Anavatos Tourist Information
Anavatos is a Byzantine tower-village located in the center of Chios impressively amazing because of its situation on the top of a large granite rock at the end of a cliff. Although it is a deserted village, it still preserves its history, which is often sensed by the visitor when wondering through its stone-paved streets. The Greek War of Independence in 1821 and the massacres of 1822 were very important for the island's history.
The village of Anavatos got its name originally from the Greek word ‘‘anaveno’’, which means “I climb”. For such a difficult to reach village perched on top of a cliff, this name definitely fits. The village is built on a rocky elevation with steep sides and sheer cliffs on the south and west, so that it can only be approached from the north. This natural defenses make it probable that the village was originally founded in this site for security reasons to control the west cast during the period of piracy.
Another version, and probably a truer rendition of the founding of this village is the story told by the local people here. Tradition has it that the first settlers were the woodcutters who came to build the famous New Covent Monastery at the request of the ruler Constantine the Monomahos of Constantinople, once they had requested him to give them this land to settle a monastery. The ruler was more than happy to oblige and he even gave monetary aid for the building of their new village. The people worked hard and so they founded the new Anavatos.
However, pirate raids were to ravish the village many times, but still the people rebuilt it again. Anavatos flourished during the last centuries of the Turkish rule, but suffered severely in 1822 from the destruction by the Turks and in1881 from a devastating earthquake.
The settlement, which is now almost completely deserted, developed in the shape of an amphitheatre with the acropolis at the edge of the ravine. Quite a lot of the settlement's narrow fronted homes are preserved to give a unique picture of a ghost town in a wild evocative environment.
The church of the Taxiarchis (the Archangel) is still preserved right down to the present, dominating the crest of the acropolis. It is the only building that, from a distance, still stands out amidst this living ghost town. Not far away from the wall's gate, an imposing structure predominates among the buildings of its eastern side; it is the so-called three-store building, consisting of an olive-oil mill, a school, a water reservoir and the Church of Theotokos (the Virgin Mary).
Anavatos, the village monument with its tower-like houses, arches and steep cobbled roads, constitutes a beautiful and awe inspiring place, and the remaining homes today reveal the flavor of this lost village.
© by Chios
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