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Anogeia

Anogeia is one of the mountain villages in the prefecture of Rethymno, 54 kilometers far from the city of Rethymno that maintain their traditional character.

Situated at an altitude of 760 meters on the hill of Armi on Psiloritis, among small valleys and multifarious hills, the village of Anogeia was founded in 12th century and owes its name to the fact that it was built on the upper land (ano gi=upper land).

The settlement, known as Axikanogeia or Large Anogeia, was inhabited in the 12th century, when Crete was divided between the twelve noblemen of Byzantium, and was granted as a fief to the Fokas family.

The Anogeia and its residents played a great part during the Turkish occupation, since the village was a revolutionary center and, because of this, it was burnt and looted twice, in 1822 and 1866, while three residents of Anogeia were among the fallen of the Holocaust of the Arkadi Monastery. Moreover, just before the Revolt in 1866, the meeting to elect representatives of the chieftains of Eastern Crete was hosted here.

But the big action was taken by the inhabitants in the Battle of Crete and the National Resistance. In 1941, the Commission of Liberation Action was founded in Anogeia and in 1944 the governor of the Cretan fortress, Miller, has ordered the destruction of Anogeia, its houses blown up and the execution of every Anogeian boy. The remaining men of the village fled to Psiloritis to survive.

Apart from the rich revolutionary action, Anogeia is considered the epicenter of the contemporary Cretan civilization with huge cultural heritage, customs and traditions, a place of surviving features with ancient roots, both in linguistics and in terms of social behavior. The population of Anogeia is engaged mostly in farming, crafts and traditional weaving using a loom and has maintained the language unchanged and the peculiar local dialect, which includes, up to date, pure words of ancient Greek. Most residents retain their surnames without the suffix – akis, which is common in the rest of the island.

Families with a significant contribution to the Cretan and Greek tradition originate from here, such as Nikos Ksilouris, his siblings, Psarantonis and Yiannis Ksilouris, Vasilis Skoulas, Nikiforos Aerakis, Manolis Pasparakis and Loudovikos of Anogeia, who is organizing every year the Yakinthia festival.

The attraction sights of Anogeia are the Ideon Andron, where according to Greek mythology, Zeus was born, the Sfentoni cave and Zominthos. In the village there are the churches of Agios Georgios, Agios Dimitrios, the church of the Assumption of Virgin and Agios Ioannis with frescoes of the 12th century. Today, on the central square there is a monument dedicated to the most important historical moments of the village. In the village the visitor will also find taverns and shops selling embroidery and colorful textiles. The large village of Anogeia consists of the settlements of Armi, Mesochorio or Mesochoria, Perachori, Metohi and the Settlement.

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