This section is designed to present and preserve important sources and resources about the history of Gavalochori. Many documents and videos about Gavalochori are at risk of being lost because they either have not been made publicly available or because those who would find them to be of interest do not know of their existence. By including them in this website, we hope to contribute to their preservation, and we hope to expand this section as we become aware of more such resources. Included here are works written by Gavalochori residents that document historical and cultural practices of the village, documents by historians and archaeologists who have studied Gavalochori and the Apokoronas region, and videos and audio recordings about Gavalochori that contain useful historical information and serve as records of the village from various moments in time.
Γαβαλοχώρι Αποκορώνου: Η ταυτότητά του
A book about the history of Gavalochori written by Emmanuel Vorinaki, a priest who lived in Gavalochori. It contains childhood memories and information about agricultural practices, festivals, and the old school. The primary focus of the book, however, is on the churches in Gavalochori, and it provides detailed information about their history and their priests gathered from a number of Gavalochori residents. The book was published in 2000 by M. Manioudakis E.P.E. of Chania, Crete.
Below are two books in Greek and one in English, that are how-to books for making kopaneli lace—lace made using a bobbin that is a traditional craft centered in Gavalochori. The books include photographs of lace, lists of the supplies needed to make the lace, instructions on how to wind the bobbins, guides for creating various designs, and summaries of the techniques for making different kinds of lace. The author was born in Gavalochori, where she was taught the craft of kopaneli by her mother. She continues to teach the craft of lace making in Athens and in 1990 founded the Association of Friends for the Continuation and Preservation of Kopaneli to preserve the handicraft. These books were scanned and linked to this website with the permission of the author.
Γαβαλοχώρι Χανίων:Ζητήματα προστασίας ενός παραδοσιακού συνόλου
A study of the architecture of Gavalochori conducted in 2020 by Sofia-Rafailia Mandi and Androulla Agapiou of the Technical University of Crete. It provides a history of Gavalochori; discusses the architecture of its traditional houses; explains the policies and decrees related to architectural preservation in Greece; and provides an assessment of the built environment in Gavalochori, including the uses, maintenance, and alteration of traditional buildings in the village. Of particular interest are the photographs at the end of the study that show buildings as they are now compared to how they looked in earlier times.
The summer, 2024, issue of InTown magazine (published in Chania) contains an article that highlights the Art and Culture of Apokoronas. Many artists and activists in Gavalochori are featured in the piece. A translation of the article in English follows the Greek text.
In Town Magazine, Summer, 2024
Chania, Crete
IN NEO CHORIO
Sotiris & Marike
Nonsensevent.com
Sotiris, originally from Apokoronas, and Marike, originally from Germany, have chosen to settle permanently in the area and make it the center of their professional activities. In the past, Sotiris set up companies in London and Athens that were related to Greek culture, art, and event organization. For the past 12 years, Marike has been involved in creating and organizing events, especially weddings. Together they founded the company Nonsensevent.com, which focuses on creativity, culture, and personal development. As they say: “We plan, advise, and organize support actions that strengthen the local community and the promotion of local and Cretan culture to visitors. Our activities connect creators from all over the region and Crete with music, dance, food, games, and workshops on art and culture.” Sotiris and Marike place particular emphasis on activities and events based on local traditions and Minoan and ancient Greek culture, but they also emphasize creativity, innovation, and the development of networks of creators, innovative scientists, alternative healers and farmers, and personal development consultants throughout Crete. They can create and support any activity from small seminars or presentations to retreats to festivals to art conferences.
IN ARMENOI
Ilias Vlamakis
Music Society “Charilaos”
Ilias Vlamakis was born and raised in Kalyves of Apokoronas. He is a founding member of the music association Charilaos and was a member of the board of directors from 2012 to 2022. Charilaos is an association composed of both amateurs and professionals, and its goal from the beginning was to bring together musicians involved in Cretan music in Apokoronas. Ilias explains, “We need to get to know the past in depth and then there is a chance to create something serious that will last into the future.” The name of the association, Charilaos, is in honor of Charilaos Piperakis, a lyrist from Xirosterni who emigrated to America in about 1900. Charilaos Piperakis, besides being a great performer in Crete and a composer, was involved with the Kafa Aman and played many non-Cretan songs, which he also recorded. Every year, Charilaos organizes a concert in every village of Apokoronas, and it also participates in events outside of the region. In addition, every year an effort is made to cooperate with a specific cultural association to organize similar cultural events. This summer’s scheduled concerts are on June 24 2024 at the Earth Festival and on August 7 2024 at the Festival of the Cretan Abroad. In addition to his involvement with Charilaos, Ilias has a musical group, Striftalia, which plays a repertoire of American music, especially the repertoire of the Café Aman. He also has a YouTube channel, Cretan Lyra Lab, which is dedicated to the Cretan lyra. Finally, in collaboration with Father Emmanuel Nikolakakis from the Parish of Agios Apostolos Thomas and the Municipality of Apokoronas, the group organizes free music seminars in Neo Chorio.
