Anthochori ( el, Ανθοχώρι meaning "flower village", before 1927: Καρούμπαλι - ''Karoumpali''Name changes of settlements in Greece
/ref>) was a settlement in

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Anthochori was demolished from 2006 to 2008 in order to provide the Megalopoli Power Plant with

lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

(brown coal).

Geography

Anthochori was located about 3 km south of the town of

Megalopoli Megalopoli ( el, Μεγαλόπολη) is a town in the southwestern part of the regional unit of Arcadia (regional unit), Arcadia, southern Greece. It is located in the same site as ancient Megalopolis ( grc, Μεγαλόπολις, literally ''la ...

, in the valley of the

Alfeios The Alfeiós or Alpheios ( el, Αλφειός, grc, Ἀλφειός, Latin Alpheus) is the main stream of the Alpheios Valley drainage system, a dendritic type, originating on the north slopes of Mount Taygetus, located in the center of the Pelop ...

river. Prior to the large scale exploitation of lignite in open-pit mines, the area consisted mostly of farmlands. Neighboring villages were Vrysoules to the east, Gefyra to the southeast and Tripotamo to the southwest. The

Greek National Road 7 Greek National Road 7 ( el, Εθνική Οδός 7, abbreviated as EO7) is a single carriageway with at-grade intersections in the Peloponnese region in southern Greece. It connects the cities of Corinth and Kalamata, via Nemea, Argos, Tripoli ...

(

Kalamata Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia reg ...

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

) ran east of Anthochori. Anthochori had a station on the short branch railway line from Lefktro, on the Tripoli-Kalamata railway line, to Megalopoli.

History

According to the ''History of Leontarion Province'' by Theodoros Katrivanos the village occupied the area that was the Karum Ali Estate (Καρούμ Αλή τσιφλίκι), itself part of the Leontario ''vilayet'' (Ottoman administrative division, in Greek: Βιλαέτι Λεονταρίου) in the 18th century. Hence the old name of the village was ''Karoumpali''. The village was re-named ''Anthochori'' in 1927 (FEK 179/1927). In terms of its administration, Karoumpali/Anthochori was established as an independent community (Greek: κοινότητα) in 1912. The legal basis for this comprised Law No 4057 of 10 February 1912 that enacted the institution of "administratively independent communities" in Greece and the Royal Decree of 18 September 1912 that clarified specific arrangements for the law's implementation in the prefecture of Arcadia. Anthochori continued to function as an independent community until the end of 1997 when the " Kapodistrias" program of reforms began to be implemented. Following the fate of the vast majority of other communities in Greece, Anthochori was abolished as an administratively independent community and since 1 January 1999 became an administrative district of the Municipality of Megalopolis. By 2006, after prolonged legal battles and court cases the vast majority of property owners of Anthochori were financially compensated by the Public Power Corporation. Financial compensation for the public property and amenities that belonged to the community was transferred to the Municipality of Megalopolis. This was because, as mentioned above, Anthochori became an administrative district of the Municipality of Megalopolis following the "Kapodistrias" reforms. What happened to the financial compensation for Anthochori's public property is still a matter of dispute and allegations for the mismanagement of compensation funds (at least €280,000) were still being made as late as November 2008.

Loss of a settlement

The lignite mining activity has been slowly extending towards Anthochori since the late-1970s. By 2002 mining machinery stood 1 km to the northwest of Anthochori and the mine finally reached the first houses of the settlement in 2006. Village houses became a target for looters and the settlement was finally abandoned in 2007. Subsequently, starting from its northwestern part, the old village homes were demolished and their remains were dumped to the south while the roads, already closed for some years, were eventually removed. Most of the farmlands and forests also disappeared. Until late 2008 the only remaining building of Anthochori left standing was its main church dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin to the Temple (Greek: Τα Εισόδια της Θεοτόκου). None of the demolition workers were willing to take responsibility for its destruction and, thus, the church remained standing upon a tall "column" of soil while the surrounding earth was being excavated. The "last church standing" became internationally famous when its photograph by Stuart Franklin appeared in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine on 17 September 2008. On 29 November 2008 the church collapsed upon itself and, with it, all visible evidence of Anthochori's material existence ended. By the mid-2009 all that once was the village of Anthochori was gone, its buildings leveled, and its earth scraped out to extract lignite. It is claimed that the demolition of Anthochori marks the final expansion of the lignite mine which, in turn, signals the beginning of the end for the Megalopolis thermo-electric power plant.

An internet "ghost"

At least until the end of 2009 Anthochori was still mentioned in some maps, including

MapQuest MapQuest (stylized as mapquest) is an American free online web mapping service. It was launched in 1996 as the first commercial web mapping service. MapQuest vies for market share with competitors such as Google Maps and Here. History MapQuest's ...

, while satellite images have yet to show the expansion of the lignite mine over the area that used to be Anthochori. For example, when accessed on 15 November 2009,

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

still used a detailed satellite photo taken on 26 August 2003, where Anthochori's buildings and original geography are clearly visible. This satellite picture can be foun
here

Anthochori's demolition in the media

Megalopolis' mine expansion was featured on a TV documentary on April 7, 2006. This documentary was produced by the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation ( ERT). In 2008, ''Time'' magazine published a short article under the title "Europe's changing places" which used a dramatic photo of Anthochori's main church - the Presentation of the Virgin to the Temple (Greek: Τα Εισόδια της Θεοτόκου) - taken by world famous British photographer Stuart Franklin in 2007. In this picture the church stands alone on a tall "column" of soil, as the sole survivor of the demolished village at the time. This picture is included in Stuart Franklin's boo
''Footprint: Our Landscape in Flux''
The same picture was included in a presentation of Stuart Franklin's work in the ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

'' newspaper,"Highlights from Stuart Franklin's Footprint: Our Landscape in Flux"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. 28 October 2008. accompanied by the following note by the photographer:

To the ancient Greeks, Arcadia was a rural idyll. Instead of a lush, bucolic landscape, I found one devastated by the hunt for fossil fuels. Sixty per cent of Greece's electricity is derived from lignite (brown coal). This involves bulldozing whole landscapes to feed the nearby power station. In Megalopolis I found Greece's second largest lignite mine. The village of Anthohori in Arcadia was wiped off the map - the church of Santa Maria was all that remained.

Photos of Anthochori and its surroundings

Population

References

External links

Anthochori on GTP Travel Pages

entry i

* Reference to Anthochori i

Συλλογος Περιβάλλον και Πολιτισμός του Δήμου Κηρέως, accessed 16 November 2009 {{Megalopoli Populated places in Arcadia, Peloponnese Megalopolis, Greece