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Avdela: The Birthplace of the Manakia Brothers
Ianaki and Milton Manakia were born into a Vlach shepherd family in the mid-19th century…
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Metsovo / Aminciu: A Legacy of Elegance and Resilience
To identify the settlements photographed in 1900, I relied on old maps and contemporary accounts,…
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Syrrako & Kallarites / Sereacu & Călarli: Stories in Stone
Unlike Avdela and many other villages photographed by the Manakia brothers, Syrrako, a stone settlement,…
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Voskopoja / Moscopole: Echoes of a Lost City
About Moscopole, Wace and Thomson note: “Its merchants had branch houses in Venice, Vienna, and…
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Kruševo / Crușuva: A Moment in Time
In August 2017, on the day I was supposed to leave Bucharest with my American…
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Molovishte / Muloviște: Then and Now
Prejudice makes us believe that nature today is less alive and present than it was…
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Trnovo & Magarevo / Târnova & Magarova: Roots and Continuity
After Kruševo, the journey tracing the Manakia brothers’ photographs led to Trnovo (Târnova in Vlach)…
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Samarina: The Timeless Pine
This was the easiest to locate among the photographs of Vlach villages taken by the…
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Smiksi: Where Valleys Meet
About Smiksi, Wace and Thompson write: “Smiksi is a picturesque village of about a hundred…
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Krania / Turia: Boundary Disputes Settled by Oxen
Some places stubbornly resist being photographed. But I was stubborn too.I first arrived in Turia…
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Pisoderi / Pisudere: The Shadow of a Lost House
This was the most difficult photograph to identify from the set of old images of…
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Vovousa / Băiasa: A Village with a Traditional Stone Arched Bridge
“Few, if any, villages in Pindus have a more beautiful situation than Baieasa. The river,…
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Perivoli / Pirivoli: Tradition, Migration, and Change
Perivoli, according to tradition, was founded some two hundred years ago by the union of…
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Pades / Pade: Mountains, Myths, and a Vanished Road
Another village that was difficult to identify. However, at one point during my field research,…
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Makrino / Macrinu: The Memory of Names
In the late 19th century, the German linguist and ethnographer Gustav Weigand documented many of…
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Iliochori / Dobrinovo: A Tale of Trade and Survival
Iliochori was called Dobrinovo until the 1920s, which in Slavic means “good beginning”. The village’s…
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Ioannina / Ianina: The Manakia Brothers’ Early Photography
Ianake Manakia settled in Ioannina around 1898-1899, where he took up a position as a…
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Grevena / Grebini: From Manakia’s Lens to a Modern Horizon
The Greek town of Grevena has a history deeply intertwined with the Vlach people. It…
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Laka / Laista: Reuniting Century-Old Image
Laista, known as Laka in Vlach, is the most remote settlement in the Zagori region,…