Nea Koutali, Limnos

Nea Koutali is a village in 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 Kontia. It used to belong to the prefecture of Lesvos.

It has 189 inhabitants and is 23 km from the capital of the island of Myrina.

Establishment - Position

Nea Koutali was built in 1926 at Agia Marina, on the noon slope of Strombolithos hill, for the refugees from Koutali of Propontis to settle. In the first years it belonged administratively to the community of Pesperagos (today's Pedinos). In 1947 the community of Nea Koutalis was founded, while in 1998 the village gave its name to the homonymous municipality, which, however, is based in Kontias. Together with Ag. Dimitrios, Nea Koutali is the second village of Lemnos built by the refugees of Asia Minor.

Nea Koutali is built amphitheatrically in the gulf of Moudros. It stretches from the pine forest of the Holy Trinity, which was planted by the refugees and ends at the small stone-built port, which is full of fishing boats and boats. Of all the villages of Lemnos, Nea Koutali stands out for its good roads.
Pre-war period

In 1928 Nea Koutali had 189 inhabitants. In the same year, a single-seat school operated in one house. The school was built in 1930 and in 1938 had 70 students. It became a two-seater in 1959, in 1973 it merged with the school of Neos Pedinos and was gradually upgraded to a five-seater. Important work at the school was offered by the teachers: Isidoros Damalas (1932-44), Iordanis Alevropoulos (1944-66), Stavroula Kratouni (1963-80) etc.

The village was built with modern roads, has rows of trees and is famous for the flower gardens of its houses. In 1938, 500 people lived and 75 double houses were built. The inhabitants continued the tradition they brought from their island and most of them dealt with the sea as sailors, masters, fishermen and sponges. Few were farmers. In 1938 there were 15 sponges, 50 divers and 700 ounces of sponges were exported annually worth 4 million drachmas. There were also four commercial diesel engines, three sailing ships and passenger boats carrying daily transport with Moudros. There were 160 departures from the port each year.

During this difficult period, significant assistance was provided by the United States: the Koutalian Association and the Women's Association "Rhodes the Amaranth".

Post-war period

After the war, it was one of the few villages on the island that retained its population, as the 457 inhabitants of 1951 increased to 473 in 2001! In 1954 they founded the Educational Brotherhood "Evangelismos" to strengthen education, while in the period 1980-89 in the village a High School was established to serve the villages of central Lemnos, which was then transferred to Livadochori.

Many continued to sponge by traveling across the Mediterranean. In 1963, Koutalian sponges were reported in Benghazi, Libya. One of them was written by the author George Ioannou - who was then teaching at the Greek high school there - and a risky description of him describes in his short story "For a Philotimos". That heroic era is depicted in the Museum of Maritime Tradition and Sponging, which was founded in recent years on the initiative of the then president of the Nea Koutalis community, Ioannis Moschovakis.

Society - Economy

As much as there is the inevitable assimilation with the old Lemnians, the Koutalians have maintained their special personality and distinct character on the island. They have their traditions, in their temple they keep heirlooms, ecclesiastical utensils and icons from the old Koutali, their houses with the blooming gardens stand out, offering a different color.

The village has a six-seat primary school and kindergarten. There are famous fish taverns, rooms for rent and a shellfish farm. In recent years, the wetland of the bay of N. Koutali has been gathering many nature lovers with the shallow salty swamps, while the youth is active around the Propontis football club, which has experienced distinctions in the local championship.

Nea Koutali is famous in Greece and abroad for her sponges. To this day, there is a sponge cleaning workshop, which is exported all over the world. There is also a handicraft factory for salted and organized mussel farming units. It offers the best food in Lemnos in its typical taverns.

The festival of Nea Koutali is on August 6, of Sotiros, and the whole island participates.
Monuments

Monument to the Mother of Asia Minor [1]
Statue of a refugee from Asia Minor

Maritime Tradition Museum

On July 1, 2006, the "Museum of Maritime Tradition and Spangalia" was inaugurated, presenting the naval life of the Koutalians before their uprooting by Propontis, through relics and archival photographs from their old homeland, the divers' equipment, the accessories sponge boats, sponge items, processing tools and sponge packing machines.

The museum also exhibits the archeological collection of Nea Koutali, which consists of objects collected by sponges from the depths of the sea and consists of a large collection of amphorae, other ceramic utensils, parts from ancient anchors and other small objects from ancient shipwrecks. These are amphorae dating from the Archaic to the Byzantine times. They come from various regions of the Aegean and the Mediterranean, such as: Corinth, Chios, Thassos, Rhodes, Lesvos. Also from the shores of the Adriatic, Tarragona, Northern Spain and Egypt.

There are also lead accessories for wooden anchors, as well as a sufficient number of glazed signs with engraved representations of Byzantine times.

The creation of the collection began in the 1950s-1960s on the initiative of the principal of Nea Koutali Primary School.

Bibliography

Cdrom District of Lemnos: "Lemnos beloved".
Th. Belitsou, Lemnos and its villages, 1994.
Th. Belitsou, "Nea Koutali", ed. Lemnos f. 495 (17-9-2007).
"LIMNOS: Historical & Cultural Heritage", published by G. Konstantellis, 2010.

Settlements of the Municipality of Lemnos

External links

www.dimosneakoutalis.gr
http://koutalianoi.blogspot.com

http://alipasta-limnou-koutalianos.blogspot.com/

Monuments of Asia Minor: The Mother of Asia Minor

See also: Limnos, island