Laista, known as Laka in Vlach, is the most remote settlement in the Zagori region, once the most populated and prosperous. By 1900, when the Manakia brothers took this photograph, it still had over 2,000 inhabitants. Today, only about 10 permanent residents remain.
The journey to Laka was challenging but worthwhile due to our interesting encounters. With local help, we determined that the Manakia brothers’ photo was taken from St. George’s hermitage, where, according to tradition, Saint Cosmas of Aetolia preached. Although the village was hidden by trees, this time the drone wasn’t necessary. Climbing onto the church roof revealed the view.
One memorable encounter in Laista was with the photographer Takis Tzimas, who lives in Athens and edits a village magazine that circulates from Athens to America. He asked to publish the village photo, likely the oldest one known, which I told him was taken around 1900. When the magazine arrived, the date had been lowered to 1898. Tzimas explained that the locals know exactly when their houses were built, allowing them to pinpoint the date through the absence or presence of certain homes. To an anthropologist, the exact year may matter less than the significance of how deeply memory, place, and family are valued here. Coincidentally, the frame I have used to display the photo, found in an antique shop in Sweden, has ‘1898’ written on its matting.
In the following issue of Tzimas’ magazine, I published another image from the Bucharest archives showing people in the village square. This led to the discovery of an almost identical photo, likely taken just minutes later, preserved in the Papathanasiou family home. Moreover, some time later, in 2024, I was to discover in the archive of Bitola a broken fragment of a glass plate negative depicting the same celebration in the village square of Laista.
Separated by a century and kept in three different countries, the photographs met again, as if by a miracle, after a hundred years.
