This is a presentation of our town and its nearby areas

2. OUR TOWN IN TWENTY LINES!!!
Pyrgos, meaning "tower", is the capital
of the region Ileias in Greece. The city
is located in the western
Peloponnese, in the middle of a
plain, close to the Ionian sea.
It is 19km away from Ancient Olympia
and 315 km far from Athens, the
capital of Greece. It is the
administrative and commercial center
of the wider region and its seaport is
Katakolo. Its population is around
34,902 inhabitants. Pyrgos is built on
seven small hills on the north west
department of the prefecture of
Ileias. Its climate is Mediterranean. It
is rainy and humid during the winter
and hot and sunny during the summer.
Winters are usually mild but the
summers are dry and hot. The average
temperature is 18.2C.

3. OUR LONG HISTORY!!!
Historically Pyrgos first appeared in the 17th century
and George Tsernotas is considered to be its founder.
The history of our town began in a strange way: With
a ... well! During the Ottoman rule, a villager from
Kalavryta, whose name was George Tsorotas or
Tsernotas came down to Pyrgos. One day, while
searching for a place to settle down, he opened one
well to water his flocks there and suddenly he found a
whole treasure of ancient gold coins!
Tsernotas took some of these golden coins to
Constantinople to Sultan Selim A. The Sultan, who of
course accepted his offer, gave him the title of Bey
(master) of the region as well as big parts of land.
Then Tsernotas built warehouses and shacks for
farmers who worked on the land. Legend has it that he
built a strong tower on the hill of Eparhio, one of the
tallest places of our town with a nice view, to watch
his fields and flocks from up there. The name of our
town comes from this tower. As time passed the well
of Tsernotas became a legend and the water was

4. SOME PHOTOS OF OLD PYRGOS’ TOWN!!

6. THE CENTRAL SQUARE, SAKIS KARAGIORGAS SQUARE
Let’s start a walk through
the city centre and let’s
meet in the square
Sakis Karagiorgas, the
central square of
Pyrgos where locals and
visitors meet and spend
their time in the
numerous cafes and
restaurants there. This
is where the Latsio
Town Hall, St Nikolas
Cathedral and one of
the best balconies of
the town, Eparhio, with
an amazing view to the
Ionian Sea and the
sunset are found.

7. SOME PHOTOS OF EPARHIO!!!

8. THE LATSIO TOWN HALL!!!!
The LATSIO
TOWN HALL
was constructed
at the expense of
Ioannis Latsis, a
shipping tycoon
born in Katakolo
and important
benefactor of the
area. It is the
building that
houses many city
services.

9. HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS OF OUR NEOCLASSICAL
BUILDINGS!!!

10. OLD MUNICIPAL MARKET!!!!!!!
Leaving the square and walking
down Ermou Str, the major
shopping street of our
town, you will meet an old
part of our town with
amazing neoclassical buildings
and the Old Municipal
Market. As the name reveals
it was a market where all
kinds of
products, groceries, fruit, ve
getables and fish were sold.
In the beginning it was a
wooden building. However, in
1890 the new municipal
market was built and the well-
known German architect
Ernst Ziller was the one who
designed it. Today the
Municipal Market, after its
renovation is the
archaeological museum of the
city of Pyrgos.

11. APOLLON THEATRE! OUR ONLY THEATRE!!!
Another building of our
town which is worth
visiting during your walk
is the Apollon Theatre.
It is a magnificent
neoclassic white marble
building which was built
in 1878 and most probably
this is another project of
the German architect
Ernst Ziller. During all
these years it has hosted
theatrical
performances, films and
lots of other cultural
events of the city. In
1995 it was renovated
with Ioannis Latsis’
expenses.

13. INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PART I
Despite its small size and
geographical position, away
from the capital city
Athens, Pyrgos is a
lively, active city which hosts
numerous cultural and other
activities as well as some of
the most important
international cultural events.
Our town has just one
cinema but it proudly hosts
the International Olympia
Film Festival for Children and
Young People. It started 15
years ago as a pioneering idea
from people and for the
people who love culture and
cinema and it is the only one
of its kind in Greece. How
did it evolve?

14. INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PART II
It became an institution with a
reputation that exceeds the
limits of the country! The
Olympia International film
festival for children and
youth is held every year since
1997 in the Apollon Theatre
and has given Pyrgos a great
place in the world cinema
map. The best films are
awarded with olive
wreaths, an award that may
not be accompanied by a
corresponding cash prize but
it is a perfect symbol of the
spirit of sportsmanship and
the Olympic tradition.

15. AND SOME OTHER POSTERS OF THIS FILM!!!

16. CAMERA ZIZANIO IN PYRGOS
Camera Zizanio is held at the same time with the
International Film Festival but it is the European Meeting
of young audiovisual creation or a "festival within the
festival". The participants, under the guidance of
professionals, are introduced in the secrets of
cinematography and its various kinds
(fiction, documentary, animation) and are guided into film
creation. The workshops offer the opportunity to
participate to dozens of students of all school levels from
the Prefecture of Ileia as well as to the young visitors
from Greece and abroad. Here the films are made entirely
by children really "through the eyes of children". For one
week, the whole town of Pyrgos is transformed into a huge
filming stage, the likes of which, cannot be found in any
other part of Greece.

