10/09/2007
Syrrako and Kalarrytes

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Aside from Ioannina, up to 1821 two other mountainous centers flourished, Syrrako and Kalarrytes. Initially their residents were cattle breeders. In time though, they became merchants and developed at a local level but also in the greater European area and not only (Odysso, Trieste, Constantinople, Rome, Vienna, Egypt, Thessalonica). A result of these commercial activities was the cumulative inflow of revenue but also the need for education, which by 1777 led to the founding of a school. An indicator of the educational level is the reference of the French consul Pouqueville in Ioannina in 1815 that he found the Kalarryte people speaking in foreign languages and he had visited private libraries that held a variety and important books. A testament to the growth of these two villages is also the state of their population. It is characteristic that in 1820 Kalarrytes had almost 3,000 residents (2956).
The manufacture and sale of silver objects is also included in their commercial activities. The development of the silver-gold craft in these two villages reaches a high level at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries. The head goldsmith of the Ali Pasha Tzimouris worked there at the time, as did Bafas, Papageorgiou, Papamosxos and others. The creations of these renowned craftsmen reach the entire Ottoman dominion while a myth is created surrounding their names.
This growth comes to a halt in the summer of 1821, when Turkish-Albanian armies plunder and destroy the two villages. Those that were saved scattered mainly to the Eptanisa and a few returned later to live in their patrimonial homes. As such a very significant hearth of the silver-gold craft was entirely destroyed and its rebirth in the years that followed was not possible in these almost deserted and economically exhausted centers.