A destination for every season...
The historical village of Ampelakia is built at an altitude of 380 m. It is a traditional village built in the northwest side of Mount Kissavos (Ossa) by the entrance of Tempi Valley. Here the visitor can find museums, churches, villas, cobbled streets, traditional products of high quality and fantastic hiking paths to Kissavos.
As the visitor goes through the cobbled streets of the village, he or she can visit the Church of Saint George (15th – 16th century), where he/she can admire the rare icons, the Church of Saint Paraskevi and Prophet Elias in a close distance. In Prophet Elias the visitor has the opportunity to admire the view of the Tempi Valley, the Kastro tis Orias in Tempe and the Mountainous villages of Tempi, Rapsani and Krania.
These architectural masterpieces show the great financial growth of the village during the past centuries due to the processing and painting of yarns with the characteristic red paint, which they produced themselves through the process of the plant erythrodamon (rizari, rubia tinctorum, the rose madder). Nowadays, there are preserved 17 traditional mansions with this characteristic architecture.
The Cooperative of Ampelakia Village
By the end of the 18th century, the people of Ampelakia, who were processing the red yarns, which dyed with a paint they produced themselves by the plant rizari, decided to create a cooperative in order to cope with the external competition. In the beginning, there were created small companies but in 1778 they decided the union of the whole companies in one Common Company under the name of «Common Company and Brotherhood of Ampelakia». George Mavros was the one and only chairman. The Cooperative of Ampelakia is considered to be the first to be founded in the world. During its operation, Ampelakia flourished. The houses of the people became richer and a lot of villas built during that period, most of which have been renovated today. The cooperative continues its operation until 1812 until its dissolution.
You must see
The mansion of George Mavros (Schwarz)
One of the mansions that are preserved is the three-floor mansion of George Mavros (Schwarz), the chairman of the «Common Company and Brotherhood of Ampelakia», the Cooperative of Ampelakia. Its construction began in 1787 and ended in 1798. It is considered to be one of the most impressive samples of the traditional architecture in Greece. It took 8 years for its completion and 3 more in order to be painted and decorated. The result is a mixture of the architectural style that prevailed in Ampelakia, the European Baroque and the influences from Morocco and Minor Asia. Among others, the mansion included the cashier and the vault of the Company on the ground floor and a conference room on the first floor.
The Folklore and the Historical Museum in Ampelakia
It is housed in the mansion of «Molas» and it is near the central square of Ampelakia. It has a noticeable collection of folklore items, industrial tools, domestic pottery, traditional clothes, etc).
The Museum of Ampelakia of the period 1940 -1949.
It is housed in the mansion of Athanasios Chamaidis. Here is the place where the illegal printing shop of E.A.M. of Kissavos - Kato Olympos first operated. The Museum collects, conserves and digitizes the available material for the period 1940-1949.
Ellinomouseion
This was the name of the school that was founded in the village in 1749. The school operated in the narthex of the church, where today Aghia Paraskevi has been built. In this school, they invited famous Greek teachers, among whom were Gregorios Konstantas, Anthimos Gazis, Evgenios Voulgaris, Neophitos Doukas, Konstantinos Koumas and others. In this school, they taught Ancient Greek, Philosophy, Mathematics and Natural Science.
The Maniarios School
Later, after the dissolution of the Common Cooperative, the school degraded and it was finally replaced by the Maniarios School. The School was a heritage left by Diamantis Maniaris, who came from Ampelakia.
During the Greek Revolution, the people of Ampelakia helped in many ways. A lot of merchants from diaspora belong in «Filiki Etaireia» and as they were wealthy not only did they spend large amounts of money to organize the revolution but they also took part in the war.
