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Monument of Zalongos | The Souliotisses Heroines - "The Dance of Zalongos" 🇬🇷
December 18, 1803 - December 18, 2021
218 years ago the Heroic Souliotisses wrote their own story !!
December 1803 was the month that marked and marked Souli.
It was the year that Souli was deserted. Many left it, others were forced to leave it and others consciously stayed and died for their ideals and homeland.
On the 12th of December, on the day of the signing of the treaty with the Turks, the monk Samuel together with five other Souliotes, instead of handing over Kugi as agreed, set fire to the gunpowder depots and blew it up.
On December 18, 1803, a group under Kitsos Botsaris, father of Markos Botsaris, managed to break the siege and escape with 147 men to Parga. Those who remained in the monastery of Taxiarchis Michael were taken prisoner, while a group of women and children took refuge on the edge of the steep cliff with the so-called rocks of Zalongos. In order not to fall into the hands of the Turkalvans, the 57-63 women (the information differs regarding the number, a monograph of the Monastery of Zalongos writes 300 Souliotisses) with their children fell on the cliff and sacrificed themselves.
According to Vassilios Sfiroeras, the eyewitness Turkalvan officer Suleiman Agas wrote: At the end of the scars, the women let out a piercing long-drawn-out scream, the echo of which fades into the depths of a frightening cliff, where they are thrown with all their children ".
The dance was accompanied, according to tradition, by the legendary song: "Hello poor world, hello sweet life, and you unhappy homeland, hello forever…". Testimonies say that some of them survived.
Order from above:
The Turkalvans call on the people of Souli to hand over their weapons and go to Ioannina, where Ali himself will determine their new place of residence. The Souliotes, knowing what awaits them, categorically refuse and decide to fight to the end.
Fierce battles were fought between the Souliotes and the Turkalvans. 147 Souliotes led by Kitsios Botsaris, broke the siege and managed to escape. Another group, under N. Koutsonikas, was captured by the forces of Bekir Tzogadouros, who was a brother (brother) of Koutsonikas.
Courage and pride from the Souliotisses:
Some women, according to most sources 56 and according to others 22, and a few men, climbed the highest peak of Zalongos, Stefani. They preferred dishonesty and slavery to honorable death with their children. After first throwing their young children into the abyss below Zalongo, the Souliotisses formed a dance and each one reaching the edge of the cliff separated from the others and fell into the abyss.
The history of the construction of the Zalongos Monument:
The monument was built in 1950-1961 and is the largest statue in Greece, with the title Monument of Zalongos, designed by the sculptor Georgios Zongolopoulos.
The inauguration took place on Saturday, June 10, 1961, in the presence of King Paul, Queen Frederick, the metropolitans of all Epirus and other officials.
The monument is located at the top of a cliff, on a natural balcony of Mount Zalongo. More specifically, northwest of Preveza at a distance of 29 kilometers from the city, at an altitude of 700 meters and is visible from a distance of 35 kilometers.
The nearest settlement is Kamarina and the access to the sculpture is unique as if one wants to reach it one has to climb a cobblestone path of 410 steps that starts from the Monastery of Agios Dimitrios which is located at a lower altitude.
The monument is 18m long. and height 13m. It is based on a stone base, on which the six giant abstract figures of the Souliotissa have been placed.
Souliotisses is made of reinforced concrete, lined with about 4,300 limestone volumes, off-white.
In June 2021 the Monument of Zalongos was designated as a Monument of Modern Cultural Heritage of Greece, according to a decision of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.
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