 1949.

In 1940, Kastoria came under Italian occupation. In 1943, the judicial courts of Kastoria were destroyed by fire, including the town archive. Italy surrendered in late 1943, and Kastoria came under German control. In April 1944 the German army sent the town's Jews first to Thessaloniki and later to the Auschwitz concentration camp where they were gassed. In 1945, the Kastoria Jewish community numbered 35 people, a reduction of 95 percent due to the Holocaust.

Kastoria was liberated from German rule by the guerrillas of the Greek People's Liberation Army.

Contemporary period

Following the Greek Civil War, large numbers of Kastorian Greeks migrated abroad, where in the 1980s they numbered 25,000 in the New York area, and worked as furriers; younger generations worked as lawyers and doctors. A Kastorian Greek diaspora numbering 10,000 in the 1980s established itself in Frankfurt after it replaced Leipzig as Germany's new fur industry centre, following its post–war division. Nowadays Kastoria is a prosperous provincial town, its economy being mainly driven by the fur industry and tourism, the latter due to the town's physical attractiveness and many historical Byzantine churches.

Economy

Kastoria is a popular tourist destination and an international centre of fur trade, having taken so the nickname the city of the fur traders. Tourism and the fur industry dominate the local economy. Indeed, (as mentioned above) the town was possibly named after one of the former staples of the trade – the European beaver (kastóri in Greek), now extinct in the area. Trading in mink fur now predominates and every year an international showcase of fur takes place in the city.

Involvement with fur began in the early middle ages, when Kastoria supplied ermine pelts for the robes of Byzantine courtiers. The fur industry was established in Kastoria during the sixteenth century, and extensive trade links emerged connecting the town with wider Europe. Merchants settled in Germany and Russia. In the seventeenth century, Kastoria was the European fur industry centre and marketplace, and various fur products on offer were imports (such as pelts from Russian sable), with a majority of Kastorian Jews being wealthy dealers in the fur trade. By the late 18th century, Kastoria had developed a strong Hellenic commercial culture.

In Kastoria, Jews participated in trade and tanning production. The Jewish community was involved in the fur industry, and its merchants worked closely with craftsmen who were mainly from the Greek community. The town economy was successful, in particular during the nineteenth century, due to both Jews and Greeks working well together. Slavophone peasants from the wider area would go to Kastoria on market days. By the early twentieth century, Jewish merchants were involved in the trade of fur and tobacco. The Muslim population of Kastoria in 1913 worked as fishermen (30 percent) in Lake Kastoria, in agriculture (13 percent), or were large landowners (16 percent). In the interwar period, local Jews were involved in the textile, agricultural, and raw material sectors of Kastoria's economy.

In modern Kastoria, there are more than 300 small and big dealers in fur. Abroad, early twentieth century immigration to New York from Kastoria by Greeks involved in fur production expanded the local US industry, as demand for fur clothing increased, with most small businesses owned by Kastorian Greeks. The modern fur industry in New York is run by Kastorian Greeks, such as Castor Furs; a business involved in the fashion industry. Other industries include the sale and distribution of locally grown produce; particularly wheat, apples, wine, and fish. Recently a large shopping center has been built in the city of Kastoria. Kastoria has 16 local radio stations, two TV stations, five daily newspapers, and seven weekly ones. The town's airport is named Aristotelis Airport.

Population

Historical

The Ottoman fiscal register of 1445 showed a total population of 4,518, of which 3,977 were Chritians, 431 were Jews, and 110 were Muslims.

In 1519, the town had 4,815 people, of which 4,480 were Christians and 335 were Muslims, divided into 732 Christian households and 67 Muslim households. Muslims were a minority in Kastoria, and would remain a minority for the duration of Ottoman rule.

According to the findings of Vasil Kanchov, at the turn of the 20th century, the town had 3,000 Greek Christians, 1,600 Turkish Muslims, 750 Jews, 300 Bulgarian Christians, 300 Albanian Christians, and 240 Roma, for a total of 6,190 inhabitants. According to the findings of Dimitri Mishev, the town had a population of 4,000 Greek Christians, 400 Bulgarian Patriarchist Grecomans and 72 Vlachs in 1905 (excluding the Muslim minority).

The 1920 Greek census recorded 6,280 people in the town, and 829 inhabitants (242 families) were Muslim in 1923. The Muslim minority of Kastoria was sent to Turkey during the Greek–Turkish population exchange (1923), and resettled in places such as Bor, Kahramanmaraş, and Yozgat in Turkey. Following the exchange, there were 101 Greek refugee families from Asia Minor, 19 from East Thrace, and one from Pontus in 1926. The 1928 Greek census recorded 10,308 inhabitants. In 1928, Greek refugee families numbered 137 (588 people).

Jewish Community

A Jewish presence in the area is recorded as early as late antiquity, when a Jewish community resided in Emperor Justinian's settlement. At the time of the First Bulgarian Empire, Kastoria had a significant Romaniote Jewish community, with prominent individuals such as scholar Tobiah ben Eliezer.

