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Square

All the villages of the region of Zagori are monocentric. The square is the center of the village. It is the boundary that splits the village in half, and in particular, in the area “above the square” and “below the square”. In this square is usually located the main church of the village, the cafes and the school. All the alleys, all the stone-built cobblestone streets lead to the square.

In every square is a plane tree, in all the villages of Zagori. Under the cool shadow, all the cultural events take place, culminating in the feast of the village.

All the meadows are paved, with most of them having benches around and a terrace around the plane tree.

The bridges required great craftsmanship and their construction was undertaken by specialized craftsmen, mostly from the villages of Konitsa and Voio. These craftsmen were called Kiproulides from the Turkish word “kairopi”, which means bridge.

The physical characteristics of the position chosen by the head of the craftsmen were decisive for the construction of the bridge. Preferred places were the rocky spots where the two banks of the river were close to each other. The construction began at the same time on both sides with the help of wooden scaffolding. When they reached in the middle, they placed the stone “key” and the bridge was finally entirely constructed.

To avoid excessive water pressure in the middle hills of the multi-bridge bridges, they constructed wedge-shaped headlamps to channel the water under the arches. On the bridge, on the side, there were the arcades, upright stones that played the guardrail role.