Bularat ( sq-definite, Bularati; el, Βουλιαράτες;

romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

''Vouliarátes'') is a village in

Gjirokastër County Gjirokastër County ( sq, Qarku i Gjirokastrës) is one of the 12 counties of Albania. The total population in 2021 was 58,031, in an area of 2884 km². Its capital is the city Gjirokastër. Administrative divisions Until 2000, Gjirokastër ...

, southern

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality of

Dropull Dropull ( sq-definite, Dropulli; el, Δρόπολη or Δερόπολη ''Dropoli'' or ''Deropoli'') is a municipality in Gjirokastër County, in southern Albania. The region stretches from south of the city of Gjirokastër to the Greek–Albani ...

. It is inhabited solely by

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

. It is located just 6 km away from the Greek-Albanian border.

Name

Its name contains the Albanian suffix -at, widely used to form toponyms from personal names and surnames.

History

Archeological findings (clay objects) discovered in 1979 prove that the village has been continuously inhabited since the 3rd century BC. The village has a 16th century

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

church, St. Athanasios.Αγαθοκλής Παναγούλιας
Πεσόντες του 40
Η δοξολογία, 30 October 2016. A battle occurred near the village during the

Greco-Italian War The Greco-Italian War (Greek language, Greek: Ελληνοϊταλικός Πόλεμος, ''Ellinoïtalikós Pólemos''), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian Campaign in Greece, and the War of '40 in Greece, took place between the kingdom ...

, which resulted in a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

victory with 15 casualties and 130 wounded (on the Greek side). Following the capture of the village and its surroundings by Greek forces, a temporary hospital was established to heal wounded soldiers, of whom 60 eventually died however. A military graveyard was also erected, for casualties of other nearby battles. This is still open to the public today. The first school was established in the 1700s. It was repaired in 1830 by donations from wealthy Georgios Kouremenos, the name of which was found on an inscription of a slab. In 1905, a girls-only school was established from expenses of architect Vasilakos Kouremenos. In 1935, Albanian authorities temporarily closed the school, resulting in reactions from locals, following clashes with the Albanian gendarmerie on 17 June. In 1993, Albanian authorities arrested the mayor of the village due to offence caused by waving of Greek flags in the village during annual celebrations commemorating Greece's entry to World War II.Central and South-Eastern Europe 2003
By Imogen Bell, p. 72.

Demographics

According to the local newspaper, , the village had 1,308 inhabitants in 1912. According to a 1995 research, the village had 833 inhabitants, all of which were ethnically Greeks.

Notable individuals

*Vasileios Kouremenos ( el), architect and professor of the

National Technical University of Athens The National (Metsovian) Technical University of Athens (NTUA; el, Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο, ''National Metsovian Polytechnic''), sometimes known as Athens Polytechnic, is among the oldest higher education institution ...

*Konstantinos Katsifas ( el), builder; killed by Albanian authorities on 28 October 2018

References

Bibliography

* Γεώργιος Γ. Καλυβόπουλος, Χρήστος Γ. Καλυβόπουλος, ''«Μπουλιαράτι Δερόπολη». Ιστορία - Λαϊκός Πολιτισμός'', Athens 1975 * Αγαθοκλής Πρ. Παναγούλιας, ''Όσοι δε γύρισαν από το μέτωπο: Αναφορά στους πεσόντες του Ελληνικού στρατού που φιλοξενεί το στρατιωτικό νεκροταφείο Βουλιαρατίου'', έκδοση: Αγαθοκλής Πρ. Παναγούλιας, Athens 2002 * Σύνδεσμος Συνταξιούχων Ελληνοδάσκαλων Εθνικής Ελληνικής Μειονότητας Νομού Αργυροκάστρου, ''Τα Πανάρχαια ελληνικά χωριά του Νομού Αργυροκάστρου'', Ioannina 2009

External links

Different views of Voularati
{{Greeks in Albania Villages in Gjirokastër County Greek communities in Albania