Ioannina (Greek: ΙωάννιναIoánnina[i.oˈa.ni.na]ⓘ), often called Yannena (ΓιάννεναYánnena[ˈʝa.ne.na]) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in northwestern Greece. According to the 2021 census, the city population was 64,896 while the municipality had 113,978 inhabitants. It lies at an elevation of approximately 500 metres (1,640 feet)above sea level, on the western shore of Lake Pamvotis (Παμβώτις). Ioannina is located 410km (255mi) northwest of Athens, 260 kilometres (162 miles) southwest of Thessaloniki and 80km (50 miles) east of the port of Igoumenitsa on the Ionian Sea.
The city's foundation has traditionally been ascribed to the Byzantine EmperorJustinian in the 6th century AD, but modern archaeological research has uncovered evidence of Hellenistic settlements. Ioannina flourished in the late Byzantine period (13th–15th centuries). It became part of the Despotate of Epirus following the Fourth Crusade and many wealthy Byzantine families fled there following the 1204 sack of Constantinople, with the city experiencing great prosperity and considerable autonomy, despite the political turmoil. Ioannina surrendered to the Ottomans in 1430 and until 1868 it was the administrative center of the Pashalik of Yanina. In the period between the 18th and 19th centuries, the city was a major center of the modern Greek Enlightenment.[3][4][5][6] Ioannina was ceded to Greece in 1913 following the Balkan Wars.
The city is also characterized by various green areas and parks, including Molos (Lake Front), Litharitsia Park, Pirsinella Park (Giannotiko Saloni), Suburban Forest. There are two hospitals, the General Hospital of Ioannina "G. Hatzikosta", and the University Hospital of Ioannina. It is also the seat of the University of Ioannina. The city's emblem consists of the portrait of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian crowned by a stylized depiction of the nearby ancient theater of Dodona.
Name
The city's formal name, Ioannina, is probably a corruption of Agioannina or Agioanneia, 'place of St. John', and is said to be linked to the establishment of a monastery dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, around which the later settlement (in the area of the current Ioannina Castle) grew.[7][8]
According to another theory, the city was named after Ioannina, the daughter of Belisarius, general of the emperor Justinian.[9][10]
There are two forms of the name in Greek, Ioannina being the formal and historical name, while the colloquial and much more commonly used Υannena or Υannina (Greek: Γιάννενα, Γιάννινα) represents the vernacular tradition of Demotic Greek. The demotic form also corresponds to those in the neighboring languages (e.g., Albanian: Janina or Janinë, Aromanian: Ianina, Enina or Enãna, Macedonian: Јанина, Turkish: Yanya).
The main entrance to the city's medieval fortress.
The first indications of human presence in Ioannina basin are dated back to the Paleolithic period (24,000 years ago) as testified by findings in the cavern of Kastritsa.[11] During classical antiquity the basin was inhabited by the Molossians and four of their settlements have been identified there. Despite the extensive destruction suffered in Molossia during the Roman conquest of 167 BC, settlement continued in the basin albeit no longer in an urban pattern.[12]
The exact time of Ioannina's foundation is unknown, but it is commonly identified with an unnamed new, "well-fortified" city, recorded by the historian Procopius as having been built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I for the inhabitants of ancient Euroia.[13][14] This view is not supported, however, by any concrete archaeological evidence.[15] Early 21st-century excavations have brought to light fortifications dating to the Hellenistic period, the course of which was largely followed by later reconstruction of the fortress in the Byzantine and Ottoman periods. The identification of the site with one of the ancient cities of Epirus has not yet been possible.[15][16]
The "Rule of Sinan Pasha" (9 October 1430), written in Greek, granted to the citizens a series of privileges under Ottoman control
Under Michael I, the city was enlarged and fortified anew.[18] The Metropolitan of Naupaktos, John Apokaukos, reports how the city was but a "small town", until Michael gathered refugees who had fled Constantinople and other parts of the Empire that fell to the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, and settled them there, transforming the city into a fortress and "ark of salvation". Despite frictions with local inhabitants who tried in 1232 to expel the refugees, the latter were eventually successfully settled and Ioannina gained in both population and economic and political importance.[19][20] In the aftermath of the Battle of Pelagonia in 1259, much of Epirus was occupied by the Empire of Nicaea, and Ioannina was placed under siege. Soon, however, the Epirote ruler Michael II Komnenos Doukas, aided by his younger son John I Doukas, managed to recover their capital of Arta and relieve Ioannina, evicting the Nicaeans from Epirus.[18][21] In c.1275 or c.1285, John I Doukas, now ruler of Thessaly, launched a raid against the city and its environs, and a few years later an army from the restored Byzantine Empire unsuccessfully laid siege to the city.[18][22][23] Following the assassination in 1318 of the last native ruler, Thomas I Komnenos Doukas, by his nephew Nicholas Orsini, the city refused to accept the latter and turned to the Byzantines for assistance. On this occasion, Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos elevated the city to a metropolitan bishopric, and in 1319 issued a chrysobull conceding wide-ranging autonomy and various privileges and exemptions on its inhabitants.[18][24] A Jewish community is also attested in the city in 1319.[25] In the Epirote revolt of 1337–1338 against Byzantine rule, the city remained loyal to Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos.[18] Soon afterwards Ioannina fell to the Serb ruler Stephen Dushan and remained part of the Serbian Empire until 1356, when Dushan's half-brother Simeon Uroš was evicted by Nikephoros II Orsini. The attempt of Nikephoros to restore the Epirote state was short-lived as he was killed in the Battle of Achelous against Albanian tribes.,[26][27] but Ioannina was not captured. It thus served as a place of refuge for many Greeks of the region of Vagenetia.[28][29] In 1366–67 Simeon Uroš, having recovered Epirus and Thessaly, appointed his son-in-law Thomas II Preljubović as the new overlord of Ioannina. Thomas proved a deeply unpopular ruler, but he nonetheless repelled successive attempts by Albanian chieftains including a surprise attack in 1379, whose failure the Ioannites attributed to intervention by their patron saint, Michael.[30][31]
