Florina

Florina is the gateway to the Prespa Lakes and, until the modernisation of the road system, of the old town of Kastoria. It is located west of Edessa, northwest of Kozani, and northeast of Ioannina and Kastoria cities. Outside the Greek borders it is in proximity to Korçë in Albania and Bitola in North Macedonia. The nearest airports are situated to the east and the south (in Kozani). The mountains of Verno lie to the southwest and Varnous to the northwest. Winters bring heavy snow and long periods of temperature below freezing point. Furthermore, the town and the surrounding valley is usually covered in thick fog during the winter months that may last even for weeks under specific conditions. During the summer months it becomes a busy market town with an economy boosted by summer and, mostly, winter tourism due to the heavy snowfalls and the nearby ski resorts. Even though Florina was the site of the first rail line built in the southern Ottoman provinces in the late 19th century, its rail system remains undeveloped. Today, Florina is linked by a single track standard gauge line to Thessaloniki and Bitola, and to Kozani (meter gauge) where it was intended to continue south and link up with the terminal in Kalambaka, in Thessaly but this did not proceed due to the 1930s financial crisis. Florina is passed by GR-2 (Lake Prespa – Edessa) and GR-3/E65 (Kozani – Florina – Niki – Bitola). The new A27 motorway will run east of Florina with its Florina–Niki segment already operational since 2015. The historic Via Egnatia is situated to the east. Climate Florina is one of the coldest towns in Greece, because of its elevation and geographic position. Snowfalls, sometimes heavy, thick fog and below-freezing temperatures are common during the winter months, while the summers are warm to hot. Under the Köppen climate classification, Florina has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), bordering on a humid continental climate (Dfa). Cold wave of 2012 In the days preceding the early 2012 European cold wave, more specifically on 18 January 2012, a temperature of -25.1 °C was recorded by the HNMS's station with several reports, however, in the local press for temperatures in villages of the municipality that reached -32 °C, but there was no official record of such temperature. The National Observatory of Athens' station reported a temperature of -22.2 °C a day earlier in Florina, while the same station continuously recorded minimum temperatures below -20 °C from 16 January 2012 until 19 January 2012, with the average maximum temperature for January just -0.6 °C, and the prevalence for 13 consecutive days of temperatures below 0 °C 24 hours a day. The above situation resulted in the Greek General Secretariat of Civil Protection to declare the municipality of Florina in a state of emergency on 16 January 2012, at the request of the mayor of Florina, due to the low temperatures and the intense snowfall that prevailed for days. }} ==Name==

In the Byzantine period the town was named Chlorion or Chlerino. Simantiras derives Florina from Florin, later becoming Floris, meaning the city built on a hill. The town is known as Lerin (Cyrillic: Лерин) in Bulgarian and Macedonian, Hlernu or Hleru in Aromanian, Filorina in Turkish and Follorinë in Albanian. ==Municipality==

The current municipality of Florina was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 4 former municipalities, that since 2011 became municipal units: • Florina • Kato Kleines • Meliti • Perasma The municipality has an area of 819.698 km2, and the municipal unit 150.634 km2. Municipal Unit subdivisions The municipal unit of Florina is further divided into the following communities: • Alona • Armenochori • Florina • Koryfi • Mesonisi • Proti • Skopia • Trivouno ==History==