Following the conquest and depopulation of Constantinople, the Romaniote Jews from Kastoria led by Matthias Tamar, were forcefully resettled by the Ottomans in Balat district as part of efforts to repopulate the city. A synagogue named after Kastoria was built and still stands in modern Istanbul. Toward the end of the 15th century, Jews expelled from Italy, Sicily, Portugal and Spain settled in Kastoria and became an important part of the population.

In the late seventeenth century, the Jewish messianic Sabbatean movement had some prominent supporters in Kastoria, although most remained as practicing Jews. An epidemic during 1719–1720 resulted in 62 deaths among the Jewish community. Jews with Italian and Spanish origins from Vlorë, later went to Berat, and by 1740 had resettled in Kastoria due to several epidemics.

Several blood libels were made toward the Jewish community during the 19th century. In 1873, a Jewish school was founded in the town. Bandits took 70 Jews hostage in 1887, and their release was secured by the Jewish community. Some Kastorian Jews migrated to Salonika. Ladino-speaking Jews immigrated to the United States, and by the early twentieth century those from Kastoria had formed a Kastoria Society. In the modern period, the community still uses the name Kastoria for burial plots. Under Ottoman rule, the Jews of Kastoria had close ties with the Jewish community of Monastir (modern Bitola). The levels of Jewish education increased in Kastoria after the organisation Alliance Israélite Universelle provided funding and support in 1903. In the early twentieth century, the Kastorian Jews were Sephardim and numbered some 1,600. In Kastoria, the Jewish community had a chief rabbi, three yeshivot (Jewish religious schools), and several synagogues. In 1906 the Jewish population numbered 1,600, and in 1908 a blood libel occurred.

Throughout the 1920s, the Jewish community had two synagogues, two welfare organisations, a society for burials, a kindergarten and school. In 1928, Kastorian Jews numbered 1,000. In 1928, a Zionist association was formed in Kastoria, and some of the town's Jewish children were sent to study and live in Mandate Palestine.

In World War Two, Kastoria and its Jewish population came under Italian, and later, German occupation. The Jewish community numbered 900 people in 1940 and 1943. Some Jews became partisans, and others fled to a nearby village. In late March 1944, 763 Kastorian Jews residing in the Jewish neighbourhood were taken prisoner, while 50 went into hiding, and the Greek Orthodox Archbishop secured the release of 30–40 Jews. During April 1944, the German army sent the town's Jews first to Thessaloniki, and later to the Auschwitz concentration camp where they were gassed. In 1945, the Kastoria Jewish community numbered 35 people; a reduction of 95 percent due to the Holocaust.

The Jewish population of Kastoria was 38 in 1948, 27 in 1959, two in 1973, and five in 1983. Post war, heirless Jewish properties of Kastoria were 22 dwellings, three shops, and 35 land lots, and were administered by the OPAIE (The Heirless Property and Jewish Rehabilitation Fund). In the early 1970s, the Central Board of Jewish Communities, an organisation representing Jewish communities in Greece, attempted to liquidate Jewish properties in Kastoria with support from a few local Jews, several other Kastorians, and officials. The Kastoria Jewish diaspora in Israel and the US supported moves to reclaim the properties. The Central Board managed to gain control of a few communal properties after purchasing them from their Jewish owners. The Jewish community had dwindled to one family, and during the 1980s, relatives and business were factors which influenced Jews to remain in Kastoria. By the late twentieth century the Jewish presence in Kastoria had disappeared due to deaths and migration. Members from the Kastorian Jewish diaspora produced Trezoros: The Lost Jews of Kastoria, a documentary about the Jews of Kastoria.

Landmarks

Byzantine monuments

Kastoria is an important religious centre for the Greek Orthodox Church, and is the seat of a metropolitan bishop. The Metropolis of Kastoria is one of the metropolises of the New Lands in Greece, administered as part of the Church of Greece. Kastoria originally had 72 Byzantine and medieval churches, of which 54 have survived; including Panagia Koumpelidiki and St Athanasius of Mouzaki. Some of these have been restored and provide useful insight into trends in Late Byzantine styles of architecture and fresco painting.

The Museum of Byzantine History located on Dexamenis Square houses many examples of Byzantine iconography. The Costume Museum and the Monuments Museum are also located in the city.

Doltsó and Apózari

During the Ottoman times, Kastoria attracted a multitude of people from across the Balkans and beyond, resulting in a diverse, multi-ethnic community. As a result, the city plan was radically transformed. The different ethnic communities, Bulgarian, Turkish, Greek, and Jewish, became centred around separate neighbourhoods or 'quarters'. Two old Greek lakeside quarters, the "Doltso" (Dolcho) and "Apozari" neighbourhoods, are among the best-preserved and last remaining traditional quarters of the city.

These neighbourhoods are characterised by the rich stock of old houses preserved in the shape of autonomous historic buildings, such as the important private mansions or the more humble folk dwellings ('accessory' buildings) built between the 17th and 19th centuries. During this time, the processing and exporting of animal furs to Europe created wealth, and city mansions, of particular architectural and decorative value, were built. This interconnected nexus of churches and private houses constitutes a rare example of a Byzantine and post-Byzantine township, and remains inhabited to this day.