After Thomas' murder in 1384, the citizens of Ioannina offered their city to Esau de' Buondelmonti, who married Thomas' widow, Maria. Esau recalled those exiled under Thomas and restored the properties confiscated by him. In 1389, Ioannina was besieged by Gjin Bua Shpata, and only with the aid of an Ottoman army was Esau able to repel the Albanians. Despite the ongoing Ottoman expansion and the conflicts between Turks and Albanians in the vicinity of Ioannina, Esau managed to secure a period of peace for the city, especially following his second marriage to Shpata's daughter Irene in c.1396. Following Esau's death in 1411, the Ioannites invited the Count palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, Carlo I Tocco, who had already been expanding his domains into Epirus for the last decade, as their new ruler. By 1416 Carlo I Tocco had managed to capture Arta as well, thereby reuniting the core of the old Epirote realm, and received recognition from both the Ottomans and the Byzantine emperor. Ioannina became the summer capital of the Tocco domains, and Carlo I died there in July 1429.[32] Carlo I's army, as well as the army of the city of Ioannina itself both before and during Carlo I's rule, was composed primarily of Albanians.[33] His oldest bastard son, Ercole, called on the Ottomans for aid against the legitimate heir, Carlo II Tocco. In 1430 an Ottoman army, fresh from the capture of Thessalonica, appeared before Ioannina. The city surrendered after the Ottoman commander, Sinan Pasha, promised to spare the city and respect its autonomy.[34]
Ottoman period (1430–1913)
Interior view of the dome of the Aslan Pasha Mosque built on the site of the Church of Saint John, which was torn down after the failed anti-Ottoman revolt of 1611
Under Ottoman rule, Ioannina remained an administrative centre, as the seat of the Sanjak of Ioannina, and experienced a period of relative stability and prosperity.[8] The first Ottoman tax registers for the city dates to 1564, and records 50 Muslim households and 1,250 Christian ones; another register from 15 years later mentions Jews as well.[8]
In 1611 the city suffered a serious setback as a result of a peasant revolt led by Dionysius the Philosopher, the Metropolitan of Larissa. The Greek inhabitants of the city were unaware of the intent of the fighting as previous successes of Dionysius had depended on the element of surprise. Much confusion ensued as Turks and Christians ended up indiscriminately fighting friend and foe alike. The revolt ended in the abolition of all privileges granted to the Christian inhabitants, who were driven away from the castle area and had to settle around it. From then onwards, Turks and Jews were to be established in the castle area. The School of the Despots at the Church of the Taxiarchs, that had been operating since 1204, was closed. Aslan Pasha also destroyed the monastery of St. John the Baptist within the city walls in 1618 erected in its place the Aslan Pasha Mosque, today housing the Municipal Ethnographic Museum of Ioannina.[35] The Ottoman reprisals in the wake of the revolt included the confiscation of many timars previously granted to Christian sipahis; this began a wave of conversions to Islam by the local gentry, who became the so-called Tourkoyanniotes (Τoυρκογιαννιώτες).[8] The Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi, who visited the city in c.1670, counted 37 quarters, of which 18 Muslim, 14 Christian, 4 Jewish and 1 Gypsy. He estimated the population at 4,000 hearths.[8]
Center of Greek Enlightenment (17th–18th centuries)
Despite the repression and conversions in the 17th century, and the prominence of the Muslim population in the city's affairs, Ioannina retained its Christian majority throughout Ottoman rule, and the Greek language retained a dominant position; Turkish was spoken by the Ottoman officials and the garrison, and the Albanian inhabitants used Albanian, but the lingua franca and native language of most inhabitants was Greek, including among the Tourkoyanniotes, and was sometimes used by the Ottoman authorities themselves.[8]
The city also soon recovered from the financial effects of the revolt. In the late 17th century Ioannina was a thriving city with respect to population and commercial activity. Evliya Çelebi mentions the presence of 1,900 shops and workshops. The great economic prosperity of the city was followed by remarkable cultural activity. During the 17th and 18th centuries, many important schools were established.[36] Its inhabitants continued their commercial and handicraft activities which allowed them to trade with important European commercial centers, such as Venice and Livorno, where merchants from Ioannina established commercial and banking houses. The Ioannite diaspora was also culturally active: Nikolaos Glykys (in 1670), Nikolaos Sarros (in 1687) and Dimitrios Theodosiou (in 1755) established private printing presses in Venice, responsible for over 1,600 editions of books for circulation in the Ottoman-ruled Greek lands, and Ioannina was the centre through which these books were channeled into Greece.[37] These were significant historical, theological as well as scientific works, including an algebra book funded by the Zosimades brothers, books for use in the schools of Ioannina such as the Arithmetica of Balanos Vasilopoulos, as well as medical books. At the same time these merchants and entrepreneurs maintained close economic and intellectual relations with their birthplace and founded charity and education establishments. These merchants were to be major national benefactors.
