| Pirgos |
 Pirgos Kallistis, or just Pyrgos, is located 10 Km south-eastern from Fira, in the highest point of Santorini. According to 2001 records, Pyrgos has 732 inhabitants. Pyrgos used to be one of the 5 castles of the island;
just after the Skaros castle been abandoned, Pyrgos became the capital of Santorini.In the 18th century, during the Turkish domination the local governors of the area along with the abbot of the Monastery of Profitis Elias, Paisios, founded the first school of Thera. The castle of the village has been seriously damaged by the earthquake in 1956. The castle had just one entrance and that was called “Porta”. Just above that door, there was a square building (open at the bottom), from which they could throw boiled oil to drive back the invaders. That building, which does not exist anymore, was called “embrasure”. They had also developed a whole system of galleries, where all the inhabitants were escaping in times of invasion. The new village of Pyrgos has been built outside and around the castle. Nowadays, in Pyrgos there are 48 churches (2005) and chapels. One of the oldest churches is “Theotokaki”, located inside the old castle. Also, the church “Isodia tis Theotokou”, located on the highest point of the castle, was built in 1660 and it is considered one of the most important churches of the village. The custom of epitaph starts every Good Friday from that church. The epitaph of Pyrgos is one of the most picturesque customs of Santorini. Millions of aluminium cans are stuffed with fires and placed all around the village. The view of the village at that time is spectacular and many visitors came just for that event. |
