Kalabaka

"Aiginion" redirects here. For the town in Central Macedonia, Greece, see Aiginio.

Kalabaka Καλαμπάκα
The town of Kalabaka as seen from Meteora.
Kalabaka
Location within the region
Coordinates:
Country	Greece
Administrative region	Thessaly
Regional unit	Trikala
Area
• Municipality	1,650.2 km2 (637.1 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Municipality	21,991
• Municipality density	13/km2 (35/sq mi)
• Municipal unit	12,000
Community
• Population	8619
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Vehicle registration	ΤΚ

Kalabaka (Greek: Καλαμπάκα, Kalabáka, alternative transliteration Kalambaka) is a municipality in the Trikala regional unit, part of Thessaly in Greece. The population 11,841 (2001). The Meteora monasteries are located in the town. Kalabaka is the northwestern terminal of the old Thessaly Railways, now part of OSE. Kalabaka was voted as one of the most beautiful places in Greece by the Skai TV show I LOVE GR.

History

In 1995 an ancient tomb was found in Kalabaka dating from the 20th century BC. A Greek inscription on the wall of one of the town’s oldest churches (Saint John the Baptist) testifies to the existence of an ancient Greek settlement under the name Aiginion.

View of Meteora from Kastraki.

Kalambaka station

Souvenirs and handmade leather goods sold on the street in Kalambaka.

The town was built on the location of the ancient city of Aiginion. In the 10th century AD, it was known as Stagoi (Στάγοι), a Byzantine fortress and bishopric. Of its medieval monuments, only the cathedral, the Church of the Dormition, survives. It was a late 11th- or early 12th-century building, built on the remains of an earlier, late antique church. Relics of an ancient Greek temple – probably of god Apollo – have been incorporated in the wall of the town’s oldest and most renowned church, dedicated to Virgin Mary.

Stagoi is first mentioned in Diatyposis written by the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886-812). In 1163 there was a reference to the castle of Stagoi. In 1204 Stagoi fell under the Despotate of Epirus. At the end of the 13th century they fell under the Duchy of Neopatria. In 1334, they were taken over once more by the Despot of Epirus, John II Orsini, and shortly thereafter they came once more under the control of the Byzantine Empire. In 1348, they were conquered by the Serbs of Stephen Dushan. They reached their peak under the rule of his brother, King Simeon Uroš. When the Turks conquered Thessaly, Kalabaka was placed under the administrative rule of the Pasha of Larisa and later on of the Sanjak of Trikala.

It was named "Kalabaka" six or seven centuries ago. It is of Turkish origin and means "powerful fortress". It has been Anglicized variously as Kalampaka, Kalambaka, Kalabaki, and Kalabak.

Bishopric

From the beginning of the 10th century, Stagoi was referred to as an episcopal see, thereby enjoying privileges and donations from the Byzantine emperors throughout the Middle Ages. It owned significant stretches of land and had dependent farmers in neighboring settlements. Besides the fields of northwest Thessaly, its territory included an extensive mountainous zone in Asia and central Pindos. The bishopric of Stagoi, a suffragan of the Metropolis of Larisa, was maintained, with some small intermissions, up to 1900 when it was merged with the bishopric of Tricca to form the Metropolis of Tricca and Stagoi with the town of Trikala as its seat. It was reestablished in 1991 and has been operating ever since as the Metropolis of “Stagoi and Meteora” with its seat in the town of Kalabaka.

Province

The province of Kalabaka (Greek: Επαρχία Καλαμπάκας) was one of the provinces of the Trikala Prefecture. It had the same territory as the present municipality. It was abolished in 2006.

Geography

The town is situated on the foot of the Meteora peaks.

Government

Municipality

The municipality Kalabaka was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 8 former municipalities, that became municipal units:

• Aspropotamos
• Chasia
• Kalabaka
• Kastania
• Kleino
• Malakasi
• Tymfaia
• Vasiliki

Demographics

The town contains 12,000 citizens.

Twin town

Kalabaka is a twin town with Schwabach, Germany.

Sources

• A. Avramea, “I Vyzantini Thessalia mechri tou 1204” [Byzantine Thessaly up to 1204], doctoral dissertation, Athens 1974, EKPA-Vivliothiki Sofias N. Saripolou 27, Athens 1974, pp. 158-161.
• V. Spanos, Istoria-Prosopographia tis BD. Thessalias to B’ miso tou ID’ aiona. [History-Portrait of NW Thessaly the 2nd half of the 14th c.], Larisa 1995
• I. Vogiatzidis, “To chronikon ton Meteoron” [The Chronicle of Meteora], Yearbook of Society for Byzantine Studies 2 (1925), pp. 149-162.
• D. Sofianos, “Acta Stagorum, Ta yper tis Thessalikis episkopis Stagon palaia vyzantina eggrafa (ton eton 1163, 1336 kai 1393)” [Acta Stagorum: the Byzantine documents for the Thessalic diocese of Stagai [from the years 1163, 1336 and 1393)], Trikalina 13 (1993), pp. 7-67.
• St. Aristarchis, “Ekthesis epi ton diagonismaton Thessalias kai Epirou”, [Report on the examinations in Epirus and Thessaly] O en Konstantinoupolei Ellinikos Filologikos Syllogos 13-15 (1867), pp. 31-39
• L. Heuzey – H.Daumet, Mission arhéologique de Macédoine, Paris 1876, pp. 452-454,
• L.Heuzey, Odoiporiko stin Tourkokratoumeni Thessalia to 1858 [Excursion dans la Thessalie turque en 1858], transl. Ch. Dimitropoulos, publ. Afoi Kyriakidi, Thessaloniki 1991, pp. 152-157
• F. Dölger, Regesten der kaiserurkunden des oströmischen reiches von 565-1453,Verlag, München-Berlin 1960,pp. 159-160.
• P.Sustal, Hellas und Thessalia, (TIB 1), ed Η. Hunger., Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Bonn 1976, p. 262.
• Ch. Astruc, Un document inédit de 1163 sur l’ évêché thessalien, de Stagi, Paris.Suppl. Gr. 1371, BCH, vol. 83(1959),pp. 206-246

External links

• Natural History Museum of Meteora and Mushroom Museum | Kalambaka's Museum