Ano Syros (, “Upper Syros”) is a town and a former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

on the island of

Syros Syros ( ), also known as Siros or Syra, is a Greece, Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is south-east of Athens. The area of the island is and at the 2021 census it had 21,124 inhabitants. The largest towns are Ermoupoli, Ano S ...

, in the

Cyclades The CYCLADES computer network () was a French research network created in the early 1970s. It was one of the pioneering networks experimenting with the concept of packet switching and, unlike the ARPANET, was explicitly designed to facilitate i ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Syros-Ermoupoli, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit includes the uninhabited islands Gyaros (lying to the northwest of Syros) and Varvaroúsa. Population 3,611 (2021 census); land area . The municipal unit shares the island of Sýros with the municipal units of

Ermoupoli Ermoupoli (), also known by the formal older name Ermoupolis or Hermoupolis ( < "Town of Hermes"), is a town and former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality on the island of Syros, in the Cyclades, Greece. Since the 2011 loca ...

and Poseidonia.

History

Ano Syros is the medieval settlement of Syros. It was built during the late

Byzantine era The Byzantine calendar, also called the Roman calendar, the Creation Era of Constantinople or the Era of the World (, also or ; 'Roman year since the creation of the universe', abbreviated as ε.Κ.), was the calendar used by the Eastern Orth ...

or early

Frankokratia The Frankish Occupation (; anglicized as ), also known as the Latin Occupation () and, for the Venetian domains, Venetian Occupation (), was the period in Greek history after the Fourth Crusade (1204), when a number of primarily French ...

. It is a classical cycladic medieval settlement that is densely built with narrow roads, circular order and a radial street plan. Its overall landscape resembles a fortified citadel. Ano Syros is inhabited by

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Greeks. The reason for it is the long period of Frankokratia in Syros that started immediately after the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

. Frankokratia ended during the 16th century but the Catholics of Syros came under French protection and Catholicism survived in the island. After founding of nearby Hermoupolis, Ano Syros ceased to be the administrative centre of Syros. Nevertheless, the settlement remained a religious centre since it is the seat of Roman Catholic Diocese of Syros and Milos. During WW2 the city was occupied by the Italians, who wanted to create an Italian province with administrative capital in Ano Syros:

Places of interest

*Church of Saint George (Agios Georgios): This Catholic church is atop the hill of Ano Syros. It was originally built in 1208 but has been destroyed three times since and has been rebuilt. *Capuchin monastery: It is a catholic monastery that was founded in 1637. *Vamvakaris museum: It is a museum dedicated to

Markos Vamvakaris Markos Vamvakaris (; 10 May 1905 – 8 February 1972), was a Greek musician of ''rebetiko'', universally referred to by ''rebetiko'' writers and fans simply by his first name, Markos. The great significance of Vamvakaris for the rebetiko is als ...

Twin towns — sister cities

Ano Syros is twinned with: * Gołdap,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

since 2000. * Grillon,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

since 1994.

People

Gallery

File:View from Ano Syros 1.jpg, View of Ermoupoli from Ano Syros File:Ano Syros 2.jpg, Laneway in Ano Syros File:View from Ano Syros 3.jpg, View inland from Ano Syros File:Ano Syros Agios Georgios Catholic Church.jpg, Inside the Agios Georgios Catholic Church

References

External links

Official website
Populated places in Syros {{SouthAegean-geo-stub