The Mitato of Amorgos had a wonderful and creative start to 2024! We had the opportunity to take part in the highly interesting Community Mapping Workshop that was organised by Youth Active Minds and Boulouki teams in Kallithea, Aitoloakarnania, Greece, from 2 to 7 January 2024. For four days, we worked with an active team of young people, of various geographical and scientific backgrounds, and we discovered one more beautiful corner of Greece.
The Workshop was part of a wider project of reviving the walking route that linked Kallithea, Aitoloakarnania, with Proussos, Evrytania, an important commercial, pilgrimage and educational passage in the past. The path was rendered obsolete when the road was opened in the 1980s and the wild, lush landscape eliminated most of its traces. The Youth Active Minds team located and cleared a large part of the path the weeks prior to the Workshop and so this particular project focused on the cultural axis of reviving the route and the active participation of the local community in doing so. To this end, a series of theoretical and practical steps was followed.
On the first day of the Workshop, the activities aimed at bonding the team and presenting a theoretical introduction to concepts such as cultural landscape and community mapping. Coordination was realised by Panagiota Karametou from the team of Youth Active Minds and the lectures were presented by Georgia Kanellopoulou and Grigoris Koutropoulos from the team of Boulouki.
On the second day, the team of Boulouki presented community mapping projects that have been completed in other areas, in order to complete a more concrete framework of working goals and results. In the afternoon of the same day, the working team met with residents of the area of Kallithea and worked together on the base of a satellite image of the path under study. Among others, insights on the history of the route were given by the last muleteer alive, a former pupil of the Katsambios School in Proussos, who had to follow the route in order to go to school, a merchant who keeps trade and transportation documents dating as far back as in 1939, the current owner of the former inn in Kallithea, as well as other residents, each of whom had their own memories from the path to share.
On the third day, supported by unexpectedly excellent weather in the heart of the continental winter, the team hiked part of the path, passing by points of interest that had been identified during the meeting with the residents the previous day, such as two inns. The route was registered on the map and several points of interest were surveyed. In the afternoon, the team gathered the notes of the morning walk and a conversation took place based on the impressions from the route, as well as their correlation with the information noted by the residents the previous day.
On the fourth day, the team drove to Proussos, Evrytania, the end of the route under study, passing by some more points of interest, such as the old watermill. In the afternoon, the conversation was focused on merging the impressions and information gathered and deciding on the following steps in planning the cultural route.
Apart from the thorough educational process and specialized training in the field of planning a cultural route, we were happy to experience the unique hospitality of the organizers, the delicious meals prepared by Alexandros Karagiorgos (Youth Active Minds) with the help of volunteers, and getting to know Yamochori, an open space in the beautiful surroundings of Makria Longa, near Kallithea, where the team of Youth Active Minds promotes an alternative model for education, cooperation and coexistence with nature.
We warmly thank the organizers for their generous hospitality and the experiences we shared and we will be happy to meet again in following projects!
The Mitato of Amorgos takes part in the 1st dry stone workshop on the island of Paros
On 10 and 11 February, we had the chance to experience a beautiful weekend in the heart of the Cycladic winter, on the occasion of the 1st Dry Stone Workshop on the island of Paros. The project was organised by “Archilochos” Cultural Association of Paros, along with the Cultural Association of Angeria, and it was a complete success.
read moreEvents and projects of autumn 2023
The autumn season of 2023 has been a period during which several events regarding the intangible heritage, the environment and sustainability have taken place in various parts of Greece. The Cyclades, experiencing unprecedented pressure and limited resources, have no doubt been in the centre of such developments. It was therefore unsurprising that several important events took place in the area, such as the Workshop on the Endangered Landscape of Sifnos Island...
read moreCancellation of the 3rd Dry Stone Workshop “The Amorgian Craftsmanship”
The Mitato of Amorgos greatly regrets to announce the cancellation of the 3rd Dry Stone Workshop “The Amorgian Craftsmanship” which was due to be held on the island of Amorgos from 16 to 20 October 2023.
Unfortunately, despite our timely actions, we had to face a new situation from part of the local community at the last minute, and therefore any readjustment of the organization of the event was impossible...
3rd Dry Stone Workshop "The Amorgian Craftsmanship" 16-20 October 2023
The Mitato of Amorgos is pleased to announce the 3rd Dry Stone Workshop “The Amorgian Craftsmanship”, taking place from 16 to 20 October 2023.
The project is the continuation of the 1st and 2nd Dry Stone Workshops “The Amorgian Craftsmanship” which were successfully realised in October 2021 and 2022 respectively, under the auspices of the Municipality of Amorgos and financed by the Ministry of Culture and Sports...
Participation in conference dedicated to the rural monuments of Tinos island (22-23 April 2023)
It was with great pleasure that we accepted the invitation of the newly formed association “Ambassada” in Tinos and we travelled to the “handmade island”, as Cornelius Castoriades has called it, on 22 and 23 April 2023, on the occasion of the conference “Rural Monuments of Tinos: humble buildings, jewels of the landscape”. The association “Ambassada” aims at raising awareness among the residents and visitors of Tinos island towards ...
read moreEnding 2022 with the completion of "The History of Water"
In December 2022, a beautiful project undertaken by the Mitato of Amorgos, in collaboration with “Nissos Amorgos” – Association for the Environment and Culture, was completed. “The History of Water” involved the restoration of the water tank in the area “Chorio”, outside the village of Langada on Amorgos Island. The works gave the organisers the opportunity to address water management issues through ...
read moreThe Mitato of Amorgos participates in the 4th islander's forum (PAROS ISLAND, 28-30/10/2022)
The Mitato of Amorgos participated in the 4th Islanders’ Forum which was successfully organised by the Cyclades Preservation Fund (CPF) on the island of Paros, from 28 to 30 October 2022.
The Forum was attended by 45 participants, representing 30 organisations from 17 islands, from the Cyclades and beyond.
The presentations realised during the first two days aimed at introducing the people and organisations ...
Another succesful completion of the Dry Stone Workshop "The Amorgian Craftmanship" for the second consecutive year
This year, from 10 to 14 October 2022, three local masons, with the assistance of 35 participants that attended the works on site, have created 14 new cobblestone “kadenes” (steps), with a total length of 33 metres, and restored 10 parts of sustaining dry stone walls, with a total length of 39.30 metres.
read more2nd Dry Stone Workshop “The Amorgian Craftsmanship” 10-14 october 2022
The Mitato of Amorgos is extremely pleased to announce the 2nd Dry Stone Workshop “The Amorgian Craftsmanship”, taking place from 10 to 14 October 2022 on Amorgos.
Following the great success of the 1nd Dry Stone Workshop in October 2021, which was realised under the auspices of ...
“The history of water” wins first prize at the celebrate islands 2022 contest
It was with great pleasure and pride pride that we attended the online award ceremony held on 18 May 2022, for the video contest “My project in 120 seconds” which forms part of the event Celebrate Islands , once more organised by ...
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