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| Koritsa |
Adelais Ismirliadou
In the second half of the nineteenth century Koritsa developed into one of the major urban centres in the Balkans. Under the Turks it was part of the vilayet of Monastir and was the capital of the sanjak of the same name.
The town of the kaza of Koritsa was the seat of a Greek Orthodox Métropolite and a Turkish mutessarif. According to the French traveller Pouqueville, who visited the city in 1805, there were 1.300 families living in Koritsa two thirds of which were Christian. Around 1875, the city had 8.200 inhabitants, and by 1905 the population had reached 18.000, 14.000 of whom were Greek and 4.000 Albanian. The Christians were concentrated in the “Varossi” district (1.250 households) and the Moslems in “Kasaba”[1].
The inhabitants of both the city of Koritsa and the surrounding area spoke Greek and Albanian as well. As in most of Epirus, Strabon’s words applied here too: “The race of Epirots was ever bilingual”. The customs and traditions of the Greek community in the city, the greetings, the banqueting ceremonies, and the style of dress and footwear were much closer to the Epirot than to the Macedonian customs[2]. Like all religious or ethnic communities in the Ottoman Empire, after the publication of the Hatt-i Humayun charter of 1856, the Greek Christian community of Koritsa, “in accordance with the age of enlightenment and civilisation”, and with the Patriarch as its civil and religious leader[3], was granted the right to set up a council and run its own ecclesiastical and ethnic affairs according to local customs and needs. The relevan provisions, needless to say, operated within the framework of Ottoman legislation and the General Regulations of the Patriarchate[4]. The specific provisions were ratified in 1862 under the title “General Regulations for the Arrangement of the Ecclesiastical and Ethnic Affairs of His Majesty the Sultan’s Orthodox Christian Subjects under the Ecumenical Throne” and were in force until 1923, when they were abolished by the Treaty of Lausanne[5]. The “General Regulations for the Common Institutions of the City of Koritsa” were based on this principle. The acts were ratified (reg. No. 5041) by Ioakeim III, Patriarch of Constantinople, in 1876. Meanwhile, on 5 November 1875, the Metropolitan of Koritsa, Dorotheos Christidis, had convened a general meeting of the citizens of Koritsa to elect a ten-member committee, with which he worked out some general provisions for the running of the community. According to the regulations, the council of elders formed the nucleus of the city; it was presided over by the Métropolite and had eight members, who enjoyed the confidence of the community and were elected at a general meeting[6].
One clear indication of the inhabitants’ strong religious faith was the magnificent churches in the city, the many smaller churches in the surrounding countryside, and the numerous monasteries. The churches included the cathedral[7] —dedicated to the Source of Life, St Haralambos, and St Bessarion— the Churches of St George, Virgin, St Andrew, St John, and St Nicholas, and the country Churches of St Athanasius and Prophet Elijah.
The economic life of the Greeks of Koritsa was rich and varied. They mainly engaged in horticulture, viticulture, stock-breeding, bread-making, blacksmithery, tanning, dyeing, clockmaking, and goldsmithery, and there was a strong local tradition of carpet-, rug-, and sandal-making. Another major occupation was the building. Highly skilled builders travelled all over Epirus and beyond, constructing buildings both public and private. Such was their fame, indeed, that Epirot builders went by the general name of Koritsalides[8]. Just outside the Monastir entrance to the city there were also two lime-kilns, the older of which had been built by Athanassios Kalfas in 1870. The ornamentation of the city was largely due to the existence of these two kilns. The surrounding mountains were rich in minerals and high-quality coal, and the red marble of Polena was renowned. Anthracite from the Morava Valley powered the local light industry, the lime-kilns, and the steam mill[9].