The traditional buildings and manor houses of the "Doltso" and "Apozari" neighbourhoods are threatened by modern development in the city, as well as structural degradation from poor levels of conservation. These sites were included on the 7 Most Endangered list of Europe's most at-risk monuments and sites in 2014.

Jewish Monuments

During the late fifteenth century, a synagogue in Kastoria was built and was one of several in the region with the name Aragon. Kastoria had four synagogues (Italian, Portuguese, Romaniot and Spanish) in the early 18th century. Fire destroyed three synagogues between 1719 and 1720. A synagogue was constructed in 1750, and destroyed during 1828. In 1830, another synagogue named Aragon was erected by the Jewish community. Following World War Two, the Aragon synagogue was sold by the Central Board of Jewish Communities, and the new owners demolished it. The Jewish cemetery of Kastoria was neglected from the late interwar period, and had by the 1970s become overgrown with vegetation. The Greek army expropriated the cemetery in the next decade and turned the site into military barracks. Several stones were preserved. Some tombstones were repurposed for the storage room floor, and most stones were reused to construct the pathways of the site and barracks.

Ottoman monuments

During the Ottoman era, a Muslim minority resided in Kastoria and constructed various public, private and religious buildings. Kastoria had seven mosques in the late Ottoman period. Several mosques were constructed on sites or used, as had been Muslim practice, earlier Christian churches. Gazi Ervenos Mosque or Gula Mosque was the earliest built in the town after the Ottoman conquest. After 1912, Greek troops in Kastoria demolished the minaret and in 1926 the remaining mosque was demolished and replaced with a reservoir. Kule Mosque or Mosque of Dioikitiriou was repurposed following the population exchange into a grain warehouse, later a notary office. In 1950, Kastoria Municipality expropriated and demolished the building.

Prodromou Mosque was declared preserved during 1925, later the National Bank sold it and was demolished. Tabahane Mosque was also declared preserved in 1925 and later demolished in unknown circumstances. Hasan Kadi Mosque and Giahli or Giali Mosque were both destroyed. Gazi Mosque was used by the metropolitan and is well preserved. Kursum Mosque, named for its lead roof was declared preserved during 1925. Prior to Muslims leaving Kastoria, its last imam sold the mosque and under Greece has been used as a museum and as an antiquities warehouse, closed to the public. It is the only surviving mosque in Kastoria in a moderate state of preservation and in the early to mid 2020s was undergoing restoration work.

The Bektashi tekke was dedicated to Kasim Baba, a Sufi holy man. It was demolished. Another tekke belonged to the Hayati, an offshoot of the Halveti Order. Three tekkes, one used by Sufis as a hermitage, another by dervishes and a third affiliated with the Mevlevi Order were all demolished. Another three tekkes were destroyed following the population exchange. Burial monuments (turbes) were located in the vicinity of mosques or in Muslim cemeteries, such as one in Kursum Mosque's courtyard, later destroyed. The turbe of Aydin Baba and the turbe of Kasim Baba were located on a hill above Kastoria, both destroyed. Muslim cemeteries were expropriated and demolished.

Kastoria's Muslims had four primary schools, an elementary school and a madrassa. The Madrassa, a theological school with an open courtyard was declared a preserved monument by Greece in 1925 and repurposed as a depot for salt and other products. The building is presently closed and abandoned, some restoration has occurred and is in a state of moderate preservation. Remnants of a hamam are located in the Apozari neighbourhood. Portions of Kastoria's Ottoman walls are a protected monument (declared in 1932 and 1945), although some parts were demolished for other building projects. A late Ottoman era guardhouse served as a penal prison till 1958 and was later demolished.

Some Muslim private buildings consisted of large inns and houses belonging to beys, later most were demolished. An unfinished Turkish Konak or official residence, a late Ottoman building was demolished in 1935. The Mathioudakis barracks, a military Ottoman structure from the early twentieth century was used from the interwar period to 2006 by the Greek army, who also erected several buildings within the complex. The Mathioudakis barracks now belongs to Kastoria municipality who has sought to demolish and rebuild it as a police station with pushback from town locals who advocate for its preservation.

Modern period

Under Greece, support came from Greek politicians such as Ion Dragoumis and Eleftherios Venizelos to conserve Kastoria's architectural uniqueness. Muslims left Kastoria following the population exchange in 1923 and a new urban plan modernised and changed the town's architectural layout and space. Efforts were aimed at conserving churches; other structures such as mansions, walls and Muslim buildings were neglected, with a majority of Ottoman era buildings demolished. The period of the 1930s brought some architectural alterations and overall the town retained its traditional form until the 1960s when new construction proceeded in an anarchic manner changing Kastoria.

Education

The School of Sciences of University of Western Macedonia with two departments (Informatics and Mathematics) is based in the city, as well as the departments of Communication and Digital Media and Economics.

Cuisine

Local specialities include:

• Giouvetsi (meat with pasta in tomato sauce)
• Garoufa (Grivadi soup)
• Pestrofa (trout)
• Lake fish: carp, tench, catfish, eel
• Sarmades (meatballs wrapped with pickled cabbage)
• Makálo (meatballs with garlic sauce)
• Kolokythopita (pumpkin pie)
• Kremmydopita (onion pie)
• Milk Pie (dessert)
• Sáliaroi (dessert)

Sports

Kastoria FC is the city's football team. It was established in 1963 when three local sides joined to form one stronger team to represent Kastoria. The team's most successful years to date were in 1974 when they were promoted to the Greek first division and competed there for a year, and in 1979–1980 when they won the Greek Cup after an impressive 5–2 victory over Iraklis FC in the final.

