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Administrative Region : Thessaly
Regional unit : Larissa

Elassona (Greek: Ελασσώνα; older form: Elasson Ἐλασσών) is a town and a municipality in the Larissa peripheral unit in Greece. During antiquity Elassona was called Oloosson - Ὀλοοσσών and was a town of the ancient "Perrhaebi", known today as Thessaly. It is situated at the foot of Mount Olympus. Elassona is bypassed by the GR-3 (Larissa - Kozani - Florina).

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History

Unlike the rest of Thessaly, Elassona and the northern half of Thessaly did not join Greece in 1881 as its battle for Greek annexation was unvictorious, only in the Balkan Wars saw the area liberated from the Ottoman Turks on October 6, 1912 by the Greeks and finally annexed the municipality and the region as well as the northern part of the prefecture to Greece.

Battle of Elassona

East part of Elassona with the Elassonitis (or Elassonitikos) River

Monastery Panagia Olympiotissa

Elassona , Bridge

The Bridge of the Axios River

Municipality

Battle of Sarantaporo

The true population of the former municipality of Elassona was 12.056 in 2001. The districts are

Elassona / Δ.δ. Ελασσόνας [ 7762 ]
- Elassona / η Ελασσώνα [ 7233 ]
- Agioneri / το Αγιονέριον [ 66 ]
- Aetorrachi / η Αετορράχη [ 128 ]
- Mikro Eleftherochori / το Μικρόν Ελευθεροχώριον [ 335 ]
Valanida / Δ.δ. Βαλανίδας [ 892 ]
- Valanida / η Βαλανίδα [ 742 ]
- Kleisoura / η Κλεισούρα [ 150 ]
Galanovrysi / Δ.δ. Γαλανόβρυσης -- η Γαλανόβρυση [ 509 ]
Drymos / Δ.δ. Δρυμού -- ο Δρυμός [ 733 ]
Evangelismos Elassonas / Δ.δ. Ευαγγελισμού Ελασσόνος -- ο Ευαγγελισμός [ 840 ]
Kefalovryso / Δ.δ. Κεφαλοβρύσου -- το Κεφαλόβρυσον [ 321 ]
Palaiokastro / Δ.δ. Παλαιοκάστρου -- το Παλαιόκαστρον [ 365 ]
Stafanovouno / Δ.δ. Στεφανοβούνου [ 634 ]
- Stafanovouno / το Στεφανόβουνον [ 609 ]
- Lefki / η Λεύκη [ 25 ]

Aetorrachi is a village founded by refuges from Sevasteia from Pontos. It was earlier known as Velesniko

Agioneri is a small village in the past known as Tsernilo

Kefalovryso is a village c. 12 km from Elassona, population 321 mainly farmers

Palaiokastro is a village c. 16 km from Elassona, population 365. Palaiokastro which means old castle is named after two castles in the region of which some ruins exist.

Valanida is a village c. 15 km from Elassona. It is named after the Oak Trees in the region. Churches: Agioi Anargyroi from 1647

Tsaritsani / Δ.δ. Τσαριτσάνης -- η Τσαρίτσανη [ 2.507 ] was until 15.3.2006 part of the municipality, now a community of Elassona

The new municipality Elassona was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 9 former municipalities, that became municipal units:[1]

Antichasia
Elassona
Karya
Livadi
Olympos
Potamia
Sarantaporo
Tsaritsani
Verdikousa

Subdivisions Elassona (Elassona, Agioneri, Aetorrachi, Mikro Eleftherochori)
Drymos
Evangelismos
Galanovrysi
Kefalovryso
Palaiokastro
Stefanovouno (Stefanovouno, Lefki)

Municipal changes

Until March 15, 2006, Tsaritsani was part of the municipality (now municipal unit) of Elassonas and functioned as a municipal district. Under the law 3448/15-3-2006, Tsaritsani got separated from the municipality and declared a commune. The loss of its population and land leaves the remaining municipality with an adjusted 2001 census population of 12,056 and a land area of 291.097 km².

Population

(Statistics, 1981-2001)
Year Town population Municipal district population Municipality population
1981 7,146 - -
1991 7,225 - 15,637
2001 7,233 7,762 14,563

Geography

Its geography includes farmlands in the valley areas, the mountains to the west and east and forests in the west and east as well as grasslands, ledges are to be founded in some areas and barren area in the higher elevations.

The river Elassonitis (or Elassonitikos) and the Titarisio flow through Elassona and they both pour into the Pineios River, Thessaly's longest river. The river divides the town into two parts, the older city which is built on the Olympiotissa hill and is also Varosi or Varossi (Βαρόσι), and into the new sity which is in the right side of the bank of the river. These two parts of the city are connected by four bridges. The other part is near the Kefalovrysi Lake.

Transportation

Elassona is linked with the old GR-3 and is bypassed to the east. Elassona is located 70 km southwest of Katerini, 38 km NNW of Larissa (old: about 50 km), 22 km NW of Tyrnavos (old: 30 km), east of Deskati and Grevena and 78 km ESE of Kozani.

References

^ Kallikratis law Greece Ministry of Interior (Greek)

Municipalities and communities of the Larissa Prefecture