14/11/2006
The period of their rise and decline
The great period of the rise of the Kapesovo hagiographers endured for over 100 years and commenced with the church of Aghioi Menas, Victor and Vicentios in 1728, where the hagiography was carried out by Konstantinos priest and his brothers Anastasios and Nikolaos in the Siatista region.
The rise and the decline in the hagiography art of the Kapesovo artists followed the more general rise and decline of the village in the socio economic sector.
In the second half of the 18th century and in the first half of the 19th, when Ali Pasha ruled throughout Epirus, with whom the Kapesovo residents had developed special relations, Kapesovo underwent an economic development. Mansions were built, as were churches, which needed hagiography and consequently the art of hagiography required artists.
Following the fall of Ali Pasha and the more general socio political and economic reclassification in the broader region, Kapesovo went into decline, to the degree where in the late 19th century only five families were not starving. During the war with the Sultans army, the Zagorion villages, and consequently Kapesovo, suffered a lot of destruction. The same also occurred during the struggle for the liberation of the enslaved Greeks.
As if all this was not enough, another plague descend, that of the robbers, since the region radiated with its wealth, they fell upon the region and delivered the final blow.
The result of all these occurrences was the great decline and the languishing in the art of hagiography by the Kapesovo hagiographers, with the last known work dating to 1841. We encounter that date for the last time, from amongst the works that are known to date, with the name of a Kapesovo hagiographer, son of Ioannis, at the Monastery for the Birth of the Virgin Mary at Kepoi (Bangia).
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