Rowing: London 2012 Olympic Games: Giannis Christou, Christina Giazitzidou

Brazil 2016 Olympic Games: Giannis Christou

Kastoria B.C.

Location

Bilisht   Florina    Amyntaio – Edessa   Korçë   Ptolemaida – Veria      Ioannina   Neapoli, Kozani – Siatista – Grevena    Kozani – Larissa

Notable people

• Tobiah ben Eliezer (11th), author of the Midrash Lekach Tov
• Kasim Baba, 15th century Ottoman Bektashi holy man.
• Sevastos Leontiadis (1690–1765), educationalist
• Konstantinos Michail, scholar
• Georgios Theocharis (1758–1843), merchant, revolutionary and diplomat
• Athanasios Christopoulos (1772–1847), poet
• Emmanuel brothers, partners of Rigas Feraios; executed with him in 1798
• Vasileios Hatzis, painter
• Aristotelis Zachos, architect
• Pavlos Argyriadis (1849–1901), journalist, lawyer and anarchist/socialist intellectual
• Argyrios Vouzas (1857–?), doctor and revolutionary
• Leonidas Papazoglou, photographer
• Şefik Aker (1877–1964), military officer in the Ottoman and Turkish armies
• Nicholas Lambrinides, founder of Skyline Chili, a famous restaurant chain in Cincinnati, USA
• Andreas Tzimas, communist politician
• Lucas Samaras (1936–), artist
• Jagnula Kunovska (1943–), politician, jurist and writer
• Maria Spiropulu (1970–), experimental physicist
• Dimitris Diamantidis (1980–), basketball player
• Ioannis Christou, (1983–), Greek rower
• Christina Giazitzidou (1989–), Olympic bronze medalist in rowing

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Kastoria is twinned with:

• Enna, Italy
• Kyiv, Ukraine (since 1998)
• Plovdiv, Bulgaria (since 2005)

Gallery

• Fresco by Onufri at the Holy Apostles church
• Emmanuel mansion (18th c.), currently housing the Costume Museum
• A statue of Germanos Karavangelis
• Memorial to Holocaust victims of Kastoria in Israel
• Geese at the Lake of Kastoria
• Hotel "Kastoria"
• Pouliopoulos mansion
• Plan of the medieval Bulgarian fortress
• View of the old town district of "Apozari"
• The lake in autumn

See also

• Castoria (titular see) (Latin Catholic)
• Metropolis of Kastoria (now Greek Orthodox)
• Delinanios Folklore Museum
• Byzantine Museum of Kastoria
• Paleontological and Paleobotanical Museum of Nostimo, a village 25 km (16 mi) from Kastoria
• Kastorianos, folk dance from Greek Macedonia