Thus the Epiphaniou School was founded in 1647 by a Greek merchant of Ioannite origin resident in Venice, Epiphaneios Igoumenos.[38] The Gioumeios School was founded in 1676 by a benefaction from another wealthy Ioannite Greek from Venice, Emmanuel Goumas. It was renamed Balaneios by its rector, Balanos Vasilopoulos, in 1725. Here worked several notable personalities of the Greek Enlightenment, such as Bessarion Makris, the priests Georgios Sougdouris (1685/7–1725) and Anastasios Papavasileiou (1715–?), the monk Methodios Anthrakites, his student Ioannis Vilaras and Kosmas Balanos. The Balaneios taught philosophy, theology and mathematics. It suffered financially from the dissolution of the Republic of Venice by the French and finally stopped operation in 1820. The school's library, which hosted several manuscripts and epigrams, was also burned the same year following the capture of Ioannina by the troops the Sultan had sent against Ali Pasha.[39] The Maroutses family, also active in Venice, founded the Maroutsaia School, which opened in 1742 and its first director Eugenios Voulgaris championed the study of the physical sciences (physics and chemistry) as well as philosophy and Greek. The Maroutsaia also suffered after the fall of Venice and closed in 1797 to be reopened as the Kaplaneios School thanks to a benefaction from an Ioannite living in Russia, Zoes Kaplanes. Its schoolmaster, Athanasios Psalidas had been a student of Methodios Anthrakites and had also studied in Vienna and in Russia. Psalidas established an important library of thousands of volumes in several languages and laboratories for the study of experimental physics and chemistry that aroused the interest and suspicion of Ali Pasha. The Kaplaneios was burned down along with most of the rest of the city after the entry of the Sultan's armies in 1820. These schools took over the long tradition of the Byzantine era, giving a significant boost to the Greek Enlightenment. "During the 18th century", Neophytos Doukas wrote with some exaggeration, "every author of the Greek world, was either from Ioannina or was a graduate of one of the city's schools."[40]
Ali Pasha's rule (1788–1822)
Fethiye Mosque with the tomb of Ali Pasha in the foreground. The mosque was renovated by Ali Pasha in 1795
In 1788 the city became the center of the territory ruled by Ali Pasha, an area that included the entire northwestern part of Greece, southern parts of Albania, Thessaly as well as parts of Euboea and the Peloponnese. The Ottoman-Albanian lord Ali Pasha was one of the most influential personalities of the region in the 18th and 19th centuries. Born in Tepelenë, he maintained diplomatic relations with the most important European leaders of the time and his court became a point of attraction for many of those restless minds who would become major figures of the Greek Revolution (Georgios Karaiskakis, Odysseas Androutsos, Markos Botsaris and others). During this time, however, Ali Pasha committed a number of atrocities against the Greek population of Ioannina, culminating in the sewing up of local women in sacks and drowning them in the nearby lake,[41] this period of his rule coincides with the greatest economic and intellectual prosperity of the city. As a couplet has it "The city was first in arms, money and letters".
When the French scholar François Pouqueville visited the city during the early years of the 19th century, he counted 3,200 homes (2,000 Christian, 1,000 Muslim, 200 Jewish).[8] The efforts of Ali Pasha to break away from the Sublime Porte alarmed the Ottoman government, and in 1820 (the year before the Greek War of Independence began) he was declared guilty of treason and Ioannina was besieged by Turkish troops. Ali Pasha was assassinated in 1822 in the monastery of St Panteleimon on the island of the lake, where he took refuge while waiting to be pardoned by Sultan Mahmud II.[42]
Last Ottoman century (1822–1913)
The Zosimaia was the first significant educational foundation established after the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence (1828). It was financed by a benefaction from the Zosimas brothers and began operating in 1828 and fully probably from 1833.[43] It was a School of Liberal Arts (Greek, Philosophy and Foreign Languages). The mansion of Angeliki Papazoglou became the Papazogleios school for girls as an endowment following her death; it operated until 1905.
