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The beautiful
city of Karpenissi rests at the northwest side of Mount Velouchi, using its rocky slopes
as a shield against the heavy winter winds. It was established during the Byzantine era,
about the 11th or 12th century AD, on a location especially chosen for the relatively warm
climate and throughout the history it has suffered many disasters and destructions by
Turks, Albanians and Germans. Its first inhabitants were the "Vlachi", a tribe
related to Rumanians but not a branch of them. They were remnants of some latin population
which settled at the Balcans mostly after the 10th century.
About the naming of the city there are the following aspects:
1. From the great number of maple-trees germinating in the area.As
the first inhabitants came here they named their town in their language "Carpen -
isu", where Carpen = maple tree and isu = place
2. From the turkish words "kar"
which is the word for "snow" and "benis"
that means "cover". So Karpenissi may be a "snow-covered" place.
3. From an ancient greek town in the region named "Karnassion"
During the 18th century Evgenios Yannoulis the Aetolian
established a famous school here, a school that had grate contribution in awakening the
ethnic consciousness of the nation. At 1645, the important renaissance teacher also
rebuilt the destroyed church of the Holy Trinity, a temple with unknown date of first
establishment. What we know for sure, is that the church was completely destroyed at this
time and that it was ruined again in 1756 by an Albanian mob that raid the territory.
However this wasn't the only catastrophe. Many enemies attacked the city and destroyed it
repetitively.
About three kilometres away, towards the South side of the town,
there is the historic site of "Kefalovrisso" where, at the night of 8 August,
1823, general Marcos Botsaris was heroically killed by the Turkish Mustafa, pasha of
Scondra, who was sent by the Sultan to stop the Greek Rebellion. The Greek troops won the
battle and although the death of the hero shocked the soldiers at first, it caused them to
fight more bravely from then after. Towards the same direction, is Korischades, a
"traditional locale" visited buy lots of tourists throughout the year. There, at
the school building, was held in 1944, the National Council with representatives from all
over the country. |