References

1. "Municipality of Kastoria, Municipal elections – October 2023". Ministry of Interior.
2. ^ "Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021, Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός κατά οικισμό" [Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
3. ^ Darling, Janina K. (2004). Architecture of Greece. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313321523. OCLC 54500822.
4. Granitsas, Margot (1984-06-03). "Kastoria, City of Mink". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
5. ^ Moustakas 2021, p. 885.
6. ^ Gregory, Timothy E.; Wharton, Annabel Jane (1991). "Kastoria". In Kazhdan, Alexander P. (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. pp. 1110–1111.
7. ^ Moustakas 2021, p. 884.
8. ^ Bowen, Jessica M.; Ring, Trudy (1995). "Kastoria". In Ring, Trudy; Salkin, Robert M.; La Boda, Sharon (eds.). International Dictionary of Historic Places: Southern Europe. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. p. 361. ISBN 9781884964022.
9. Sidiropoulos, Konstantinos; Polymeni, Rosa-Maria; Legakis, Anastasios (2016). "The evolution of Greek fauna since classical times". The Historical Review/La Revue Historique. 13: 139.
10. Faiers, Jonathan (2020). Fur: A Sensitive History. Yale University Press. p. 44. ISBN 9780300227208.
11. Spector & Wigoder 2001, p. 601.
12. Pitcher, Donald Edgar (1972). An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire: From Earliest Times to the End of the Sixteenth Century. Brill. p. 157. ISBN 9789004038288.
13. Kostov, Chris (2010). Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, 1900–1996. Peter Lang. p. 279. ISBN 9783034301961.
14. Elsie 2019, p. 297.
15. ^ Koukoudis 2003, p. 343.
16. "ΦΕΚ A 87/2010, Kallikratis reform law text" (in Greek). Government Gazette.
17. "Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation)" (PDF) (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-21.
18. ^ Δρακοπούλου, Ευγενία. Η πόλη της Καστοριάς τη βυζαντινή και μεταβυζαντινή εποχή (12ος – 16ος αι.): ιστορία, τέχνη, επιγραφές, Χριστιανική Αρχαιολογική Εταιρεία, 1997, ISBN 960-85882-1-9, p.23. (in Greek)
19. Samsaris, Dimitris K. (1989). Ιστορική γεωγραφία της ρωμαϊκής επαρχίας Μακεδονίας: το τμήμα της σημερινής δυτικής Μακεδονίας [Historical Geography of the Roman province of Macedonia: The Department of Western Macedonia today]. Εταιρεία Μακεδονικών Σπουδών. p. 159. ISBN 9789607265012.
20. Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière; Walbank, Frank William (1972). A History of Macedonia: 336–167 B.C. Clarendon Press. p. 423. ISBN 9780198148159.
21. Samsaris, Dimitris K. (1991). "Dioclétianopoleis: Deux fondations de Dioclétien en Macédoine" [Diocletianopoleis: Two foundations of Diocletian in Macedonia]. Byzantina. 16: 65–72.
22. Hupchick, Dennis P. (2017). "Some problems in the chronology of the Bulgarian-Byzantine military conflicts between 976 and 1014". Bulgaria Mediaevalis. 8 (1): 436. In contrast to Skylitzes's lack of specificity regarding the opening hostilities was his dramatic accounts of the unexpected deaths in 976 of the two eldest Komitopuli brothers, David and Moisei, leading the Bulgarian incursions. David was killed by a group of wandering Vlahs (perhaps bandits ) at a place known locally as Fair Oak Woods, situated somewhere along the road between Kastoria and Prespa.
23. Venning, Timothy; Frankopan, Peter (1 May 2015). A Chronology of the Crusades. Routledge. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-317-49643-4. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
24. Andreev, J. The Bulgarian Khans and Tsars (Balgarskite hanove i tsare, Българските ханове и царе), Veliko Tarnovo, 1996, p. 200, ISBN 954-427-216-X
25. ^ Weinberger, Leon J. (1983). Bulgaria's Synagogue Poets: The Kastoreans. University of Alabama Press. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9780817356231.
26. Kiel, Machiel (1990). Studies on the Ottoman Architecture of the Balkans. Aldershot, Hampshire, Great Britain: Variorum. p. 303. ISBN 9780860782766.
27. ^ Stavridopoulos 2015, p. 261.
28. ^ Tsolakis, Panayotis Gr. (1997). "The Residential Organisation of the Jews in Kastoria". In Chasiotes, Ioannes K. (ed.). The Jewish Communities of Southeastern Europe. From the Fifteenth Century to the End of World War II. Institute for Balkan Studies. pp. 535–536. ISBN 9789607387035.
29. ^ Bowman 2009, p. 16.
30. ^ Spector, Shmuel; Wigoder, Geoffrey, eds. (2001). "Kastoria". The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: Vol. II, K–Sered. New York University Press. p. 602. ISBN 9780814793770.
31. ^ Gökbilgin, M. Tayyib (1956). "Kanuni Sultan Süleyman Devri Başlarında Rumeli Eyaleti Livaları Şehir ve Kasabaları" [Cities and Towns of the Province of Rumelia at the Beginning of the Period of Suleiman the Lawgiver]. Belleten (in Turkish). 20 (78): 264. eISSN 2791-6472. ISSN 0041-4255.
32. ^ Vakalopoulos 1973, p. 464-466.
33. ^ Moustakas, Konstantinos (2021). "Kastoria". In Speake, Graham (ed.). Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition. Routledge. p. 886. ISBN 9781135942069.
34. Palairet 2016, p. 96.
35. Vakalopoulos 1973, p. 629-632.
36. Koukoudis, Asterios (2003). The Vlachs: Metropolis and Diaspora. Zitros Publications. pp. 343–344. ISBN 9789607760869. In fact, in the mid-nineteenth century, Anastassios Piheon of Kastoria (who himself was of Moschopolitan origin), reports that the town's Greek upper class was mainly made up of Vlach families who had eventually settled in Kastoria after leaving Moschopolis, Nikolicë, Vithkuq and elsewhere.
