{"id":100,"date":"2025-04-06T15:06:41","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T15:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondyesterday.org\/?p=100"},"modified":"2026-03-21T19:15:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T19:15:38","slug":"avdela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondyesterday.org\/ka\/avdela\/","title":{"rendered":"Avdela: The Birthplace of the Manakia Brothers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ianaki and Milton Manakia were born into a Vlach shepherd family in the mid-19th century in Avdela, a village in the Pindus Mountains, then part of the Ottoman Empire\u2019s Manastir Vilayet, now part of Greece. It was here that they filmed the first movie ever made in the Balkans and the entire Ottoman Empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-jetpack-image-compare\"><div class=\"juxtapose\" data-mode=\"horizontal\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"402\" src=\"https:\/\/beyondyesterday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Mk-1910-copy-2.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"image-compare__image-before\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"403\" src=\"https:\/\/beyondyesterday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/32b-69-x-50-Avdela-Mk-1910-copy.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"image-compare__image-after\"\/><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, little is recognizable beyond the mountains. To recreate the photograph with similar framing, I had to use a drone \u2013 the vantage point the brothers used is now forested. Nearby stands the Monastery of Saint Athanasios, which the brothers photographed on a feast day. I found the monastery in good condition, even though it was the Transfiguration feast day. To reach it, I traversed a rough forest road in my cousin\u2019s 4&#215;4. The church, now surrounded by forest, exudes an eerie peace that made time feel as though it had folded back on itself. Being there, I felt transported into the past, a sensation amplified by the cinematic quality of the Manakia brothers\u2019 photograph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-jetpack-image-compare\"><div class=\"juxtapose\" data-mode=\"horizontal\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"409\" src=\"https:\/\/beyondyesterday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Mk-1932-copy.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"image-compare__image-before\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"410\" src=\"https:\/\/beyondyesterday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_0837-copy.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" class=\"image-compare__image-after\"\/><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:78px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/beyondyesterday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Avdela-Sf-Treime-1024x768.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-411\" srcset=\"https:\/\/beyondyesterday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Avdela-Sf-Treime-1024x768.webp 1024w, https:\/\/beyondyesterday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Avdela-Sf-Treime-300x225.webp 300w, https:\/\/beyondyesterday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Avdela-Sf-Treime-768x576.webp 768w, https:\/\/beyondyesterday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Avdela-Sf-Treime.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ianaki and Milton Manakia were born into a Vlach shepherd family in the mid-19th century in Avdela, a village in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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