Greek lithography showing the surrender of Ioannina by Essat Pasha to the Greek Crown Prince future Constantine I during the First Balkan War.Ioannina's central square (1932)Main street (Dodonis Avenue) of the city (1940s or 1950s)
In 1869, a great part of Ioannina was destroyed by fire. The marketplace was soon reconstructed according to the plans of the German architect Holz, thanks to the personal interest of Ahmet Rashim Pasha, the local governor. Communities of people from Ioannina living abroad were active in financing the construction of most of the city's churches, schools and other elegant buildings of charitable establishments. The first bank of the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman Bank, opened its first branch in Greece[clarification needed] in Ioannina, which shows the power of the city in world trade in the 19th century. As the 19th century came to a close, signs of national agitation emerged among some parts of the city' s population. In 1877 for example, Albanian leaders sent a memorandum to the Ottoman government demanding, among other things, the establishment of Albanian language schools and various Muslim Albanians of the Vilayet formed in Ioannina a committee which aimed at defending Albanian rights, but it was inactive in general.[44][45][46][47] The Greek population of the region authorized a committee to present to European governments their wish for union with Greece; as a result Dimitrios Chasiotis published a memorandum in Paris in 1879.[48]
According to the Ottoman censuses of 1881–1893, the city and its environs (the central kaza of the Sanjak of Ioannina), had a population comprising 4,759 Muslims, 77,258 Greek Orthodox (including both Greek and Albanian speakers), 3,334 Jews and 207 of foreign nationality.[8] While a number of Turkish-language schools were established at the time, Greek-language education retained its prominent position. Even the city's prominent Muslim families preferred to send their children to well-established Greek institutions, notably the Zosimaia. As a result, the dominance of the Greek language in the city continued: the minutes of the city council were kept in Greek, and the official newspaper, Vilayet, established in 1868, was bilingual in Turkish and Greek.[8]
By 1908 an Albanian association was already active in Ioannina with the goal of removing the Albanian schools and churches of Ioaninna from the Greek's Patriarchate sphere of influence.[49]
During the Ottoman period (turcokracy) the religious-linguistic minority of "Turco-yanniotes" (Τουρκογιαννιώτες) existed in Ioannina and neighbouring areas. These were islamized "Yaniotes" (= people from Ioannina), who spoke Greek. There is a limited number of texts written with Greek alphabet in their idiom.[50]
Modern period (since 1913)
Ioannina was incorporated into the Greek state on 21 February 1913 after the Battle of Bizani in the First Balkan War. The day the city came under the control of the Greek forces, aviator Christos Adamidis, a native of the city, landed his Maurice Farman MF.7 biplane in the Town Hall square, to the adulation of an enthusiastic crowd.[51]
Following the Asia Minor Catastrophe (1922) and the Treaty of Lausanne, the Muslim population was exchanged with Greek refugees from Asia Minor. A small Muslim community of Albanian origin continued to live in Ioannina after the exchange, which in 1940 counted 20 families and had decreased to 8 individuals in 1973.[52]
In 1940 during World War II the capture of the city became one of the major objectives of the Italian Army. Nevertheless, the Greek defense in Kalpaki pushed back the invading Italians.[53] In April 1941 Ioannina was intensively bombed by the German forces even during the negotiations that led to the capitulation of the Greek army.[54] During the subsequent Axis occupation of Greece, the city's Jewish community was rounded up by the Germans in 1944 and mostly perished in the concentration camps.[8] On 3 October 1943, the German army murdered in reprisal nearly 100 people in the village of Lingiades, 13 kilometres distant from Ioaninna, in what is known as the Lingiades massacre.
A young woman cries during the deportation of women and children of the Jewish community, March 1944.
According to the local Greek scholar Panayiotis Aravantinos, a synagogue destroyed in the 18th century bore an inscription which dated its foundation in the late 9th century AD.[56] The existing synagogue was built in 1829 and is known as the Old Synagogue. It is located in the old fortified part of the city known as "Kastro", at 16 Ioustinianou street. Its architecture is typical of the Ottoman era, a large building made of stone. The interior of the synagogue is laid out in the Romaniote way: the bimah (where the Torah scrolls are read out during service) is on a raised dais on the western wall, the Aron haKodesh (where the Torah scrolls are kept) is on the eastern wall and at the middle there is a wide interior aisle. The names of the Ioanniote Jews who were killed in the Holocaust are engraved in stone on the walls of the synagogue.
The old synagogue of the city
There was a Romaniote Jewish community living in Ioannina before World War II, in addition to a very small number of Sephardi. Many emigrated to New York, founding a congregation in 1906 and the Kehila Kedosha Janina synagogue in 1927.
According to Rae Dalven,[citation needed] 1,950 Jews were living in Ioannina in April 1941. Of these, 1,870 were deported by the Nazis to concentration camps on 25 March 1944, during the final months of German occupation.[57] Almost all of the people deported were murdered on or shortly after 11 April 1944, when the train carrying them reached Auschwitz-Birkenau. Only 181 Ioannina Jews are known to have survived the war, including 112 who survived Auschwitz and 69 who fled to join the resistance leader Napoleon Zervas and the National Republican Greek League (EDES). Approximately 164 of these survivors eventually returned to Ioannina.[58]
As of 2008, the remaining community has shrunk to about 50 mostly elderly people.[59][60] The Kehila Kedosha Yashan Synagogue remains locked, only opened for visitors on request. Emigrant Romaniotes return every summer and open the old synagogue. The last time a Bar Mitzvah (the Jewish ritual for celebrating the coming of age of a child) was held in the synagogue was in 2000, and was an exceptional event for the community.[61] A monument dedicated to the thousands of Greek Jews who perished during the Holocaust was constructed in the city in a 13th-century Jewish cemetery. In 2003 the memorial was vandalized by unknown anti-Semites.[62] The Jewish cemetery too was repeatedly vandalized in 2009.[63] As a response to the vandalisms, citizens of the city formed an initiative for the protection of the cemetery and organized rallies.[64]
In the municipal election of 2019, independent candidate Moses Elisaf, a 65-year-old doctor, was elected mayor of the city, the first Jewish elected mayor in Greece. Elisaf won 50.3 percent of the vote. Elisaf received 17,789 votes, 235 more than his runoff opponent.[65][66][67]
Ioannina lies at an elevation of approximately 500 metres (1,640 feet)above sea level, on the western shore of Lake Pamvotis (Παμβώτις). It is located within the Ioannina municipality, and is the capital of Ioannina regional unit and the region of Epirus. Ioannina is located 436km (271mi) northwest of Athens, 290 kilometres (180 miles) southwest of Thessaloniki and 90km (56 miles) east of the port of Igoumenitsa in the Ionian Sea.
