Starting in the 18th Century ancient Athens regained in peoples' minds its historical glory and significance as a consequence of the great revival of interest in classical Greek antiquity in Europe as well as America - a revival which found its expression in the movement known as Romantic Philhellenism.
It was to this rekindled memory of "the glory that was Athens" that in 1833, at the successful conclusion of the Greek War of Independence, Athens, at the time a small insignificant town of a few hundred houses, was chosen to be the capital of the new nation state. Plans were laid to build a capital worthy to bear the name of Athens and though these plans were never realized as a whole, a new era for the city had opened.
The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 marked the end of the Byzantine Empire. For Greece it was the beginning of a long period under the Ottoman yoke, known as Turkocratia, i.e. Turkish rule.
A first attempt to form a central government in Greece still an insurgent nation in war with Turkey, not yet an independent state was made in 1827.
By the end of March 1821 sporadic fighting between Greeks and Turks had taken the form of a full-fledged uprising -with the Peloponnese as its epicenter.
Zagori is an area of great natural beauty and unique architecture in the Pindus Mountains in Epirus in Northwestern Greece. The area is of about 1.000 square kilometers and contains 46 villages. Zagoria villages is called by Greeks “Zagorochoria” meaning the villages behind the mountain.
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In 1989, Professor of Byzantine Studies, Helen Ahrweiler is appointed Chairman of the Cultural Centre Pompidou in Paris