Lynkestis of Upper Macedonia was situated east of lake Pespa. According to N. G. L. Hammond, Lyncestae in the region of Florina were an Epirotic tribe and talked the Northwest Greek dialect. The ancient settlement of Melitonus was located in the area of Florina. Archaeologists excavated on the site in 1930–1934, but a hotel was later built over the ruins. Excavations began again in the 1980s and the total excavated area is now around 8,000 metres square. The buildings uncovered are mostly residential blocks, and the range of finds suggests that the site was continuously inhabited from the 4th century BC until its destruction by fire in the 1st century BC. Many of these finds are now on display in the Archaeological Museum of Florina. The town with its present name is linked to the Byzantine Chloron. By 1385, Florina had fallen to the Ottomans. In the early period of Ottoman rule, Florina was a Christian town with a partially fortified Ottoman garrison. The Muslim community existed for five centuries in Florina and they constructed various public and religious buildings. At the time, some of these buildings were newly constructed or churches which had been converted. Under Ottoman rule, Florina was a regional economic and administrative centre, the seat of a kaza and belonged to a sanjak within the Vilayet of Monastir. The river and its neighbourhood Varosi formed the centre of Florina and was exclusively populated by Muslims, later from the 1840s onward Christian families also lived there. Several inhabitants from Florina participated in the Macedonian Struggle on the Greek side and included prominent leaders such as Nikolaos Pyrzas, and Petros Chatzitasis. In the late Ottoman period the area surrounding Florina supported the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) who fought against the Ottomans. During the Macedonian Struggle the Greek makedonomachoi gained significant advantage towards the Bulgarian Exarchists within 10 months in 1905 and extended their zone of control in various regions of western Macedonia including the plains north and south of Florina. In the early 20th century, Florina underwent several years of Ottoman modernisation. The Ottomans built some European style administrative buildings. The new Greek municipal authority began plans for modern urban redevelopment. During 1914, Primeminister Eleftherios Venizelos visited Florina and Alfredo Leguillon, a French engineer made a new street plan to redevelop the town resulting in the disruptive relocation of town inhabitants. The Muslim mufti was exiled by Venizelists in 1914 and Christian inhabitants in the town lobbied for his return. The conflict caused tensions between Muslims and Christians, though community relations in Florina were not severed. Their presence in the town confirmed Greek control secured in the Balkan Wars. In Florina, the French constructed multiple railway lines and stations, a barracks, stables, cemetery, and an army hospital. After the war all levels of Greek government approved Leguillon’s plan for Florina’s redevelopment from an Ottoman to a modern Europeanised urbanscape which involved relocations, demolitions, expropriations and new constructions. Opposition came from Muslim councillors whose many objections were ignored by the town council. A lack of organised trade between traders and local inhabitants resulted in the construction of a new central market and a livestock and grain market, approved by both Christian and Muslim town representatives. Parts of the Sakoulevas riverbed was altered and moved. The town centre in 1923 was shifted from the river to the south and linked to broad roads newly named after Pavlos Melas and Alexander the Great. During the Axis Occupation of Greece in World War II, Florina was under German control and the town became a centre of Slavic separatism. In April 1943 the German army sent the town's Jews first to Thessaloniki and later to the Auschwitz concentration camp where they were gassed. Florina served as a garrison and prison town for the Greek government in the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). by 1946, seven Slav Macedonian partisan units were operating in the Florina area, and NOF had a regional committee based in Florina. When the NOF merged with the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE), many Slav Macedonians in the region enlisted as volunteers in the DSE. In early February 1949, the Greek National Army and the Gendarmerie defeated an attempted takeover of Florina by the Greek communist Democratic Army of Greece. On 12 February 1949, the Greek army defeated the Communists. Subsequently, thousands of communists and Slav Macedonians were evacuated or fled to Yugoslavia and to the Eastern Bloc. Throughout both the Second World War and the Greek Civil War, Florina became a place of exile for entire populations of several villages. By the 1980s, immigration declined and later road infrastructure improvements led to Florina revitalising its links with the surrounding countryside. ==Transport==

An extension of the rail line from Salonica to Monastir during 1893–94 was built close to Florina and the transport link to Monastir became significant for the town. The city is served by Florina station on the Thessaloniki–Bitola line, with local trains to Thessaloniki. In 2016 a new section of the A27 motorway was opened from Florina to the border with North Macedonia. ==Economy==

s In the late Ottoman period, the area of Western Macedonia experienced difficult economic circumstances, socio–political instability and mass emigration. The urban Christian community of Monastir migrated to Florina between 1913–1914 bringing European clothing styles and trades such as wax weaving to the town. Florina is a market town with an economy dominated by agriculture, forestry, summer and winter tourism, cross-border trading and the sale of local produce such as grain, grapes, and vegetables including Florina peppers. It also has textile mills and is known for locally manufactured leather handicrafts. An important market is held weekly and the town is engaged in commerce and is a location for the civil service. The most notable industrial activity is the very large Ptolemaia-Florina lignite mine. During the 1950s and 1960s, the area lost much of its population to emigration, both to Athens and Thessaloniki as well as US, Canada, Australia and Germany. Following Greece's EU membership and the economic upturn, many from Germany returned. ==Education==

Florina is a destination for high school attendance by youths from the wider countryside who later in many instances permanently relocate to the town. ==Media==

The university in Florina changed in 2002 from being a branch of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, to a part of the University of Western Macedonia. After 2004, four departments that previously belonged to the Aristotle University, reinforced its potential. Florina has 8 radio stations, 2 daily political newspapers, 4 weekly ones, one women's press and two newspapers on sports. ==Landmarks==