The municipality Ioannina has an area of 403.322km2, the municipal unit Ioannina has an area of 47.440km2, and the community Ioannina (the city proper) has an area of 17.335km2.[68]
Districts
The present municipality Ioannina was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 6 former municipalities, that became municipal units (constituent communities in brackets):[69]
Ioannina has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa) or a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) in the Köppen climate classification, with somewhat wetter summers than nearby coastal areas, tempered by its inland location and elevation. Summers are typically hot and moderately dry, while winters are wet and colder than on the coast with frequent frosts and occasional snowfall. Ioannina is the wettest city in mainland Greece with over 50,000 inhabitants.[citation needed] The absolute maximum temperature ever recorded was 42.4°C (108°F), while the absolute minimum ever recorded was −13°C (9°F).[70]
One of the most notable attractions of Ioannina is the inhabited island of Lake Pamvotis which is simply referred to as Island of Ioannina. The island is a short ferry trip from the mainland and can be reached on small motorboats running on varying frequencies depending on the season. The monastery of St Panteleimon, where Ali Pasha spent his last days waiting for a pardon from the Sultan, is now a museum housing everyday artefacts and relics of his period.[83] There are six monasteries on the island: the monastery of St Nicholas (Ntiliou) or Strategopoulou (11th century), the Monastery of St Nicholas (Spanou) or Philanthropinon (1292), St John the Baptist (1506), Eleousis (1570), St Panteleimon (17th century), and of the Transfiguration of Christ (1851). The monasteries of Strategopoulou and Philanthropinon also functioned as colleges. Alexios Spanos, the monks Proklos and Comnenos, and the Apsarades brothers Theophanis and Nektarios are among those that taught there.[35] The school continued its activities until 1758, when it was superseded by the newer collegial institutions within the city. The island's winding streets are also home to many gift-shops, tavernas, churches and bakeries.
A gate of the castleWall of the castleTomb of Ali PashaByzantine museum
At the south-eastern edge of the town on a rocky peninsula of Lake Pamvotis, the castle was the administrative heart of the Despotate of Epirus, and the Ottoman vilayet. The castle was in constant use until the late Ottoman period and the fortifications underwent several modifications throughout the centuries. The most extensive alterations where conducted during the rule of Ali Pasha and were completed in 1815.[84] Several monuments such as the Byzantine baths, the Ottoman baths, the Ottoman library, and the Soufari Sarai are found within the castle's walls.[85] There are two citadels in the castle. The south-eastern citadel, which bears the name Its Kale (Ιτς Καλέ, from Turkish Iç Kale, 'inner fortress')[citation needed] is where the Fethiye Mosque, the tomb of Ali Pasha, and the Byzantine Museum are located.[86] The north-eastern citadel is dominated by the Aslan Pasha Mosque and also contains a few other monuments dating from the Ottoman period.[86] The old Jewish Synagogue of Ioannina is within the walls of the castle and is one of the oldest and largest buildings of its type surviving in Greece.[87][86]
The city
Several religious and secular monuments survive from the Ottoman period. In addition to the two mosques surviving within the walls of the castle, two further mosques are preserved outside the walls. The Mosque and Madrassa of Veli Pasha are in the centre of the city,[88] and Kaloutsiani Mosque can be found in the area of the city with the same name.[89] The now derelict "House of the Archbishop", near the football stadium, is the only old mansion that survived the fire of 1820.[90] Some of the notable landmarks in the city centre also date from the late Ottoman period. The municipal clock tower of Ioannina, designed by local architect Periklis Meliritos, was erected in 1905 to celebrate the Jubilee of sultan Abdul Hamid II. The adjacent building houses the VIII Division headquarters. It dates from the late 19th century.[91][92] Some neoclassical buildings such the post office, the old Zosimaia School, the Papazogleios Weaving School, and the former Commercial School date from the late Ottoman period as do a few arcades in the old commercial centre of the city like Stoa Louli and Stoa Liampei.[93] The churches of the Assumption of the Virgin at Perivleptos, Saint Nicholas of Kopanon and Saint Marina were rebuilt in the 1850s by funds from Nikolaos Zosimas and his brothers on the foundations of previous churches that perished in the great fire of 1820. The Cathedral of St Athanasius was completed in 1933. It was built on the foundations of the previous Orthodox cathedral which was destroyed in the fires of 1820. It is a three-aisled basilica.
