Agios Germanos

Agios Germanos, ( el, Άγιος Γερμανός), is a village in the Prespes Municipality in West Macedonia, Greece. Agios Germanos is located at an altitude of approximately 1,100 meters (3,606 feet), on a hillside, part of the Varnoundas Mountains. It is from the Prespes lakes, which can be seen from a panorama location of the village. Agios Germanos lies from Florina, and from Kastoria.

Name

Until 1926, the village was known as ''German'' ( gr, Γέρμαν). In Macedonian and Bulgarian, it is known as Герман, ''German'' and the name of the settlement comes from the old village church ''Sveti German'' ( Saint Germanus). In Albanian, the village is called Gjerman. The modern Greek name Agios Germanos means "Saint Germanus".

Features

The village is the only village in the Prespes region that has preserved all of the old stone houses. The Byzantine church that forms the nucleus of the present village dates to the beginning of the 11th century. It has very interesting frescos painted in three different phases. Nearby, the church of Agios Athanasios was built at the end of the 18th century.

The village is especially known among tourists for hiking, bird watching and the Agios Germanos river with falls, which has the endangered species of Prespa trout. Agios Germanos river is on the northeast of the village. One can also see the restored water mills along the river.

Following the paths, one can reach the impressive mixed fir-beech forests, and the summits of Kitsevo or Despotiko (2,177m). The Sarakatsani, nomadic shepherds from Thessaly, have the tradition of bringing their herds to graze on these mountains every year from May to October.

Just north of the village is an early 20th-century church built by Steven Doinidis. This church is kept up by the villagers, who number just over 200 as of 2008.

Demographics

According to Bosnian ethnographer Stefan Verković, in 1889 the village had 213 households and a population of 1016 Bulgarians.Стефан Веркович
''Топографическо-этнографический очерк Македонии''.
СПб, 1889. с. 302 In 1900, 680 Slavonic speaking Christians and 125 Albanian Muslims lived in the village. In 1905 the population had gone up to 1250 with 90 of them being Arnauts (Albanians) and the rest – Bulgarians.D.M. Brancoff
''La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne''.
Paris, 1905. р.170

The Greek census (1920) recorded 1549 people in the village and in 1923 there were 135 inhabitants (or 17 families) who were Muslim. The Albanian village population was present until 1926 when it was replaced with ''prosfiges'' (Greek refugees), due to the Greek-Turkish population exchange. A separate neighbourhood of the village named ''Shaoftsi'' ( mk, Шаофци) was inhabited by Muslims and later repopulated by Greek refugees. "Герман... Пред селото имало маало Шаофци во кое жибееле мусл., а потоа Просвиги. Во 1900 год. во селото имало 680 М. и 125 мусл. А. Сега живеат во селото само ок. 20 мак. фамили. Во селото се наога црква Св. Герман... Името е примарно, меморијално, дадено по името на црквата." In 1926, there were 909 refugee families from Asia Minor in the village. The Greek census (1928) recorded 162 village inhabitants. After the Greek Civil War, the Macedonian speaking population decreased and in their place Aromanians and Greeks settled in the village. "Во 1900 год. само во с. Роби, Попли и Герман имало Албанци, на чие место во 1926 год. дошле Просвиги. По револуцијата мак. население по селата е познато помало, на местото од исбеганите Македонци се дојдени Власи и Грци." The Aromanians originated from Giannitsa and the region of Epirus. "1,700 Vlach nomad pastoralists were resettled in Prespa. Those from Epirus and Yiannitsa were resettled in Ayios Germanos and Kallithea" In the early 1970s, some 20 Christian Macedonian-speaking families resided in the village.

Agios Germanos had 237 inhabitants in 1981. In fieldwork done by Riki Van Boeschoten in late 1993, Agios Germanos was populated by Aromanians, Slavophones and a Greek population descended from Anatolian Greek refugees who arrived during the Greek-Turkish population exchange. The Macedonian language was used by people of all ages, both in public and private settings, and as the main language for interpersonal relationships. Some elderly villagers had little knowledge of Greek. The Aromanian language was spoken in the village by people over 30 in public and private settings. Children understood the language, but mostly did not use it. Table 1: Réfugiés grecs; Footnote 2: Le terme « réfugié » est utilisé ici pour désigner les Grecs d’Asie Mineure qui se sont établis en Grèce dans les années vingt après l’échange de population entre la Turquie et la Grèce (Traité de Lausanne, 1924). Table 3: Agios Germanos, 237; V, S, R, M1, V2; V = Valaques (Aroumains), S = Slavophones, R = Refugiés, M = macédonien, V = valaque (aroumain)"

Gallery

File:View from garden in Agios Germanos.JPG, Across Agios Germanos looking toward Small Prespa Lake
File:View from Room in Ag Germanos.JPG, Agios Germanos with Small Prespa Lake in the background

References

External links

Prespes website

{{Authority control

Populated places in Florina (regional unit)