37. Ünlü, Mucize (2010). "II. Abdülhamid Döneminde Ulahlar" [Vlachs During the Period of Abdülhamid II]. In Čaušević, Ekrem; Moačanin, Nenad; Kursar, Vjeran (eds.). Perspectives on Ottoman Studies: Papers from the 18th Symposium of the International Committee of Pre–Ottoman and Ottoman Studies (CIEPO). LIT Verlag. p. 230. ISBN 9783643108517.
38. Glenny 1999, p. 200.
39. Papaconstantinou, Michael G. (1960). "The struggle of Hellenism over Macedonia: A survey of recent bibliography". Balkan Studies: Biannual Publication of the Institute for Balkan Studies. 1 (1): 135.
40. ^ Glenny, Misha (1999). The Balkans, 1804-1999: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers. Granta Books. p. 206. ISBN 9781862070738.
41. Karavangelis 1993, pp. 64–66.
42. Mela 1992, p. 425.
43. ^ Fonzi 2021, p. 76.
44. ^ Plaut 2000, p. 56.
45. Balta, Evangelia (2003). "Ottoman Archives in Greece". Balkanlar Ve İtalya'da Şehir Ve Manastır Arşivlerindeki Türkçe Belgeler (Semineri 16–17 Kasım 2000) [Seminar on Turkish Documents in the Archives of Balkan Countries and Italian Cities and Monastries (16–17 November 2000)]. Türk Tarih Kurumu. p. 18. ISBN 9789751616364.
46. Králová, Kateřina (2020). "What is True and What is Right? An infant Jewish Orphan's Identity". In Bardgett, Suzanne; Schmidt, Christine; Stone, Dan (eds.). Beyond Camps and Forced Labour: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference. Palgrave MacMillan. p. 109. ISBN 9783030563912.
47. ^ Bowman, Steven B. (2009). The Agony of Greek Jews, 1940–1945. Stanford University Press. p. 70. ISBN 9780804772495.
48. ^ Hantzaroula, Pothiti (2020). Child Survivors of the Holocaust in Greece: Memory, Testimony and Subjectivity. Routledge. p. 84. ISBN 9780429018978.
49. ^ "The Holocaust in Greece". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 2009-05-06. Retrieved 2009-09-29.
50. ^ Plaut 2000, pp. 68–69, 71.
51. ^ "Wiped out 'in the blink of an eye': Only 35 Jews survived from a 2,000-year-old Greek community". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
52. ^ Granitsas, Margot (1984-06-03). "Kastoria, City of Mink". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
53. Zikakou, Ioanna (10 August 2014). "This Town Could Die from the Russian Import Embargo to Greece | GreekReporter.com". Retrieved 2019-03-25.
54. ^ Fonzi, Paolo (2021). "Political Violence in a Borderland. The Region of Kastoria under Italian Occupation (1941–1943)". Journal of Balkan and Black Sea Studies (6): 79.
55. ^ Appelbaum, Joy Zacharia (1997). "Growing Up in a Polyglot Sephardic Household". In Stillman, Yedida K.; Stillman, Norman A. (eds.). From Iberia to Diaspora Studies in Sephardic History and Culture. Brill. p. 451. ISBN 978-90-04-67921-4.
56. ^ Scholem, Gershom (1973). Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626–1676. Princeton University Press. p. 779. ISBN 9780691018096.
57. Palairet, Michael (2016). Macedonia: A Voyage through History (Vol. 2, From the Fifteenth Century to the Present). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 45. ISBN 9781443888493.
58. ^ Plaut 2000, pp. 26–27.
59. Katsikas, Stefanos (2021). Islam and Nationalism in Modern Greece, 1821–1940. Oxford University Press. p. 158. ISBN 9780190652005.
60. Plaut 2000, p. 43.
61. Karpozilos, Kostis (2023). Red America: Greek Communists in the United States, 1920–1950. Berghahn Books. p. 52. ISBN 9781800738560.
62. "ραδιοφωνικός χάρτης | Ραδιόφωνο (Greek radio stations, Kastoria)". radiofono.gr. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
63. "Εφημερίδα Μακεδονία | Η εφημερίδα της Θεσσαλονίκης (Makedonia newspaper, article of 2008/06/29 by Dimitra Tsapodimou)". makthes.gr. Archived from the original on 2018-10-04. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
64. Kanchov, Vasil. Македония. Етнография и Статистика. I изд. Бълг. Книжовно Д-во, София, 1900; II фототипно изд. "Проф. М. Дринов", София, 1996). 43. Костурска Каза
65. Dimitri Mishev and D. M. Brancoff, La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne, p. 180
66. ^ Pelagidis, Efstathios (1992). Η αποκατάσταση των προσφύγων στη Δυτική Μακεδονία (1923–1930) [The rehabilitation of refugees in Western Macedonia: 1923–1930] (Ph.D.) (in Greek). Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. p. 76. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
67. Özkan, Salih (2007). "1923 Tarihli Türk–Rum Nüfus Mübadelesinin Niğde'nin Demografik Yapısına Etkisi" [The Effect of the 1923 Turkish–Greek Population Exchange on the Demographic Structure of Niğde]. Türklük Bilimi Araştırmaları (in Turkish). 21: 176.
68. Temizgüney, Firdes (2018). "Lozan sonrası Ermeni Emval–i Metrukesine yönelik düzenleme ve uygulamalar (1923–1928)" [Regulations and practices regarding the Armenian Abandoned Properties after Lausanne (1923–1928)]. Atatürk Yolu Dergisi (in Turkish). 62: 309.
69. Günay, Nejla (12 November 2019). Cumhuri̇yet'İn İlk Yillarinda Maraş'a İskân Edi̇len Mübadi̇ller [The Exchangees Settled in Maraş in the Early Years of the Republic]. Uluslararası Atatürk Kongresi, 12–15 Kasım 2019 (in Turkish). Amasya: Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi. pp. 1604, 1607, 1610, 1612.
70. "Kastoria". jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
71. Quintana, Aldina (2014). "Judeo-Spanish in contact with Portuguese: A historical overview". In Amaral, Patrícia; Carvalho, Ana Maria (eds.). Portuguese-Spanish Interfaces: Diachrony, synchrony, and contact. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 87. ISBN 9789027270177.