Culture
Street near the castleThe city hallMunicipal Art Gallery of IoanninaRoad to the clocktower, Averof streetClocktower in central Dimokratias Square
Museums and galleries
Silversmithing museum
Some of the most important museums of the city are within the walls of the castle. The Municipal Ethnographic Museum is hosted in Aslan Pasha Mosque in the north-east citadel. It is divided into three departments, each one representing one of the main communities that inhabited the city: Greek, Muslim, and Jewish.[94] The Byzantine Museum is in the south-eastern citadel of the castle. The museum opened in 1995 in order to preserve and present artefacts of the wider region of Epirus covering the period from the 4th to the 19th century.[95] The newest addition to the city's museum, the silversmithing museum, is also in the south-eastern citadel. It is housed in the western bastion of the citadel and outlines the history of the art of silversmithing in Epirus.[96] Outside the walls of the castle, close to the town centre, one will find the Archaeological Museum of Ioannina. It is in the Litharitsia fortress area. It includes archaeological exhibits documenting the human habitation of Epirus from prehistoric times through the late Roman Period, with special emphasis placed on finds from the Dodona sanctuary.[97] The Municipal Art Gallery of Ioannina (Dimotiki Pinakothiki) is housed in the Pyrsinella neoclassical building dating from around 1890. The gallery's collection displays major modern works of painters and sculptors, collected through purchases and donations from various collectors and artists. This includes about 500 works, paintings, drawings, prints, pictures and sculptures.[98] The Pavlos Vrellis Greek History Museum is 10 kilometres (6.2mi) south of the city. It is a wax museum which covers events and personalities from Greek history as well as the history of the region and is the result of the personal work of Pavlos Vrellis.[99]
Exhibitions
A digital art exhibition, Plásmata II, was organised by the Onassis Cultural Center in the lakeside of Pamvotis, in the summer of 2023.[100] More than 100,000 people visited the exhibition.[101] It is a new entry for the city and future actions in every area with the help of Onassis Cultural Center.[102]
Education
Buildings of the University of IoanninaEntrance of Zosimaia Library
The University of Ioannina (Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων, Panepistimio Ioanninon) is a university five kilometres southwest of Ioannina. The university was founded in 1964, as a charter of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and became an independent university in 1970. Today, the university is one of the leading academic institutions in Greece.[103][104][105][106][107]
As of 2017, there was a student population of 25,000 enrolled at the university (21,900 at the undergraduate level and 3,200 at the postgraduate level) and 580 faculty members, while teaching is further supplemented by 171 teaching fellows and 132 laboratory staff. The university administrative services are staffed with 420 employees.[108][109]
Local products
Ioannina is known throughout Greece for its silverwork, with a number of shops selling silver jewelry, bronzeware, and decorative items (serving trays, recreations of shields and swords.)
Hookahs (nargiles, ναργιλές) are sold to tourists as novelty items and vary in size from small (three inches in height) to quite large (4–5ft (1–2m) tall).
Beginning in the early 2020s, Ioannina has started to evolve into a significant technology hub. The city has attracted technology companies, which have helped to bolster Ioannina's technological capacity and contributed to a new economic trajectory for the city, driving development in this sector.[112]
Additionally, the prefecture has been actively fostering partnerships between Greek and German companies in a bid to further strengthen the local economy and tech ecosystem. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the Greek-German Chamber, outlining the recovery plan for the region, a move that has been seen as a significant step in boosting technological development in Ioannina.[113]
Consulates
The city hosts consulates from the following countries:
An informal meeting of the foreign ministers of the states of the European Union took place in Ioannina on 27 March 1994, resulting in the Ioannina compromise.
Ioannina is home to a major sports team called PAS Giannina. It's an inspiration for many of old as well as new supporters of the whole region of Epirus, even outside Ioannina. Rowing is also very popular in Ioannina; the lake hosted several international events and serves as the venue for part of the annual Greek Rowing Championships.
↑ Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών, Αποκέντρωσης και Ηλεκρονικής Διακυβέρνησης Περιφέρεια ΗπείρουArchived 29 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine : "Στη δεκαετία του 1790 ο νεοελληνικός διαφωτισμός έφθασε στο κορύφωμά του. ΦορέαA_1του πνεύματος στα Ιωάννινα είναι ο Αθανάσιος ΨαλίδαA_."
↑ Osswald, Brendan (2008). "From Lieux de Pouvoir to Lieux de Mémoire: The Monuments of the Medieval Castle of Ioannina through the Centuries". In Hálfdanarson, Gudmundur (ed.). Discrimination and tolerance in historical perspective. Pisa: PLUS-Pisa University Press. p.188. ISBN978-88-8492-558-9.
↑ Charisis, Ch. (2019). "Το όνομα των Ιωαννίνων"[The name of the Ioannina]. Volume of Proceedings of the 3rd Panepirot Conference (in Greek). Janina: Society for Continental Studies and Foundation for Ionian and Adriatic Studies. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
↑ Galanidou, N.; Tzedakis, P. C.; Lawson, I. T.; Frogley, M. R. (2000). "A revised chronological and palaeoenvironmental framework for the Kastritsa rockshelter, northwest Greece". Antiquity. 74 (284): 349–355. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00059421. S2CID128085232.
↑ Pliakou, G. (2013). "The Basin of Ioannina after the Roman Conquest. The Evidence of the Excavation Coins". In Liampi, K.; Papaevangelou-Genakos, C.; Zachos, K.; Dousougli, A.; Iakovidou, A. (eds.). Numismatic History and Economy in Epirus During Antiquity (in Greek). Athens: Proceedings of the 1st International conference: Numismatic History and Economy in Epirus During Antiquity (University of Ioannina, 3–7 October 2007). pp.449–462.
