Tsimandria

Tsimandria (Greek: Τσιμάνδρια) is a village on Lemnos, a Greek island in the northern part of the Aegean Sea, it is part of the municipality of Nea Koutali since the late 1990s. It is close to a few beaches, including Diapori and Alagomandra. Its 2001 population was 314 for the village and the municipal district.

Islets

*Kastria
*Kombi

Nearet places

*Portianou, northeast
*Kontias, west

Population

Location

Tsimandria between 14 and 15 km east of Myrina and is connected with the southern branch road linking Myrina and its airport.

History

Byzantine settlement

In the late Byzantine period and for many centuries, it had a small monastery in the area of Tsimandria. In 1284, it was known as "Pteris" ("Πτέρις") or "Pterin" ("Πτέριν"), a village next to modern Tsimandria. It has six monasteries, three built in 1326, 1331 and 1336, two in the 14th century and another in the 15th century.

Historical archives

The first reference to the village's name was in 1569 as Semandra (Σεμάνδρα). Conze (1858), De Launay (1898) and Fredrich (1903) which was known as Smandria, in the communal writing of the 19th century was read as Tzimandra (Τζημάνδρα). It was the name that came from that came from the translation: "in the fold" from the pastoral fold which had there. The source with the "Tsimskis fold" which into the past were romantic and arbitrary.

The village is built in a protected location behind the Filonikos (Φιλόνικος) hill and was formed at the end of the 18th century, one and meant in 1785 east of Kontia, "anonymously as a Village" (pronunciation: vee-YAZH) in the Choiseul-Gouffier paper. It ran the village of Stratis Tzariaklis in 1844 was one of the members of the eight-member commission.

In 1856, it had 122 military men in which it paid 1,909 piasters for leaving the army. In 1858, Conze visited the village and intense of the covering of a marble sarcophagus under a spring. It recorded 73 famiies in 1863 which rose slowly to 80 in 1874, it was evidently clear it had a population growth. The village had 96 houses in 1874. The same were included that the subjected in the mayor (koli) of Kondia. The Tsimandriani received a representative in the regional council. The community of the village were organized and in the late 19th century, sold its small change for its small exchange with the. Excluded the agricultural employment, it also had captains, as the shipowner Alkiviades which happened around 1875.

The school

The village school began to run, it had illiteracy and poor people. The learning children were forced to attend in Portianou or in Kontia. In the beginning of the office, it had a firman with the note that read "Tsimandria School 1269", the year that was founded, it was corresponded in 1852-53. It was first pened in 1890. In 1901 the establishment in Braila, Romania by brothers Christos and Andreas Kalatzis from Kontia "seeing the poor people of Tsimandria and attended the running of the school there and ". The property as owned by Petros Mylonas. The school had a three-grade system and in 1919 allowed only boys, a few girls attended the girl school outside Tsimandria. In 1919 it switched to a six-grade system, mainly primary, middle school education was introduced in 1920 and the remaining in 1929-37. The school had 135 studends and studied in two grade and remained until 1975. Afterwards, it was downgraded into primary education and was shut down in the 1980s. Its students attend a school in the largest municipal seat.

In Tsimandria, it had students, the most popular were Spyros Georgiadis (1904-09, 1911-14), Emm. Karkalemis (1919-27), Zoi Theofanidou ()1923-24), Anastasia Maglou (1936-61 with the first council and planted trees on Filonikos hill in 1937), Georgios Geograkenas (1939-67, with the first councin with the homogenous assistance in Australia, he rebuil the school after the occupation during World War II), Irini Zaloumi (1967-72), Georgios Psarros (1972-76)

Modern period

On October 8, 1812, it was the first village in Lemnos that was liberated by the Greek Army in which they landed in the nearby coast of Vourlidia (Βουρλίδια). With the pride of the inhabitants shown at the bridge near the school, where Greek flag was waved for the first time. It welcomed many soldiers from Britain and the settlement which was founded and entered from the failure to capture Gallipoli. In 1918 until 1921, Russian emigrés immigrated onto the island, solders of Vragel and politician which fled into Lemnos.

In 1918, Tsimandria became a commune which ran in 1918-19 and the Angariones as a settlement. Between the two World Wars, the village did not had any development. It had 720 inhabitants and 120 buildings. It extended its school and built a covered fountain in 1935 by the square with many springs which was spended by Sotitis Kotsinadelis, it created cotton farms, ran the Kehagiades Countil, which actioned until today and had a large information in traditional music, songs, dances and of Lemnos. The last live link with the past is the flutist Thanassis Kotsinadellis, which he had used the flute and the voices in discs all of the island's old music.

After the war and in 1981, the settlement of the community known as Kombi with the lighthouse and the two nearby islaets of Kombi and Kastria. As the rest of Lemnos, Tsimandria lost a large part of the popuilation due to emigration to the developed nation. From 700 in 1951, it lost to 292 in 1991. The village today has a nice square, taverns, houses and a nearby beach.

ee also

*List of places in the Lesbos prefecture
*Administrative divisions of the Lesbos prefecture

External links

* [http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=8151 Tsimandria at the GTP Travel Pages]
*Map and aerial photos:
**Street map information from: [http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=37.874&longitude=21.174&zoom=6 Mapquest] , [http://local.live.com/mapz.aspx?&lats1=37.874&longs=21.174&alts1=35 LiveLocal] or [http://maps.google.com/maps?||=37.874,21.174 Google] or [http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?lat=37.874&lon=21.174&mag=2 Yahoo! Maps]
**Satellite
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.874,21.174&spn=0.11,0.18&t=k Google] or [http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?cp=37.874|21.174&5style=h&lvl=15&v=1 Microsoft Virtual Earth] - image now available
*Tsimandria's coordinates are: coord|37|52|13|N|21|10|30|E|type:city(323)_region:GR

Sources

*"Tourptsoglou-Stefanidou Vassiliki, "Voyages and Geographical Sources From Lemnos Island (15th-20th Centuries)" ("Ταξιδιωτικά και γεωγραφικά κείμενα για τη νήσο Λήμνο (15ος-20ος αιώνας)" = "Taxidiotika ke geografika kimena yia ti niso Limno (15os-20os eonas)")
*"Lemnos and its villages" by Th. Belitsos 1994.
*Angelis Mihelis "Tsimandria", Limnos newspaper, November 4, 1934
*"Lemnos/Limnos Province CD Rom" ("Cdrom Επαρχείου Λήμνου" = "CD Rom Eparcheiou Limnou"): "Lovable Lemnos"