72. Naar, Devin E. (2007). "From the "Jerusalem of the Balkans" to the Goldene Medina: Jewish Immigration from Salonika to the United States" (PDF). American Jewish History. 93 (4): 440–441. doi:10.1353/ajh.0.0044.
73. Gerber 2012, p. 57
74. Gerber, Jane (2012). "Sephardic and Syrian Immigration to America: Acculturation and Communal Preservation". In Bejarano, Margalit; Aizenberg, Edna (eds.). Contemporary Sephardic Identity in the Americas: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Syracuse University Press. p. 64. ISBN 9780815651659.
75. Plaut 2000, p. 26.
76. Plaut 2000, p. 69.
77. Plaut 2000, pp. 48–49.
78. Plaut 2000, pp. 68–69.
79. Plaut 2000, pp. 69, 96, 162.
80. Plaut 2000, p. 87.
81. ^ Plaut 2000, pp. 108–109.
82. Plaut 2000, pp. 159, 173.
83. Plaut 2000, p. 184.
84. "Little is known about the former Sephardic communities of Greece. This is one town's story". Trezoros. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
85. Messinas 2011, p. 70.
86. ^ Messinas, Elias V. (2011). The Synagogues of Greece: A Study of Synagogues in Macedonia and Thrace. Bloch Publishing Company. p. 18. ISBN 9780819707895.
87. Plaut 2000, p. 113.
88. ^ Karmi 1997, p. 236.
89. Plaut 2000, p. 109: "the Central Board received the titles to three properties owned by the Kastoria Jewish community. One of these titles, for the Jewish graveyard, could not be sold, for the land had already been expropriated by the Greek army and converted into army barracks."
90. Karmi 1997, p. 237: "Whereas in Castoria some stones were at least preserved by the military, no remnants of a Jewish cemetery were left in the nearby city of Florina."
91. Karmi, Ilan (1997). "Jewish Cemeteries in Northern Greece in the Post World War II Era". In Chasiotes, Ioannes K. (ed.). The Jewish Communities of Southeastern Europe. From the Fifteenth Century to the End of World War II. Institute for Balkan Studies. pp. 236–237. ISBN 9789607387035. As clearly seen in this photo, the cemetery was somewhat neglected already by that time, and the all area was covered with wild flora. Since 1970, there has been nobody left there to take care of the cemetery, and some 10 years ago the area was taken by the army, transforming the place to military installations. According to both, the Ankori Report and testimony of the last local Jewish family, some of the stones were placed in a special room within the confines of the camp, whereas others were used to pave the internal routes and the barracks.
92. Plaut, Joshua Eli (2000). Greek Jewry in the Twentieth Century, 1913–1983: Patterns of Jewish Survival in the Greek Provinces Before and After the Holocaust. Associated University Presses. p. 111. ISBN 9780838639115. Army barracks were erected on the former Jewish graveyard in Kastoria most of the tombstones disappeared, except for a few stones which were made into a floor of a storage room.
93. ^ Stavridopoulos 2015, p. 262.
94. Stavridopoulos 2015, pp. 262, 268–269.
95. Stavridopoulos 2015, pp. 263, 268–269.
96. ^ Stavridopoulos 2015, p. 263.
97. ^ Stavridopoulos 2015, pp. 267–268.
98. ^ Stavridopoulos 2015, p. 267.
99. Ritzaleou, Maria (20 April 2024). "Καστοριά – Τέμενος Κουρσούμ Τζαμί: Ένα παλίμψηστο της ιστορίας της πόλης" [Kastoria – Kursum Mosque: A palimpsest of the city's history] (in Greek). Voria. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
100. Elsie, Robert (2019). The Albanian Bektashi: History and Culture of a Dervish Order in the Balkans. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 262–263. ISBN 9781788315708.
101. ^ Stavridopoulos 2015, p. 264.
102. Clayer, Nathalie (1994). Mystiques, État et Société: Les Halvetis dans l'aire balkanique de la fin du XVe siècle à nos jours (in French). Brill. pp. 259–260. ISBN 9789004492783.
103. Mihajlovski, Robert (2021). The Religious and Cultural Landscape of Ottoman Manastır. Brill. p. 186. ISBN 9789004465268.
104. Stavridopoulos 2015, pp. 264–265.
105. Stavridopoulos 2015, pp. 265–266.
106. Stavridopoulos 2015, pp. 261, 263–264.
107. Stavridopoulos 2015, pp. 261, 266.
108. Stavridopoulos 2015, pp. 261–262.
109. Stavridopoulos 2015, pp. 262, 268.
110. ^ Stavridopoulos 2015, p. 268.
111. ^ Stavridopoulos 2015, p. 266.
112. ^ Stavridopoulos, Ioannis (2015). Μνημεία του άλλου: η διαχείριση της οθωμανικής πολιτιστική κληρονομιάς της Μακεδονίας από το 1912 έως σήμερα [Monuments of the other: The management of the Ottoman cultural heritage of Macedonia from 1912 until present] (Ph.D.) (in Greek). University of Ioannina. p. 269. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
113. "Schools and Departments". University of Western Macedonia. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
114. "Greeting | Department of Communication and Digital Media". Retrieved 2022-01-10.
115. "Contact us". Economics Department | Kastoria. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
116. Dalby, Andrew; Dalby, Rachel (2017-11-15). Gifts of the Gods: A History of Food in Greece. Reaktion Books. p. 189. ISBN 978-1-78023-863-0.
117. Koussouris, Theodore; Diapoulis, Aristidis; Bertahas, Ilias; Photis, George (1991). "Evaluating Trophic Status and Restoration Procedures of a Polluted Lake, Lake Kastoria, Greece". GeoJournal. 23 (2): 153–161. Bibcode:1991GeoJo..23..153K. doi:10.1007/BF00241400. ISSN 0343-2521. JSTOR 41145083. S2CID 189889087.
118. "Twinnings" (PDF). Central Union of Municipalities & Communities of Greece. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
119. "Plovdiv has yet another sister city". Retrieved 2015-03-01.