↑ Osswald, Brendan (2007). "The Ethnic Composition of Medieval Epirus". In Ellis, Steven; Klusáková, Lud'a (eds.). Imagining Frontiers: Contesting Identities. Pisa: Edizioni Plus – Pisa University Press. p.132.
↑ Nicol, Donald MacGillivray (1976). "Refugees, Mixed Population and Local Patriotism in Epiros and Western Macedonia after the Fourth Crusade". XVe Congrès international d'études byzantines (Athènes, 1976), Rapports et corapports I. Athens. pp.20–21.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑ Skoulidas, Ilias (2001). The Relations Between the Greeks and the Albanians During the 19th Century: Political Aspirations and Visions (1875-1897). Didaktorika.gr (Doctoral Dissertation). Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων. Σχολή Φιλοσοφική. Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας. Τομέας Ιστορίας Νεώτερων χρόνων. p.92. doi:10.12681/eadd/12856. hdl:10442/hedi/12856. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2023. δεν μπορούμε να μιλάμε για οργανωμένη Επιτροπή, αλλά, ενδεχομένως, για Τόσκηδες, προσηλωμένους στην αλβανική εθνική ιδέα, που είχαν παρόμοιες σκέψεις και ιδέες για το μέλλον των Αλβανών και όχι μια συγκεκριμένη πολιτική οργάνωση' δεν μπορεί να θεωρηθεί τυχαίο ότι η Επιτροπή δεν εξέδωσε κανένα έγγραφο ή σφραγίδα ή πολιτική απόφαση.
↑ Nedialkov, Dimitar (2004). The genesis of air power. Pensoft. ISBN978-954-642-211-8. Greek aviation saw action in Epirus until the capture of Jannina on 21 February 1913. On that day, Lt Adamidis landed his Maurice Farman on the Town Hall square, to the adulation of an enthusiastic crowd.
↑ Foss, Arthur (1978). Epirus. Faber. p. 56. "The population exchange between Greece and Turkey which followed removed all those of Turkish origin so that, by 1940, only some twenty Muslim families of Albanian origin were left. In 1973, only eight Muslim remained, living together in an ancient house in the centre of Ioannina. The local authorities, we are told, had refused to allow them to use one of the remaining mosques for worship, their estates remain sequestered and a long battle for what they regard as their rights has so far come to nothing. Although Albanian, they could hope for no sympathy from the present regime in Albania and there was nowhere else for them to go."
↑ "Mosque of Kaloutsiani". Travelioannina.com. Tourism Department of Ioannina municipality. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
↑ Lazaridis, Themis (2010). "Ranking university departments using the mean h-index". Scientometrics. 82 (2). Scientometrics (2010) 82:211–216, Springer: 211–216. doi:10.1007/s11192-009-0048-4. S2CID10887922.
↑ "Archived copy". www.statistics.gr. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ Mavrommatis], Konstantinos Sp. Staikos [kai] Triantaphyllos E. Sklavenitis; [translation David Hardy]; [photograph Socrates (2001). The publishing centres of the Greeks: from the Renaissance to the Neohellenic Enlightenment: catalogue of exhibition. Athens: National Book Centre of Greece. p.12. ISBN9789607894304. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2023. The press owned by Nikolaos Glykys developed into the most productive centre of the Greek diaspora, and was also the longest-lived Greek press. Its founder was born in Ioannina in 1619 and moved to Venice in 1647,{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Epirus is a geographical and historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay of Vlorë and the Acroceraunian Mountains in the north to the Ambracian Gulf and the ruined Roman city of Nicopolis in the south. It is currently divided between the region of Epirus in northwestern Greece and the counties of Gjirokastër and Vlorë in southern Albania. The largest city in Epirus is Ioannina, seat of the Greek region of Epirus, with Gjirokastër the largest city in the Albanian part of Epirus.
Preveza is a city in the region of Epirus, northwestern Greece, located on the northern peninsula of the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. It is the capital of the regional unit of Preveza, which is the southern part of the region of Epirus. The Aktio-Preveza Immersed Tunnel –the first, and so far only, undersea tunnel in Greece– was completed in 2002. The 1,570 m (5,150 ft) long immersed tunnel connects Preveza in the north, to Aktio of western Acarnania to the south. The ruins of the ancient city of Nicopolis lie 7 kilometres north of Preveza.
Thesprotia is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region. Its capital and largest town is Igoumenitsa. Thesprotia is named after the Thesprotians, an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region in antiquity.
The Despotate of Epirus was one of the Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 by a branch of the Angelos dynasty. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine Empire during the subsequent struggle for Constantinople, along with the Empire of Nicaea and the Empire of Trebizond; its rulers briefly proclaiming themselves as Emperors in 1227–1242. The term "Despotate of Epirus" is, like "Byzantine Empire" itself, a modern historiographic convention and not a name in use at the time.
Konitsa is a town of Ioannina in Epirus, Greece. It is located north of the capital Ioannina and near the Albanian border. Konitsa lies northeast of a group of villages known as the Zagorochoria. The town was built amphitheatrically-shaped on a mountain slope of the Pindos mountain range from where it overlooks the valley where the river Aoos meets the river Voidomatis.
