Livadochori, Limnos

Greece Greece

Administrative Region : North Aegean
Regional unit : Limnos

Livadochori 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 Nea Koutali. It used to belong to the prefecture of Lesvos.

Location - Name

Livadochori is located in the most central part of the island, exactly at the place where the roads that come from Myrina and Kontia and lead to the eastern Lemnos intersect.

It is obvious that its name came from the extensive plain that surrounds it, a part of which belongs to the community estate "Metropolis" of the Pallimni School School.

The name Livadochoriion or Livatochorion has been mentioned since 1355 in documents of the Philotheos Monastery of Mount Athos. Since then, the presence of the village has been regular on maps or traveler's texts, called Livadochorio, suggesting that during the intervening centuries it continued to exist under the same name. It is mentioned: in 1418 on a map of Buondelmonti, in 1548 in a text by Belon, in 1554 on a woodcut by Thevet, in 1695 by Vincenzo Coronelli, in 1785 on a map by Auguste de Souzel Goufie and in 1858 by Alexander Kontze.

Turkish rule

During the years of Turkish rule, it was a village in Kefalonia and was considered one of the largest villages in Lemnos. Apart from Greeks, Ottoman agades also lived in the village, supervising their agricultural properties. In 1548, which was visited by Belon, it was fortified and was the seat of the voivode of the island, which invited him to dinner with Ottomans and Greek inhabitants of the area, with whom he had harmonious relations.

It is not known if the village was in its current location, because according to local tradition it was previously built west, between the chapels of Ag. Ioannis and Ag. Basil, until an epidemic forced residents to move to their current location. In 1740 Le Quien mentions it as a town.

It is known that the fighters of the twentieth century, Pantelis Marinakis and Apostolis Limnios, came from Livadochori, who in 1824 and 1825 fought in the Arcadia-Niokastro campaign under the orders of Vassos Mavrovouniotis.

In 1858 it was visited by the German archaeologist Conze, who noticed that it was a large village but half-ruined. He writes characteristically, that in the whole village he found only a manicured orchard! It was the time when Greek shipowners and immigrants began to buy Ottoman property and Ottoman landowners began to settle in the capital Castro, leaving their homes in the village deserted.

We know from the community records that in 1854 a settlement was established with a priest named Antonios. In 1856 he had 63 conscripts, who paid 989 groschen to avoid enlistment. The village was inhabited by 45 Christian families in 1863 and 55 in 1874. In the same year there were 59 houses. The village was part of the Kontia town hall (koli) and the inhabitants sent a representative to the Pallimnia provincial assembly.

The Church
Agia Marina
Livadochori High School

The church of Agia Marina was built in 1894 on the site of an older one. It was completed in 1905 "with the help of the inhabitants", according to a relevant inscription. It has a simple construction, basilica style with a gabled roof and a separate bell tower. In 1912 it was painted by Grigorios Papamalis.
The school

A school in the village was soon established after the students were served by the school founded by Doukas Paleologos in nearby Sarpi since 1868.

Finally, in 1894, a one-class school (kindergarten) was founded with the first teacher, Heliotifisti Panteli-Kakiadou (1894-1901), which until 1910 was housed in various houses, such as: cafe, gynaikonitis, temple cells, etc.

In 1910 a school was built at the expense of the Egyptians Sarantis and Paleologos from Kornos and the school became community. In 1918 a single-seat primary school was established, which was upgraded to a two-seat one from 1927 to 1970, when it became a single-seat school again. It operated until the late 1980s, when it closed due to a lack of students.

The village school was taught by: Komninos Achiladellis (1914-22), Georgios Karagiannis (1932-39), Maria Antonaki (1933-45), Charalambos Vafeas (1939-63), Spyros Moustakas (local, 1941, 1950). -63), Stella Konstantinou (1947-70), Fani Moustaka et al.
Interwar

In 1918 Livadochori was a separate community, which included for a few years the settlements of Strati (until 1928, when it was abolished) and Kourouni (until 1940, which joined the community of Leron).

During the interwar years, the village experienced little growth. In 1922, an aqueduct and a fountain were built at a cost of 200,000 drachmas by the brothers Nikolaos and Komninos Halamandari and "assistance of Livadochorites of America and Egypt and personal residents" according to the relevant inscription.

In 1928 it had 516 inhabitants, among whom were several refugees, mainly employed in agriculture and animal husbandry. In the surrounding fertile plains there were large farms and meadows and in 1938 production of 480,000 tons of grain and 30,000 tons of cotton was reported. There was a flour mill and a cotton gin.

The school was two-seater and had 46 boys and 54 girls. Since 1929, the doctor Evangelos Komninos, a native of Kalliopi, who had studied in Athens and Paris, had settled in the village.

Also, in the summer of 1931, the strong football team "Olympia Livadochoriou" is mentioned, which achieved two important victories away from home against "Triumph of Portianos" with 3-0 and "Keravnos Atsikis" with 3-2 led by Lampadarios, Stavrino and Dandoudi.
Post-war period

After the war, the village shrank dramatically due to immigration. While it had 604 inhabitants in 1951, only 266 remained in 1981, of which 63 were residents of the neighboring Poliochni settlement, which has since been recorded as a separate settlement. In 2001, together with Poliochni, 474 people were registered in Livadochori as an indication of a population recovery.

Despite the lack of facilities, the village is still a transportation hub, has a gas station, entertainment centers and rooms to let. At the same time, it maintains its picturesqueness with the cobbled streets, the stone houses and the beautiful square. Since 1989, the Livadochori High School has been operating, which serves the students of central Lemnos.
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.
Th. Belitsou, "Historical journey to Lemnos: Livadochori", ed. Lemnos, f. 531 (10/6/2008).
"LIMNOS: Historical & Cultural Heritage", published by G. Konstantellis, 2010.

Community Livadochori
Livadochori (Λιβαδοχώρι, το)
Poliochni (Πολιόχνη, η)