Bibliography

• Karavangelis, Germanos (1993). Απομνημονεύματα Γερμανού Καραβαγγέλη – Ο Μακεδονικός Αγών (in Greek). Thessaloniki: Μπαρμπουνάκης.
• Mela, Natalia P. (1992). Παύλος Μελάς (in Greek). Δωδώνη.
• Vakalopoulos, Apostolos E. (1973). History of Macedonia, 1354–1833. Institute for Balkan Studies. Retrieved 2024-10-08.

External links

• Official municipal website (English version under construction)
• Official website of the Prefecture
• Informational Portal for Kastoria
• Kastoria Byzantine Museum
• Dispilio Lakeside Neolithic Settlement
• Byzantine Kastoria through its monuments (10th–14th centuries)
• Kastoria
• Kastoria in visitwestmacedonia.gr

v t e Macedonia (Greece)
People	Ancient Macedonians List Macedonians (Greeks) List Jews of Thessaloniki Slavic speakers Macedonian Bulgarians, Ethnic Macedonians Aromanians Megleno-Romanians
History	Ancient Macedonia History Government Kings Wars of Alexander the Great Wars of the Diadochi Macedonian Wars Roman Macedonia Barbarian invasions Theme of Macedonia Theme of Thessalonica Theme of Strymon Sack of Thessalonica (904) Byzantine–Bulgarian wars Sack of Thessalonica (1185) Kingdom of Thessalonica Empire of Thessalonica Byzantine civil war of 1321–1328 Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 Zealots of Thessalonica Byzantine–Ottoman wars Siege of Thessalonica (1422–1430) Ottoman Greece Rumelia Eyalet Greek War of Independence Manastir Vilayet Sanjak of Monastir Sanjak of Serfiğe Salonica Vilayet Sanjak of Drama Sanjak of Salonica Sanjak of Siroz Macedonian Struggle Balkan Wars Macedonian front Provisional Government of National Defence Axis occupation Greek Civil War Macedonia naming dispute Prespa agreement
Administration	Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace Western Macedonia Central Macedonia Eastern Macedonia and Thrace
Economy	Agios Dimitrios Power Plant Amyntaio Power Plant Drama coal mine Gerakini mine Olympias mine Piavitsa mine Port of Kavala Port of Thessaloniki Prinos oil field Ptolemaida-Florina coal mine Skouries mine Stratoni mine Thessaloniki International Fair
Major cities	Thessaloniki Kavala Kastoria Serres Veria Katerini Edessa Florina Drama Naousa Kozani Siatista Kilkis Other
Nature	Axios River Doiran Lake Falakro Galikos River Haliacmon Lake Kerkini Lake Koroneia Lake Orestiada Lake Prespa Small Prespa Lake Lake Vegoritida Lake Volvi Mount Paiko Nestos (river) Mount Olympus Pangaion Hills Pindus (Pindus National Park) Petralona cave Strymon River Vasilitsa Vermio Mountains Seli Verno Voras Mountains Islands: Thasos Ammouliani
Monuments	Agios Athanasios Alexandrion (Litochoro) Amphipolis Lion of Amphipolis Kasta Tomb Dion Archaeological Park Hellenistic theatre Mount Athos Mieza (Tomb of Judgement, Tomb of the Palmettes) Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki Pella Philippi Platamon Castle Vergina Museums : Archaeological Museum of Amphipolis, Aiani Archaeological Museum, Archaeological Museum of Dion, Archaeological Museum of Pella, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Museum of Byzantine culture
Culture	Vergina Sun Flag Music Cuisine
Greek Macedonia Portal

v t e Administrative division of the Western Macedonia Region
Area 9,451 km (3,649 sq mi) Population 283,689 (as of 2011) Municipalities 12 (since 2011) Capital Kozani
Regional unit of Florina	Amyntaio Florina Prespes
Regional unit of Grevena	Deskati Grevena
Regional unit of Kastoria	Argos Orestiko Kastoria Nestorio
Regional unit of Kozani	Eordaia Kozani Servia Velventos Voio
Regional governor Giorgos Kassapidis [el] (since 2019) Decentralized Administration Epirus and Western Macedonia

• Kastoria
• Byzantine sites in Greece
• Greek prefectural capitals
• Municipalities of Western Macedonia
• Populated places in Kastoria (regional unit)