Parga is a town and municipality located in the northwestern part of the regional unit of Preveza in Epirus, northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Kanallaki. Parga lies on the Ionian coast between the cities of Preveza and Igoumenitsa. It is a resort town known for its natural environment.
Arta is a city in northwestern Greece and capital of the regional unit of Arta, which is part of Epirus region. The city was known in ancient times as Ambracia. Arta is known for the medieval bridge over the Arachthos River, as well as for its ancient sites from the era of Pyrrhus of Epirus and its well-preserved 13th-century castle. Arta's Byzantine history is reflected in its many Byzantine churches; perhaps the best known is the Panagia Paregoretissa, built about 1290 by Despot Nikephoros I Komnenos Doukas.
Dionysios Philosophos or Skylosophos, "the Dog-Philosopher" or "Dogwise" ("skylosophist"), as called by his rivals, was a Greek bishop, who led two farmer revolts against the Ottoman Empire, in Thessaly (1600) and Ioannina (1611), with Spanish aid. He is considered one of the most important bishops of the Greek Orthodox Church who acted conspiratorially and revolutionary against the Ottomans during the Ottoman rule in Greece.
The Pashalik of Yanina, sometimes referred to as the Pashalik of Ioannina or Pashalik of Janina, was an autonomous pashalik within the Ottoman Empire between 1787 and 1822 covering large areas of Albania, Greece, and North Macedonia. Under the Ottoman Albanian ruler Ali Pasha, the pashalik acquired a high degree of autonomy and even managed to stay de facto independent, though this was never officially recognized by the Ottoman Empire. Conceiving his territory in increasingly independent terms, Ali Pasha's correspondence and foreign Western correspondence frequently refer to the territories under Ali's control as Albania.
The Theme of Nicopolis or Nikopolis was the name of a Byzantine theme located in northwestern Greece, encompassing Aetolia-Acarnania and southern Epirus. It was established in the second half of the 9th century, probably after 886, and survived until the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire by the Fourth Crusade in 1204.
Vagenetia or Vagenitia was a medieval region on the coast of Epirus, roughly corresponding to modern Thesprotia. The region likely derived its name from the Slavic tribe of the Baiounitai. It is first attested as a sclavinia under some sort of Byzantine control in the 8th/9th centuries. It passed under Bulgarian rule in the late 9th century, and returned to Byzantine rule in the 11th. It passed to the Despotate of Epirus after 1204, where it formed a separate province. Vagenetia came under Albanian rule in the 1360s, until conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1430.
The Vilayet of Janina, Yanya or Ioannina was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire, established in 1867. In the late 19th century, it reportedly had an area of 18,320 square kilometres (7,070 sq mi). It was created by merging the Pashalik of Yanina and the Pashalik of Berat with the sanjaks of Janina, Berat, Ergiri, Preveze, Tırhala and Kesriye. Kesriye was later demoted to kaza and bounded to Monastir Vilayet and Tırhala was given to Greece in 1881.
Rogoi is a Byzantine castle in Nea Kerasounta near Preveza, in western Greece. It is located on the site of the ancient city of Bouchetion (Βουχέτιον), which was abandoned in the late 1st century BC. Re-occupied in the 9th century, it became a bishopric and was refortified, playing an important role in the region's history in the 14th and early 15th centuries. It was abandoned again after the Ottoman conquest in 1449.
The Ioannina Castle is the fortified old town of the city of Ioannina in northwestern Greece. The present fortification dates largely to the reconstruction under Ali Pasha in the late Ottoman period, but incorporates also pre-existing Byzantine elements.
Bela or Vela was a medieval fortress town and bishopric in Epirus, northwestern Greece.
The Metropolis of Ioannina is a Greek Orthodox diocese centred on the city of Ioannina, in the Epirus of Greece. As one of the "New Lands", it belongs formally to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, but is administered by the Church of Greece. As of June 2014, the Metropolitan of Ioannina is Maximos Papagiannis.
The uprising in Epirus of 1611, also known as uprising of Dionysios Skylosophos, was an anti-Ottoman rebellion by Albanian peasants, organized and led by the former Greek Orthodox bishop Dionysios. The peasants and shepherds who rebelled, attacked the city of Ioannina, the seat of the Ottoman governor of the region, on September 10, 1611. The following day the uprising was brutally suppressed by the Ottoman authorities with support from the local Greek Orthodox notables and the ringleaders were executed. As a result of the revolt the privileges which the native inhabitants of Ioannina enjoyed since the beginning of Ottoman rule (1430) were annulled.
The Veli Pasha Mosque is an Ottoman building located in the Greek town of Ioannina, in the northwest region of Epirus. The mosque was renovated at the turn of the 19th century by Veli Pasha of Ioannina and formed a complex consisting in particular of a madrasa and kitchens. Today it is no longer open for worship.
The Mosque of Kaloutsiani is a historical Ottoman mosque in the town of Ioannina, Epirus, in northwestern Greece. It was built in 1740, and since 2005 it been the subject of restoration campaigns and works. It is one of several surviving mosques in Ioannina, others being the Veli Pasha Mosque, the Fethiye Mosque and the Aslan Pasha Mosque.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Ioannina, Greece.
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