Monuments

The refugee village of Zographou was established within the boundaries of the post-Byzantine village of Portaria, having as its nucleus the dependency complex of the namesake monastery.

A document of 1465 recording a deed of sale provides the first post-Byzantine information regarding Zographou monastery and its metochion (dependency) in the region of Kalamaria (Western Chalkidiki). In particular, it refers to the purchase of a wrecked tower, which the Zographite monks bought for 6.000 aspra (silver coins) from the Muslim official Ömer Bey.

Ottoman written sources of the first half of the 16th century confirm that the arable land of Gameri, near the village of Portaria, was the property of the Athonite Zographou monastery, which paid tax for vineyards and other croplands owned in the region. 

In 1568, the Zographite metochi of Gameri was independently recorded among the monastery’s estates with the note “near the village of Portaria”. The church of the dependency, the tower, a vineyard and an orchard were also recorded. This is the first evidence of possession of the tower of the monastery’s dependency complex after its purchase by the Zographites in 1465. The reason why it was not mentioned in earlier documents is, perhaps, because the Zographites did not pay a tax as it was a wrecked tower and therefore uninhabitable. However, in 1568, or a little earlier perhaps, some restoration work was carried out, which rendered the tower habitable; therefore, it had to be included in the tax liable assets of the monastery. In the same document, the church of the dependency is also mentioned for the first time, without any information regarding its size or the venerated saint. A year later, approximately the same assets are mentioned in a document of 1569. In particular, it is stated that the monastery owns “…a large residence, a different residence known by the name of Pyrgos (tower), a chamber, a storeroom, a stable, a barn, two fountains and seven hectares of vineyard in the metochion known by the name of Ameri, a village subject to Portaria…”. 

In 1584, the dependency of the Zographou monastery in the nahiye (municipality) of Kalamaria belonged to the vizier Serdar Ferhad Paşa, while, in 1597, it was destroyed by Behram-bey. Information about the dependency is also derived from a document of 1696 which states that the monastery “…pays tithes for a church, a meadow, a vineyard, and a vegetable garden with running water…”.

In an Ottoman document of 1766, the Athonite metochia in Chalkidiki are mentioned, among which the “Metochion of the Zografou monastery in the municipality of Kalamaria”.

In an 1869 inventory, it is stated that the Ameri Metochion belongs to the Zografou monastery “…along with vineyards, vegetable gardens, a church and a residence by the name of pyrgos subject to the village of Portaria”.  

A property inventory of the monastery in 1932 regarding the dependency complex of Kalamaria, provides as follows: “Three edifices, a dormitory, a kitchen with a stove, a granary, a church, a tower, a hut, a flour mill, a dwelling for workers, two stables, two barns, a dwelling for farmers and reapers, a smithy, a gardener’s dwelling, a pen, a fountain, four troughs for watering the animals…”.

In 1922, the dependency complex was granted for the settlement of refugees from Cappadocia, and, within the framework of protection of the tower, the 10th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities carried out conservation, maintenance and restoration works.

It is a three-storey building, rectangular in plan (dimensions 10.00×9.30m), with a surviving height of approximately 12 m. The lower level has no openings, unlike the upper floors. The main entrance is elevated for security purposes. Above the entrance, there is an arched recess (lintel) where, in all probability, the icon of the patron Saint of the Monastery (George) was placed.

Apart from the tower of the dependency complex, the church dedicated to Saint George built in 1842, an 1853 stone built fountain, and a 19th century farmer house are still preserved in the refugee village of Zographou, which owes its name to the namesake Athonite monastery.

                                                                                                                  N. Mertzimekis

References

Nikolaos Mertzimekis, “Zvedenija za metosite na manastira Zographou na Chalkidičeskija poluostrov prez ХVІ-ХVІІ vek.”, Meždunarodna naučna konferencija “Profesor Stančo Vaklinov i srednovekovnata bŭlgarska kultura”, Veliko Tarnovo 2005, 465-467.