Andritsaina () is a village, a community and a former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Elis Elis also known as Ellis or Ilia (, ''Eleia'') is a historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. It is administered as a regional unit of the modern region of Western Greece. Its capital is Pyrgos. Until 2011 it ...

West Greece Western Greece Region (, ) is one of the thirteen Modern regions of Greece, administrative regions of Greece. It comprises the western part of Central Greece (geographic region), continental Greece and the northwestern part of the Peloponnese pen ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Andritsaina-Krestena, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 131.247 km².

Geography

Andritsaina is situated in mountainous southeastern Elis, on the borders with Arcadia and

Messenia Messenia or Messinia ( ; ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was a prefecture (''nomos' ...

. The town is built on a hillside, northwest of mount Lykaion. The river

Alfeios The Alpheios (, , Latin Alpheus), sometimes spelled Alfeiós, is the main stream of the Alpheios Valley drainage system, a dendritic type, originating on the north slopes of Mount Taygetus, located in the center of the Peloponnesus of Greece, a ...

forms the northeastern border of the municipal unit. The predominant land uses in the municipal unit are forestry and small scale farming. Andritsaina is 22 km northwest of

Megalopoli Megalopoli () is a town in the southwestern part of the regional unit of Arcadia, southern Greece. It is located in the same site as ancient Megalopolis ( literally ''large/great city''). When it was founded in 371 BCE, it was the first large urba ...

, 28 km southeast of

Krestena Krestena () is a town and a community in Elis, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Andritsaina-Krestena, of which it is the seat of administration. Krestena is situated in the low hills betwe ...

, 41 km west of Tripoli and 46 km southeast of Pyrgos. The Greek National Road 76 (Krestena -

Karytaina Karytaina or Karitaina () is a village and a community in Arcadia, Greece. Karytaina is situated on a hill on the right bank of the river Alpheios, near its confluence with the Lousios. The village dates back to the Middle Ages, but its history ...

- Megalopoli) runs through Andritsaina.

History

According to tradition, Andritsaina owes its name to the wife of a Cretan shepherd named Andrikos, who -chasing his runaway sheep- came to a spring on mount Lykaion. There he built an inn that after his death was kept by his wife Andrikaina (meaning "the wife of Andrikos"). From her name and from the local pronunciation of "kai" as "tsai", the inn was named "the hostel of Andritsaina". When houses were built in the surrounding area, the settlement was named "Andritsaina". The area was part of ancient Arcadia. Andritsaina flourished during the Frankish rule (13th-14th centuries AD) and is mentioned in the ''

Chronicle of the Morea ''The Chronicle of Morea'' () is a long 14th-century history text, of which there are four extant versions: in French, Greek (in verse), Italian and Aragonese. More than 9,000 lines long, the ''Chronicle'' narrates events of the Franks' estab ...

''. The village played a crucial role during the Orlov Revolt and the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

. In 1826, Andritsaina was destroyed by Ibrahim Pasha's troops.

Sights

Today, the village has impressive old mansions, cobblestone streets, a square surrounded by tall trees and magnificent views. The fountain in the square (''I Trani Vrysi'') is the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

's oldest fountain, built in 1724. The famous Nikolopouleios library was founded in 1840 from donations of the humanist Agathofron Nikolopoulos, whose family came from Andritsaina. Its collection comprises rare 16th- and 17th-century manuscripts, in Greek and in foreign languages, important documents from the period of the

and rich folklore material. Today, the library has more than 40,000 volumes. The famous Temple of Epicurian Apollo at Bassae is 6 km south of Andritsaina, in Messenia.

Subdivisions

The municipal unit Andritsaina is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets): *Andritsaina (Andritsaina, Karmio, Myloi, Sykies) * Dafnoula (Dafnoula, Chelidoni) * Dragogio (Dragogio, Kastrougkaina, Plateia) * Fanari * Koufopoulo * Linistaina * Matesi * Rovia * Sekoulas (Sekoulas, Balaiika) * Theisoa The community Andritsaina consists of the main village Andritsaina and the small mountain villages Karmio (3 km to the northeast), Myloi (4 km to the northwest) and Sykies (5 km to the north).

Population

People

* Panagiotis Anagnostopoulos, revolutionary leader * Anastasios Christopoulos, revolutionary leader * Athanasios Kanellopoulos, politician * Dimitrios Kiousopoulos, jurist and politician * Konstantinos Nikolopoulos, composer, archeologist, and philologist

References

* "Mount Lykaion throughout the centuries", K. Potamianos, Kotylion Association edition, Athens 2005.

External links

Andritsaina VillageRural migration from Athens during debt crisis 2011
{{Authority control Populated places in Elis Andritsaina-Krestena