Katalakko, Limnos

Katalakko is a village of Lemnos. Administratively it belongs to the Municipality of Lemnos of the North Aegean Region (Kallikratis program).

From 1999 to 2010, according to the then administrative division of Greece, it was the seat of the homonymous municipal district of the Municipality of Atsiki. It used to belong to the prefecture of Lesvos.

It is located in the northwestern mountainous region of the island and has 116 inhabitants (2001). The uninhabited island of Sergitsi, located opposite Cape Agrilia on the north coast of Lemnos, also belongs to the municipal district of Katalakko.

Name-Position

The name of the village is due to the place where it is built, at the bottom of a ravine (pit). It is so well hidden that the visitor does not see it until it reaches the edge of the adjacent hill.

The place name is sometimes pronounced as masculine: Katalakkos and sometimes as neutral: Katalakkon. It is probably the Byzantine settlement of Katapotamon (the), which is mentioned in 1284 and 1355 in census minutes of the monastery of the Great Lavra of Mount Athos.
The stock "Gomati"

Before moving here to protect themselves from piracy, many residents lived on the north coast of the island as settlers in monastic estates at Gomati (to) or Gomatou (his). In Gomati there was the monastery of the Virgin Mary, independent until the 12th century and then part of the Great Lavra.

Gomatou Monastery, which was annexed to the Great Lavra, is also mentioned in Halkidiki in the 10th and 11th centuries. The Byzantine general Gormatos owned properties in the area, which he donated to the monastery and thus came the place name. In 1284 it was considered the richest share of the Lavra with a fortune of 19,000 points.

In 1304 the Great Lavra had other properties in the surrounding areas, mainly from donations, as can be seen from the toponyms: Kaletzikas, Fouskis, Chrysippou, Parikos, Tzoukalaria and Kaminia.

In 1565 a patriarchal document mentions as estates of the Lavra "Agios Kirikos, the one close to Gomatos and Panagia tou Gomatou". These properties are also confirmed in newer documents of 1615 and 1631, to which it is added that they belonged to the monastery before the Fall of the City. The monastery of Saints Kirikos and Ioulitis in the south of Gomatos was also independent before it became part of the Lavra.

In July 1858, the German archaeologist Conze visited the Gomato metochi and spent the night in it with his entourage. He found a dwarf monk who welcomed them. There was also a monk, a housekeeper, who also supervised the deserted share of Haraka on behalf of Lavra. Also, various men and women worked in the metochi as auxiliary staff, perhaps unpaid, because he describes them as "slaves".

In 1856-59 Gomati was taxed in the royal installments with 300 grosis. Until 1928, two monks lived in the metochi. At that time it owned an area of ​​4,000 acres, which was expropriated and distributed to residents of the villages of Sardes and Katalakko.

In the period 1940-51 Gomation was a separate settlement of the then community of Katalakko.

Medieval monuments

Among the medieval remains of the area is the Paleokastro of Sfougaras in the bay of Gomatos, which is mentioned from 1284 in documents of the Great Lavra as a limit of the possessions of the shareholder there. Today it is called Mikro Kasteli and a prehistoric settlement has been located in the area, which has not yet been extensively excavated.

Another castle, probably post-Byzantine, exists on a hill two hundred meters west of the village, which dominates the lowland area between the village and the Gomati bay. According to Costas Kontellis, this castle communicated with frying pans with a series of towers and castles that were located closer to the shores. So there was a complete defense network in case of raids.

Historical reports

Until the middle of the 19th century, we have no information about Katalakkos, since the older travelers were not interested in non-coastal villages. However, Katalakkos was a settlement. From the community records we know that in 1854 the village had a priest named Constantine. In 1856 he had 161 enlisted men, who paid 5,152 groschen to avoid enlistment.

In 1858, Conze visited it, noting it on his map as Katalako. In 1863, 92 families were registered, which had become 95 in 1874, a sample of small population growth. Also in 1874 there were 113 houses. That same year he reportedly belonged to the Sardis town hall.
The temple

The church of the village, Agios Modestos, was built in 1856 at the expense and work of the inhabitants. It has a simple gabled roof and inside it dominates the colorful wood-carved shields, works of the early 20th century.

Saint Modestus is considered the protector of animals and at his festival, on December 18, there was a big pilgrimage by the Kechagians of the surrounding areas, who came in the evening and spent the night there.

The school

From 1896 a one-class school operated in the village, which became community in 1905. It housed a building near the church until 1930 when a new faculty was built. Also, the village had a house for the teacher, which was donated by Charalambos Zonaras or Tseridis. In 1919, a six-seater elementary school was established, which was upgraded to a two-seater in the period 1959-70. It operated until the early 1990s.

Among others, Papa-Thanasis (before 1909), Spyros Georgiadis (1916-23), Papa-Spyros Babasikas (1925-29), Achilleus Christodoulou (1930-35), Lazaros Giotopoulos (1934-46 and 1952) taught at the school. -57), Argyro Lappa (1960-63), Vaios Rigopoulos (1963-67), Ioannis Papaporfyriou (1967-76), Gabriel Goudelis (1967-70), Costas Kontellis and others.

Population

In 1918 the village became a community, in which in 1928 292 people were enumerated.

The population, mostly rural, reached 386 in 1961 but then declined sharply due to migration.

In 2001, only 116 people were registered. The population of the island today [2013] does not exceed 55 inhabitants. [Permanent residents]
Sights
Gomati Beach "

Sights of unique beauty of the area that attract many visitors and idiosyncratic ecosystems are:

Ammothines, a sandy area of ​​70 acres off the coast.
The Thick Sands, where the protected flower grows in August: sea lily or Panagia lily, as they say in Lemnos.
Gomatou or Gomati bay, with extensive sandy beach and medieval remains.

Bibliography

Tourptsoglou-Stefanidou Vassiliki, "Travel and geographical texts for the island of Lemnos (15th-20th century)", Thessaloniki 1986.
Cdrom District of Lemnos: "Lemnos Beloved".
Th. Belitsou, Lemnos and its villages, 1994.
Costa Kontelli, The castles of Lemnos, pp. 151-154.
"LIMNOS: Historical & Cultural Heritage", published by G. Konstantellis, 2010.

See also: Limnos, island

Municipal unit Atsiki
Community Agios Dimitrios
Agios Dimitrios (Άγιος Δημήτριος, ο)
Community Atsiki
Atsiki (Ατσική, η)
Propouli (Προπούλιον, το)
Community Varos
Αερολιμήν, ο
Varos (Βάρος, το)
Community Dafni
Dafni (Δάφνη, η)
Community Karpasi
Karpasi (Καρπάσιον, το)
Community Katalakko
Katalakko (Κατάλακκον, το)
Sergitsi (Σεργίτσι, το (νησίς))
Community Sardes
Sardes (Σαρδαί, αι)

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