The layout of Ottoman Florina was divided into neighbourhoods with their own names, often with irregular property lines, gardens, narrow dead–end streets. Turko–Macedonian style architecture dominated with homes often featuring two floors, projecting bays (sachnisia) and reception rooms (ondas). The Ottoman architectural landscape of several mosques, two bathhouses, a clock tower and some Ottoman mansions persisted until the 1923 population exchange. as retaliation for Turkish government actions toward Anatolian Christian monuments. The mosques of Florina were: Minare de Kapit mosque (destroyed), Minare Zantial mosque (demolished in 1928), Kursumli mosque or Minare Oso (destroyed), Minare Ouest mosque (destroyed) and another mosque (destroyed). In 1952, one mosque was still open in Florina. Carsi i Yakosu Bey mosque was built in the eighteenth century, the building and most of the minaret, excluding its base, were demolished between 1953–1954. Another destroyed building was the Tekke, where the site is the present location of the town's bank. Other Ottoman era landmarks were the clock, located in the town centre and demolished in 1927; the Hamman (bathhouse), demolished in 1925 and the present site of the Papastefa house. The Koula, a fortification tower built either in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century was part of a larger residential complex demolished in 1985, the tower remained but became dilapidated. After Florina became part of Greece, a new urban plan was undertaken by the government to modernise and Hellenise the town. In the interwar period, local Turko–Macedonian styles continued. Post World War Two, there are no remaining traces of the Jewish cemetery in Florina. The Cathedral of St.Panteleimon was constructed in 1870 and Slavic architectural forms featured on its windows, three domes and an iconostasis with Slavic writing, later replaced with Greek writing. In 1971, the Cathedral was declared a hazard to public safety and demolished. Repurposed several times, it became a Greek high school twice and used in a military capacity by the French (WWI), Germans (WWII) and the Greek National Army (Greek Civil War). The site was rebuilt as a high school. The government supported the construction of a new area along the urban periphery of Florina for people relocated from small villages near the Albanian border for national security reasons. Modern architecture in Florina consists of apartment blocks and in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, bungalow style homes for nuclear families. File:The School of Agriculture in Florina.jpg|School of Agriculture File:Macedonian Museums-13-Sygxronhs Texnhs Florinas-59.jpg|Florina Museum of Modern Art File:Macedonian Museums-9-Laografiko Lesxhs Politismoy-41.jpg|Folklore Museum of the Florina Culture Club In early twenty first Florina, over 40 monuments exist in the town and include sculptures, statues, headstones, busts and other objects depicting or in reference to its history, in particular the struggle over Macedonia, the Second World War and the Civil War in Greece. In the main town square named Omonia or Georgios Modis was formed in the late interwar period. The square has busts of Macedonian Struggle figure L. Pyrzas and the General I. Pappous of the National Army during the Civil War with a display of cannons taken from the Communists, the losing side in the conflict. These monuments were erected in an era when their visual presence and symbolism were used by the government as a way to assimilate the local multicultural inhabitants. Other town square monuments are the statue symbolising freedom and a memorial to Greek military casualties of the Greek Italian War (1940–1941). A square in Aristotelis neighbourhood was named “Square of the Seven Heroes of 1944” in 2016 to honour seven Aristotelis association members hanged by German troops. Florina has a military cemetery for fallen Greek soldiers from the Greek Civil War. In the mid 2000s, two attempts to erect a memorial to communist fighters who died during the 1949 attempted takeover of Florina were vandalised and destroyed by unidentified individuals. In 2005, three marble reproductions of funerary monuments were placed in the town centre, the ancient Greek originals dating from Classical and Roman antiquity are displayed in the Florina Archaeological Museum. • Archaeological Museum of Florina • Florina Museum of Modern Art • The Florina Art Gallery • Folklore Museum of the Aristotle Association • Folklore Museum of the Culture Club ==Demographics==

