Nymfaio ( el, Νυμφαίο, before 1926: Νέβεσκα - ''Neveska'', rup, Nevesca) and in

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

: Νυμφαῖον or Νύμφαιον (9th century bc), is a village and a former

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

in Florina regional unit,

Western Macedonia Western Macedonia ( el, Δυτική Μακεδονία, translit=Ditikí Makedonía, ) is one of the thirteen Modern regions of Greece, regions of Greece, consisting of the western part of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia. Located in north-western ...

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 ...

. After the 2011 local government reform it became a member of the municipality

Amyntaio Amyntaio ( el, Αμύνταιο, before 1928: Σόροβιτς - ''Sorovits''; Bulgarian/ Macedonian: Суровичево, Сорович), is a town and municipality in the Florina regional unit of Macedonia, Greece. The population of Amyntaio p ...

. The municipal unit has an area of 28.209 km². As of 2011 the village had a population of 132 residents. The village is protected by the

Hellenic Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture and Sports ( el, Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Αθλητισμού) is the government department of Greece entrusted with preserving the country's cultural heritage, promoting the arts, and overseeing s ...

in order to preserve its architectural integrity.

Name

First mentioned in an Ottoman

defter A ''defter'' (plural: ''defterler'') was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire. Description The information collected could vary, but ''tahrir defterleri'' typically included details of villages, dwellings, household ...

in 1481, the village, then known as ''Neveska'', had only six households. The name of the town in Aromanian (Vlach) is ''Nevesca'' from the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

(Doric) ''νυφεοσσ''´, meaning ''snowy, snowclad''.

Geography

Nymfaio is a mountain village, situated at 1350 m elevation in the densely forested

Verno Verno ( el, Βέρνο) or Vitsi ( el, Βίτσι) is a forested mountain range in the southern part of the Florina and the northeastern part of the Kastoria regional units in Western Macedonia, northern Greece. The elevation of its highest peak ...

mountains. It is 3 km north of Sklithro, 5 km west of Aetos, 16 km west of

and 17 km southeast of

Florina Florina ( el, Φλώρινα, ''Flórina''; known also by some alternative names) is a town and municipality in the mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece. Its motto is, 'Where Greece begins'. The town of Florina is the capital of the F ...

History

Nymfaio, or ''Neveska'' as it was called then, was settled around 1385 by

Vlach "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Eastern ...

travellers, who fled into the mountains after heavy battles with the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

. The fighters of Neveska capitulated conditionally: they remained armed and autonomous, directly ruled by

Valide sultan #REDIRECT Valide sultan #REDIRECT Valide sultan {{redirect category shell, {{R from move{{R from miscapitalization{{R unprintworthy ...

{{redirect category shell, {{R from move{{R from miscapitalization{{R unprintworthy ...

Demographics

In fieldwork done by Riki Van Boeschoten in late 1993, Nymfaio was populated by

Aromanians The Aromanians ( rup, Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an Ethnic groups in Europe, ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian language, Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Alba ...

. Table 3: Nimfeo, 158; V; V = Valaques (Aroumains)"

Culture

Sights

Nymfaio hosts a Museum of Gold and Silver-smithery, Folklore, and History, inaugurated in 2000 and located in a traditional building in the centre of the village. It displays furniture, artisan jewelry, and religious silverware. There are also showcases displaying authentic costumes as well as photographs and other memorabilia of the

Macedonian Struggle The Macedonian Struggle ( bg, Македонска борба; el, Μακεδονικός Αγώνας; mk, Борба за Македонија; sr, Борба за Македонију; tr, Makedonya Mücadelesi) was a series of social, po ...

, including letters written by leaders of the Macedonian Struggle as

Pavlos Melas Pavlos Melas ( el, Παύλος Μελάς, ''Pávlos Melás''; March 29, 1870 – October 13, 1904) was a Greek revolutionary and artillery officer of the Hellenic Army. He participated in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and was amongst the first ...

and

Germanos Karavangelis Germanos Karavangelis ( el, Γερμανός Καραβαγγέλης, also transliterated as ''Yermanos'' and ''Karavaggelis'' or ''Karavagelis'', 1866–1935) was known for his service as Metropolitan Bishop of Kastoria and later Amaseia, Pont ...

. The

Environmental Centre ARCTUROS Environmental Centre ARCTUROS ( el, Περιβαλλοντικό Κέντρο του ΑΡΚΤΟΥΡΟΥ) commonly known as Arcturos, is a Greek ecological organization whose main activity is the preservation of the brown bear and its habitats, whi ...

is active in the area, and manages an environmental protection center for brown bears and wolves one-and-a-half kilometres from the village. The center is home to 13 bears and several wolves that were believed too weak to survive in the wild. The information centre is open to the public for several months of the year. There are currently 6 functioning hotels in Nymfaio, as well as an Orthodox Church. Next to the church is an old cemetery dating to the 18th and 19th centuries.

People

* Giannis Boutaris, mayor of

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

* Nikolaos Mertzos, diplomat * Dimitrios Golnas, chieftain of the

References

External links

*A photographic council with a Creative Commons licenc
Νυμφαίο
{{Amyntaio div Populated places in Florina (regional unit) Former municipalities in Western Macedonia Aromanian settlements in Greece Amyntaio