{"id":10307,"date":"2021-04-05T11:50:44","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T09:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/cultural-and-religious-tourism-in-the-regional-unit-of-kozani\/"},"modified":"2021-04-05T11:50:44","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T09:50:44","slug":"cultural-and-religious-tourism-in-the-regional-unit-of-kozani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/cultural-and-religious-tourism-in-the-regional-unit-of-kozani\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultural and Religious Tourism in the Regional Unit of Kozani"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edited by Angelos Fassnakis<\/em><\/p>\n

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The Regional Unit of Kozani is located in the eastern part of Western Macedonia and most of its area is covered by mountainous and semi-mountainous areas. <\/span><\/h4>\n

The area it occupies is located in the heart of the Greek mainland and is a crossroads between Epirus, Macedonia and Thessaly. <\/span><\/h4>\n

In this area is the Aliakmonas River and the artificial lake Polyfytos (which has an impressive ecosystem). <\/span><\/h4>\n

This Regional Unit belongs to the Region of Western Macedonia and is the largest of the four Regional Units of the Region of Western Macedonia.<\/span><\/h4>\n

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The region of Kozani is of particular tourist interest for its history, tradition, architecture (secular and ecclesiastical), art, customs and traditions. In particular, the area includes ancient and Byzantine cities with impressive findings, as well as mansions with characteristic architecture. It also has a wealth of museums, churches and monasteries, as well as many local customs, which are still preserved today. All this can attract the interest of a large number of tourists, in order to discover the local history, cultural tradition and find a response to their religious interests. Thus, they contribute to the development of cultural and religious tourism, which is dominant in the Kozani region.<\/p>\n

In particular, in the city of Kozani there is the Historical Folklore Museum<\/strong>, where visitors have the opportunity to admire collections (historical objects, exhibits, etc.), which relate to the rich cultural heritage (archaeological finds of the region, elements of folk art and local tradition) and the natural wealth of the region. The city of Kozani also has the Museum of Contemporary Local History<\/strong> and the Archaeological Museum<\/strong>. Of particular interest is the Coventarios Municipal Library of Kozani<\/strong>, which is one of the most important libraries in Greece, both for its history and for the valuable books and rare manuscripts it has.<\/p>\n

Neas Municipal Library Coventari, Kozani, Kozani <\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\u0399<\/strong>a special place in the Kozani culture have the A<\/strong>The period of which begins on Tsiknoe Thursday and culminates on the Sunday of Turofagos, which is considered to be the day of the “Crazy Halloween”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The festivities during the Carnival period enhance tourism in the place, and it is no coincidence that during this period Kozani has the highest tourism compared to other periods of the year. It is also worth mentioning a very important innovation that has renewed the profile of Kozani’s Carnival, the “sourdgames”, which mainly involve the youth of Kozani and which have been held since 1997 until today on the Friday before the big Carnival, enhancing the fun and entertainment of the Carnival. Halloween costumes (disguises), lanterns, music bands and folk musicians (Kozani brass bands) who entertain people with their songs, dances, feasts, strong humour, wine, “kichia” (traditional local cheese pies), and the Kozani idiom are some of the main characteristics of the Kozani Halloween. Also of interest are the ‘Lassania’, established by the city’s scholar and politician Georgios Lassani (1793-1870), which is a series of cultural events that take place every year and include concerts, theatre performances, etc.<\/p>\n

Museum of Folklore and Natural History of Kozani, Greece\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Finally, in the centre of the city is the characteristic post-Byzantine Metropolitan Church of Agios Nikolaos<\/strong>, which was built in 1664. Visitors have the opportunity to admire the excellent frescoes of the church, which were painted as early as 1730, as well as the imposing bell tower (26 m high, with 7 floors, a four-sided clock and dome), which was built in 1855 and is a trademark of the city of Kozani.<\/p>\n

Regarding the city of Aiani<\/strong>, a special place has its Archaeological Museum, where visitors can admire archaeological findings from prehistoric to Roman times, such as statues, architectural monuments, etc. The Museum of the Macedonian Struggle, the open-air archaeological site (located at the location of Megali Rachi, 1500 m from the exit of the modern city) and the local custom of “Lazarines”, during which traditional dances are performed on Lazarus Saturday, also have a special place. Finally, Aiani has important Byzantine and post-Byzantine churches, such as the church of Panagia (11century<\/sup> ).<\/p>\n

In Ptolemaida<\/strong> there is the Palaeontological Historical Museum, as well as the Anthropological Folklore Museum, while in its villages (Pyrgoi – Spilia) the famous Macedonian tombs of Eordia have been found, which attract the historical interest of visitors.<\/p>\n

In Servia<\/strong>, the Byzantine Castle (560 AD), where ruins of walls and towers have been preserved, is characteristic. Within the castle town there is the Great Basilica (11th<\/sup> century), as well as various Byzantine churches dating back to the 14th<\/sup> century, such as Agios Dimitrios, Agios Theodoros, Agios Ioannis the Baptist and Agios Anargyros.<\/p>\n

Agios Dimitrios, Siatista, Greece<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Regarding the city of Siatista<\/strong>, tourists can admire its famous mansions, with their special architecture, the botanical museum “The Bourinos”, with its diverse and rare flora, the Paleontological Museum, as well as the Ecclesiastical Museum of Siatista. Also in the area of Siatista is the Monastery of Panagia Mikrokastro, particularly known for the revival of the custom of the Horsemen, the <\/strong>day of celebration of the monastery.<\/strong> According to this custom, groups of people from Siatista, after saddling and decorating their horses, go on horseback from Siatista to the Monastery of Panagia of Mikrokastro, in order to worship the icon of Panagia Eleousa. While of particular importance is the Folklore Museum of Eratyras, as well as the Monastery of St. Athanasius with great historical interest, because it was built in the 16th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n

Finally, it is worth mentioning two more monasteries, such as the monastery of Metamorphosis of the Saviour in Dry coal<\/strong>, which is even said to have been visited by Saint Kosmas the Aetolian, as well as the Monastery of Agia Triada in Vythos, where it is worth admiring the elaborate frescoes dating back to the 17th century.\u03bf<\/sup> century, with the abundance of hagiographical subjects and the intense expressiveness.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, we would say that, based on the above, the area is of great interest in the religious-cultural sector and is mainly suitable for religious and cultural tourism, without excluding other forms of alternative tourism (ecotourism, gastronomic, mountaineering, educational and sports).<\/p>\n

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Edited by Angelos Fassnakis   The Regional Unit of Kozani is located in the eastern part of Western Macedonia and most of its area is covered by mountainous and semi-mountainous areas. The area it occupies is located in the heart of the Greek mainland and is a crossroads between Epirus, Macedonia and Thessaly. In this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6923,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thematikos-tourismos-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}