Agios Vlasios, Magnesia

Agios Vlasios, also Agios Vlassios, Ayios Vlasios and Ayios Vlassios (Greek: Άγιος Βλάσιος meaning Saint Blaise) is a Greek village located 15 km east of Volos in the Magnesia prefecture. Agios Vlasios is built on the slopes of Pelion. Ano Lechonia is the seat of the municipality of Artemida. Its population in 2001 was 785 for the municipal district.

The name comes from the church of the village. The older name of the village was Karabasi or Karabasi (Greek: "Καραμπάς", "Karabaş" or "Καραμπάσι" from Turkish "kara" and "baş") in which was the Turkish word meaning black head

ubdivisions

*Malaki (Μαλάκι) [2001 pop: 208]
*Palaiokastro (Παλαιόκαστρο meaning old castle) [2001 pop: 65]
*Strofilos (Στρόφλος "Stroflos" or Στρόφιλος) [2001 pop: 27]

Nearest places

*Ano Lechonia, west
*Volos, west

Population

Geography

The mountains dominate the area which is partly forested and some grasslands and bushes, farmlands are within the village and it produces fruits, olives and vegetables.

History

Ottoman Era

During the Turkish Era, the settlement of Palaiokastro which is located between Ano Lechonia and Agios Vlasios was inhabited bu the Turks, it was partly destroyed until the end of the 20th century.

Greek and Modern Era

The Ottoman rule over Thessaly as well as much of today's northcentral Greece had finally went to an end after being liberated and joined the rest of Greece in 1881, Karabassi became a part of the old municipality of Nileias. In 1914, it was finally renamed to Agios Vlassios, named after its own church and became an non-municipal commune. Since 1998, Agios Vlassios is a municipal district and became a part of the present municipality of Artemida which has its seat at nearby Ano Lechonia.

Other

Agios Vlasios has a school, church and a few squares ("plateia"), its nearest lyceum (middle school) and gymnasium (high school) are in Ano Lechonia.

External links

* [http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=13022 Agios Vlasios on GTP Travel Pages]
*Map and aerial photos:
**Street map information from: [http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=39.3379&longitude=23.0635&zoom=6 Mapquest] , [http://local.live.com/map.aspx?&lats1=39.3397&lons1=23.0635&alts1=35 LiveLocal] or [http://maps.google.com/maps?||=39.3397,23.0635 Google] or [http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?lat=39.3397&lon=23.0635&mag=2 Yahoo! Maps]
**Satellite
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.3397,23.0635&spn=0.11,0.18&t=k Google] or [http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?cp=39.3397|23.0636&style=h&lvl=15&v=1 Microsoft Virtual Earth] - image now available
*Coordinates: coord|39|20|19|N|22|3|49|E|type:city(485)_region:GR

ee also

*List of settlements in the Magnesia prefecture