Florina was a Christian settlement in the early period of Ottoman rule The population of 19th century Florina included Muslims, Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews, Aromanians, Slavophones and Romani. The numbers of the town population overall remained stable for several centuries until the late nineteenth century when demographic changes began to occur. In the late Ottoman era 8,000 inhabitants lived in Florina and Muslims formed three quarters of the population and one quarter were Christian. Austrian diplomat Johann Georg von Hahn visited the city in 1861 and wrote about it in his travel log From Belgrade to Salonica. In it he writes that "[a]bout the houses in Florina, we should indicate that there are at most 3,000, with half of the population Albanian and Turkish Muslims and the other half Christian Bulgarians." According to an 1878 French ethnographic book Florina was a town of 1,500 households, inhabited by 2,800 Muslims and 1,800 Bulgarians. The traveller Victor Bérard visited Florina in 1896 and stated it had 1,500 houses composed of Albanians and "converted Slavs", with 100 "Turkish" families and 500 Christian families. A Jewish Sephardi community was present in Florina during the 17th century. Under Ottoman rule, the Jews of Florina had close ties with the Jewish community of Monastir (modern Bitola). In 1910, the Greek consular secretary Athanasios Chalkiopoulou wrote Florina had 6,500 Muslims, 2,156 Orthodox Greeks and 500 "schismatic Bulgarianizers". According to historian Tasos Kostopoulos, after Florina became part of Greece, its population numbered 10,000 with two thirds being Muslim. Efthymios Boudonas, a Public Education Office director and former school general inspector for Macedonia wrote (1914) Florina was a non–Greek speaking town incapable of linguistically hellenising its inhabitants or any non–Greek speaking newcomers, although it had a strong Greek faction. In 1916, Greek diplomat Nikolaos Politis wrote Florina had a total population of 10,392 composed of 6,227 Muslims, 3,576 Greeks and 589 former Exharchists. Philologist André Mazon was in Florina and the wider area doing research in 1917–1918 and 1920. Florina had a total of 10,000 people. The Balkan Wars of 1912–1913 resulted in 450 families leaving Monastir (modern Bitola) and going to Florina. Many went to Thessaloniki and others settled in Florina, where in the late 1920s a new neighbourhood was established named Agia Paraskevi with a population of 600 refugee Aromanian families. The arrival of many hellenised Aromanians from Monastir to Florina resulted in the establishment of a large Greek speaking population in the region. During the First World War, 60 Jewish families resettled in Florina after they left Monastir in 1916 to avoid the shelling of the city, later some other Monastirli Jewish families also went to live in Florina after the war. The 1920 Greek census recorded 12,513 people in the town, and 4,650 inhabitants (1,076 families) were Muslim in 1923. Following the Greek–Turkish population exchange, Greek refugee families in Florina were from East Thrace (79), Asia Minor (54), Pontus (7) and the Caucasus (44) in 1926. The Aromanian inhabitants of Pisoderi migrated to Florina as trade from Albania decreased. and the Jewish community numbered 500 people. The town remained multiethnic and continued to have Slavophones, Jews and Romani after the population exchange. In 1930 refugee groups from Monastir, Asia Minor, Thrace and southern Albania had formed civic associations in the town. The population of Greeks increased from 2,000 in 1905 to 8,000 in 1928. Florina was occupied in World War Two and Jews came under German rule. The Jewish community numbered 400 people in 1940. During April 1943, 372 Florina Jews were sent by the Germans first to the Hirsch ghetto in Thessaloniki and later in May sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp where they were gassed. In 1945, the Florina Jewish community numbered 64 people, a reduction of 84 percent due to the Holocaust. The Jewish population declined and by 1959 there were 7 Jews in Florina, 1 in 1973 and 0 in 1983. In the late 1960s, the inhabitants of Trivouno, a Slavophone village were forcibly relocated by the Greek government for reasons of development and security to the neighbourhoods of Florina. The Romani of Florina are sedentary and in 1968 they converted from Islam to Orthodoxy. During the late twentieth century, Florina numbered some 15,000 inhabitants. In fieldwork done by Riki Van Boeschoten in late 1993, the population of Florina is mixed and Greek is often the language used for communication. Van Boeschoten estimated the Romani numbered some 3000 in Florina, living in a neighbourhood on the town's environs. Official pamphlets in Greek of the early 1990s listed the people of Florina as "yigeneis (autocthonous), Vlachs, Arvanites, Pontii, Mikrasiates, and ‘tsinganoi’ (Gypsies)". Macedonian–speaking inhabitants were not named and subsumed within the term "yigeneis" (meaning earth–born) implying they belong to a wider grouping of locals. Rainbow, a political party representing the Macedonian minority in Greece is headquartered in Florina since 1995. Founded in 2022, the Centre for the Macedonian Language in Greece is based in Florina. ==In popular culture==

Florina and the surrounding area of the late Ottoman and population exchange periods is the setting for the novel Devastated Hills: Macedonia 1900 by writer Necati Cumalı. In Greek cinema, several movies filmed in Florina by Theodoros Angelopoulos are The Suspended Step of the Stork, ''Ulysses' Gaze and The Beekeeper''. ==Notable people==

• Alexis Alexoudis (born 1972), footballer • Mary Coustas (born 1964), Australian actor • Necati Cumalı (1921–2001), Turkish novelist, short–story writer & poet • Peter Daicos Australian Football player (AFL); family from Vevi, Florina region • Dimitrios Makris (1901–81), Member of Parliament & Minister • Pericles A. Mitkas (born 1962), electronic & computer engineer, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki rector • Nikolaos Pyrzas (1880–1947), leader during the Macedonian Struggle • Nadia Tass (active 1979 to present), Australian director & actor • Pavlos Voskopoulos (born 1964), politician & leader of the Rainbow party • Elpida Karamandi (1920–1942), partisan fighter ==Gallery==

File:Lerin-main-street.jpg|Main street File:Florina Melissokomos.jpg|House in Florina. Scenery of Angelopoulos film O Melissokomos File:Sidestreet IMG20210.jpg|A side street leading to the river Sakoulevas File:Florina-houses.jpg|Neoclassical houses at the shoreline of Sakoulevas river File:Florina Korzo (Лерин), Greece.jpg|Pedestrian street at the centre File:2021 SakoulevasRiverFlorinaIMG2202.jpg|Famous river of Florina, Sakoulevas ==References==