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A small port on the northwest coast of the Black Sea, inhabited by Romanians, Muslims and Germans, as well by Greek fishermen, seamen and merchants, whose origins were mainly from Kefalonia (Cephallonia). The community, which was established in the middle of the 19th century, founded a church which was demolished in 1959. Today, the city is a notable tourist centre. |
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Mavrogordatos family with origins from Chios has a long history that goes back to late byzantine years. Members of the family had been distinguished in the economic, cultural and political life of the Ottoman Empire since the end of the 17th century. Several members of the family made their mark as diplomats and governors of the Danubian Hegemonies as well as in entrepreneurial activity. |
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Family hailing from the Cyclades, members of which migrated in the Danubian Principalities and southern Russia (Odessa, Taganrog), where they excelled in commerce and shipping. Members of the Mavros family married into other notable diaspora families, such as the Melas and Vasileiou ones. |
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Medieval monasteries on the West Black Sea coast |
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Both monumental and rock-cut monasteries were founded and functioned along the West Black Sea coast and in its immediate hinterland between the 6th and 17th c. Due to the proximity to Constantinople and the importance of the coast as a contact zone, many of them were under royal, imperial and patriarchal patronage and thus, had the duty and the privilege to act as primary literary and spiritual centers in the Black Sea region. |
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The Melas family came from Epirus and was one of the most important families of the region. Members of the family became relatives with other important families, such as the Vasileiou and the Mavros family, with which they collaborated in trade. A relative of the family was the known scholar Dimitrios Vikelas. |
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Mesembria (Middle Ages), History |
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Mesembria (Middle Ages), Μonuments |
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The surviving churches in Mesembria with their exuberant exterior decoration became a kind of emblem of the coastal town though the well-preserved sectors of the fortress wall and some other monuments deserve attention too. Yet the peculiar fusion of metropolitan and provincial influence on one hand, and local building and decorative approaches on the other, defines the most distinctive characteristic of the architectural appearance of Mesembria. |
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