17. AND SOME PICTURES OF CAMERA ZIZANIO !!!

18. THEATRE,MUSIC AND OTHER EVENTS…
As for the theatrical activity of our
town, Pyrgos has got four amateur
theatrical groups which stage performances
every year in the Apollon Theatre. Apart
from theatrical performances and the Film
Festival the Apollon Theatre, being the
cultural hive of our town, hosts numerous
other activities of the town such as
concerts and dance performances of local
dance schools.

19. UNION OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES
Pyrgos and the whole
prefecture of Ileia is mainly
an agricultural area focusing
on the production of a lot of
agricultural products, such
as the Corinthian
raisin, olive oil and
olives, wine, oranges, tomato
es and lots of other
products. The Union of
Agricultural
cooperatives, which was
established in 1924 to
support the agricultural
production in the region, has
written (and still writes) its
own story promoting the
major products of the area.

20. PATRIS, ONE OF THE OLDEST NEWSPAPERS IN
GREECE
Our town publishes the
second oldest daily
newspaper in Greece. It is
called "Patris" and starting
it in 1902 in an area
undergoing a deep
economic crisis and with
illiteracy rates of the
population reaching
80%, was certainly a risky
venture for Leonidas
Varouxis (the first editor
in chief). Apart from
“Patris”, there are 3 more
daily newspapers in Pyrgos.

21. OUR LOCAL FOOTBALL TEAM!!
"Paniliakos" the
football club of
Pyrgos
Paniliakos team
was created in
1957 after the
merging of three
other football
teams. Since then
it has been very
successful and
has even played in
the 1ST Division
for 6 consecutive
years till 2001.

23. OUR SEAPORT KATAKOLO !!!
A visit to our town would never be complete if you don’t visit some
of the nearby areas and villages which add to the historical and
tourist importance of our town. Let’s start our visit from the
seaport of our town KATAKOLO.
Katakolo is a seaside village around 20 km away from Pyrgos. It is an
important seaside resort , the seaport of our town and a major
stopover of the biggest cruise liners from around the world. Back
in the 1830s until recently Katakolo played a very significant role in
the trading of the Corinthian raisin, the “gold” of the Ileia
land, which was transported from there all over the world.
Nowadays, all the old warehouses standing on the seafront of
Katakolo have been converted into traditional fish taverns and
cafes. It is the ideal place for relaxing, eating, enjoying the
sun, the sea and the green of the mountain surrounding
Katakolo, where you can take a walk and admire the amazing views
from above and the ruins of the ancient castle called “
Pontikokastro” . The museum of Ancient Greek Musical
Instruments, which is located in Katakolo, is also worth visiting.

25. OUR ANCIENT TOWN OLYMPIA !!!
Now let’s head east and visit ANCIENT OLYMPIA
The village of Ancient Olympia, known worldwide as the
birthplace of the Olympic Games, the most famous games in
history, is located at the foot of the mountain and in the
plain where the Alfios river flows. Nowadays it hosts the
lightening of the Olympic Flame which marks the beginning of
the Olympic Games. Two important museums, the
Archaeological Museum of Olympia and the Museum of the
History of the Olympic Games, are found there. Of course
you shouldn’t miss the opportunity to walk around the
archaeological site and see the Olympia Stadium, the temple
of Hera and other important ruins. The feelings inspired by
the beauty and the history of the place cannot be described.
If you find yourselves in Olympia during the summer, don’t
miss the chance to visit the modern stone theatre “Floka”
and enjoy a performance of Ancient Greek tragedy or a
concert.

27. ANOTHER NEARBY AREA THE ANCIENT ILIDA!!
Another archaeological site worth visiting is ANCIENT
ILIDA
Ancient Ilida was an important city of the Ancient Ileia. It is
considered that this is the city that founded the Ancient
Olympic Games since the athletes as well as the judges of
the games, called “Hellanodikes” had to spend a month of
preparation before the opening of the Games there.
Nowadays, visitors can admire the ruins of this
archaeological place as well as the new Archaeological
museum. In the summer the area hosts one of the most
important festivals of the area with concerts and
performances of Ancient Greek tragedy and comedy.

30. HERE ARE THE CHILDREN WHO WORDED ON
THE TEXTS OF THIS PRESENTATION!!!!
CHILDREN:
ASIMAKOPOULOU MARIA
AVGERINOPOULOU FRYNI
BRIKOU DIMITRA
KARAMICHAILIDIS BILL
MIKELLI MARIANNA
PLAGOS SEBASTIAN
SPYROPOULOS IOANNIS
THANKS TO THESE CHILDREN WE FOUND THE INFORMATION FOR
THI S POWER POINT!!!
RESOURSES USED FOR THE TEXTS:
http://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://www.patrisnews.com/
http://ethnos.gr/

31. MOST OF THE PHOTOS USED IN
PRESENTATION WERE TAKEN BY THE
PHOTOGRAPHIC TEAM.
THANKS TO THE CHILDREN OF PHOTOGRAPHIC
TEAM WE HAVE THESE WONDERFUL PHOTOS .
THE CHILDREN ARE:
ARVANITI GEORGIA
DRAKOPOULOU THEODORA
KONDYLIS DROSOS
LYGA LINA
FERLES CHARIS
CHILDREN WHO WORKED FOR THE POWERPOINT:
ASIMAKOPOULOU MARIA
MIKELLI MARIANNA
AVGERINOPOULOU FRYNI