Megali Mantineia () is a mountain settlement in the municipal unit of

Avia AVIA () is a Soviet/Russian experimental pop band formed in Leningrad in 1986. AVIA released four studio albums and led the first wave of the Soviet bands which made their breakthrough in the West in the late 1980s. Band history AVIA was formed ...

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' ...

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 ...

. It sits at 200m above sea level, 2 km southeast of Avia, 3 km south of

Mikri Mantineia Mikri Mantineia () is a seaside village in the municipality of Kalamata, Messenia, Greece. It is situated at 20 m above sea level, on the northeastern shore of the Gulf of Messenia. Its main industry is tourism. Mikri Mantineia is 2 km northe ...

and 10 km southeast of

Kalamata Kalamata ( ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece after Patras, and the largest city of the Peloponnese (region), homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regiona ...

. Many of its residents only stay there during the summer months.

Population

History

Ano Mantineia ("Upper Mantineia") or Ano Chora was first mentioned in 1463, as opposed to the older Mantineia on the coast. In the mid 18th century, it was an important settlement in the area of

Zarnata Zarnata Castle () is a ruined Ottoman-era castle in the Mani Peninsula in southern Greece. History Zarnata is first mentioned in a Venetian document in 1278, and again in 1428, among the territories of Constantine Palaiologos. During the civil w ...

(Ζαρνάτα). It had 59 families (around 277 people) in 1704. In the late 18th century the smaller settlement

was founded, and the older Ano Mantineia was renamed to Megali Mantineia ("Great Mantineia"). The village joined the municipality of Avia in 1835. From the mid 19th century, a part of the population moved into the seaside areas including ''Palaiochora'' (now Avia), ''Archontiko'' and ''Akrogiali''. Still Megali Mantineia kept a large population: 413 in 1851, 469 in 1879 and 424 in 1907. In 1914 Megali Mantineia became an independent community which included the new settlements. In 1924 the seat of the community moved to the seaside village Palaiochora. In 1926 both the settlement Palaiochora and the community were renamed to Avia.

Points of interests

*Ridomo Gorge *Koskaras/Santova cave *''Katafygi'', an inaccessible cave *The deserted settlement ''Koka'' *Santova/Sadova beach *Churches of Agios Andreas (1754) and the Dormition of the Virgin Mary *The old school, built in 1743-53

Sources

Theodoros Belitsos Theodoros or Theodorus () is a masculine given name, from which Theodore is derived. The feminine version is Theodora. It may refer to: Ancient world :''Ordered chronologically'' * Theodorus of Samos, 6th-century BC Greek sculptor, architect ...

''Ta Altomira tis Exo Manis'' (''Τα Αλτομιρά της Έξω Μάνης (Ιστορία-Οικογένειες-Τοπωνύμια)'' = ''Altomira in Outer Mani (History-Family-Toponyms)'', 1999

References

{{Avia Populated places in Messenia West Mani

Population

History

Points of interests

Sources

See also

References