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Agios Germanos

Άγιος Γερμανός
Agios Germanos Άγιος Γερμανός
Community
	Agios Germanos church
	Agios Germanos
	Coordinates: 40°50.18′N 21°09.32′E / 40.83633°N 21.15533°E
Country	Greece
Administrative region	West Macedonia
Regional unit	Florina
Municipality	Prespes
Municipal unit	Prespes
Elevation	1,040 m (3,410 ft)
Population (2021)
• Community	161
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Agios Germanos, (Greek: Άγιος Γερμανός), is a village in the Prespes Municipality in West Macedonia, Greece. Agios Germanos is located at an altitude of approximately 1,040 m (3,410 ft), on a hillside, part of the Varnous Mountains. It is 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) from the Prespes lakes, which can be seen from a panorama location of the village. Agios Germanos lies 45 km (28 mi) from Florina, and 44 km (27 mi) from Kastoria.

Name

Until 1926, the village was known as German (Greek: Γέρμαν).^[2] 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).^[3] In Albanian, the village is called Gjerman.^[4] 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.^[5] In 1900, 680 Slavonic speaking Christians and 125 Albanian Muslims lived in the village.^[3] In 1905 the population had gone up to 1250 with 90 of them being Arnauts (Albanians) and the rest – Bulgarians.^[6]

The 1920 Greek census recorded 1,549 people in the village, and 135 inhabitants (17 families) were Muslim in 1923.^[7] The Albanian village population was present until 1926 when it was replaced with prosfiges (Greek refugees),^[8] due to the Greek–Turkish population exchange. A separate neighbourhood of the village named Shaoftsi (Macedonian: Шаофци) was inhabited by Muslims and later repopulated by Greek refugees.^[3] In 1926, 909 Greek refugee families in the village were from Asia Minor.^[7] The 1928 Greek census recorded 162 village inhabitants.^[7] After the Greek Civil War, the Macedonian speaking population decreased and in their place Aromanians and Greeks settled in the village.^[8] The Aromanians originated from Giannitsa and the region of Epirus.^[9] In the early 1970s, some 20 Christian Macedonian-speaking families resided in the village.^[3]

Agios Germanos had 237 inhabitants in 1981.^[10] In fieldwork done by anthropologist 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.^[10] The Macedonian language was used by people of all ages, both in public and private settings, and as the main language for interpersonal relationships.^[10] Some elderly villagers had little knowledge of Greek.^[10] The Aromanian language was spoken in the village by people over 30 in public and private settings.^[10] Children understood the language, but mostly did not use it.^[10]

Gallery

Across Agios Germanos looking toward Small Prespa Lake
Agios Germanos with Small Prespa Lake in the background

References

^ "Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021, Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός κατά οικισμό" [Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
^ Institute for Neohellenic Research. "Name Changes of Settlements in Greece: German – Agios Germanos". Pandektis. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Włodzimierz 1970, p. 135. [1] "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."
^ Abdullai, Fejzulla (2004). Prespa: Vështrime gjeografike. Logos-A. p. 248. ISBN 9789989581526.
^ Стефан Веркович. Топографическо-этнографический очерк Македонии. СПб, 1889. с. 302 (in Russian)
^ D.M. Brancoff. La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne. Paris, 1905. р.170 (in French)
^ ^a ^b ^c Pelagidis, Efstathios (1992). Η αποκατάσταση των προσφύγων στη Δυτική Μακεδονία (1923–1930) [The rehabilitation of refugees in Western Macedonia: 1923–1930] (Ph.D.) (in Greek). Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. p. 75. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
^ ^a ^b Włodzimierz, Pianka (1970). Toponomastikata na Ohridsko-Prespanskiot bazen. Institut za makedonski jazik "Krste Misirkov". p. 134. "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."
^ Vatsikopoulos, Helen (2020). "Memories of Abandonment and Ruination in Prespa, Greek Macedonia". Journal of Modern Greek Studies. 38 (2): 430. "1,700 Vlach nomad pastoralists were resettled in Prespa. Those from Epirus and Yiannitsa were resettled in Ayios Germanos and Kallithea"
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Van Boeschoten, Riki (2001). "Usage des langues minoritaires dans les départements de Florina et d'Aridea (Macédoine)" [Use of minority languages in the departments of Florina and Aridea (Macedonia)]. Strates (in French). 10. 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)"