Judith Watson
Textile Art
Judith Watson, an Englishwoman by birth, spent three consecutive years on holiday in the area, met her partner, tried living here for 12 months (to see if she could bear it), and stayed forever, as she says with absolute certainty. Judith, a graduate of Loughborough College of Art and Design, creates fabric art. She had her own professional space in England, but she set up a small studio in her home on Crete and continues to create. Artistic and creative by nature, apart from fabric, she loves colorful styles in interior design and has given a different look to many homes and furniture in the area over the last 14 years. She has stayed in Apokoronas because of the intensity of light and colors, the very things that are the source of her inspiration. Her works can be purchased at the shop Thesmia in Vamos (where she also works) and also through judithwatsonstudio.com and her personal social media. Judith has created works for performances, designers, and recently the Museum of School Life in Chania, and she has participated in many exhibitions, including Chaniaart 2023 and Nature 2 at the art gallery Much More in Platanias.
IN TSIVARAS
Kostas Vrontakis
Tsivaras Cultural Association
Kostas Vrontakis was born and lives in Tsivaras. In 1989, in cooperation with other residents, he founded the Tsivaras Cultural Association, and he has held the position of president since its founding. The program of activities coordinated by the Tsivaras Cultural Association is highly varied: Outdoor concerts of traditional Cretan music, theatrical performances such as the Karagiozis shadow theatre for children, film performances, and lectures and discussions on local issues. Another activity of the Cultural Association is the restoration of historical sites in Tsivaras. Its members have restored the Church of Agios Antonios, the well, and the central square of the village. However, the most important restoration project that the Cultural Association has undertaken is the renovation of the old primary school, where many of its activities now take place. The space is now used for yoga and Pilates classes; workshops on subjects such as traditional baking; and piano, violin, guitar, and flute lessons in collaboration with the Venizelio Conservatory of Chania. Kostas has contributed not only to the organization of successful cultural activities but also to the development of various sports activities, culminating in the establishment of the Apokoronas Sports Club TANOS in 2016-2017, with the aim of promoting opportunities for youth participation in sports in the wider area of Apokoronas. In fact, the Sports Club played an important role in the renovation of a gym in Vamos that was not used until then. Today, the men’s basketball team is based there, and about 120-130 children are involved in volleyball and basketball activities. Before he retires, Kostas would like the Apokoronas area to have access to a state-of-the-art indoor gym that meets all European standards. His vision is that it would cover 10 to 12 acres and include both indoor and outdoor courts, enabling all ages to participate in track and field events, basketball, and volleyball.
IN DOULIANA
Douliana Cultural Association
The Cultural Association in Douliana was founded in 1993. The Cultural Association sponsors a famous village festival every year on the 29th of August and organizes evenings with Cretan music throughout the year. The Association has been at the forefront of promoting the local rock music scene by sponsoring the Livadoura Rock Festival, which it has organized for many years. But because culture is not only about festivals and celebrations, the Association also has established a library; hosted activities such as a bread seminar, psychology/self-education courses, book presentations, poetry nights, photo exhibitions, and a children’s choir; and organized classes from ceramics to language to dance.
IN GAVALOCHORI
Foss-Radich Foundation for Gavalochori
Sonja Foss is a retired university professor of communication, and Anthony Radich is a retired director of a US-based NGO who, in the past, has successfully run various art organizations and visual arts centers. Sonja and Anthony live in Denver, Colorado, for six months of the year, and the other six months, they live in Gavalochori in the house they bought in 2003 next to the Folklore Museum. They chose to live in Gavalochori because of the rich cultural history of the area as well as the fact that Gavalochori is an agricultural village that has not been altered by mass tourism. Through their foundation, the non-profit Foss-Radich Foundation for Gavalochori, they have collaborated with the Gavalochori Cultural Association to support a number of activities, including the Gavalochori light festival during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season; the construction of a comprehensive website that emphasizes the deep history of Gavalochori, gavalochorigreece. org; and many other projects to support the regeneration of the village. Next December, Sonja and Anthony will sponsor an ambitious conference in Gavalochori on the revitalization and maintenance of small Greek villages focused on their cultural development.
Anestis Stais
Collector
Anestis comes from Thessaloniki and studied at the Pedagogical Academy of the city. In 1997, together with his wife, he left Athens and took a job as a teacher in the primary school in Kalyves. Since 2003, he has been a permanent resident of Gavalochori as well as the owner and curator of a huge collection of about 3,500 beer bottles. He started collecting beer bottles in 1988, and since then, his collection has become his passion. He also actively participates in the social life of Gavalochori and was a member of the Gavalochori Cultural Association. He has been involved in the activities of the Folklore Museum, where he created a program for children visiting the museum and designed a game focused on the sites and architecture of Gavalochori.
Kopaneli Lace
The craft of bobbin lace first appeared in Europe in the 16th century, but it became popular in Crete between 1906 and 1908. Gavalochori became the center of kopaneli on the island thanks to a nun, Minodora Athanasaki, who learned the craft at a school in Athens and then spread it by teaching it to her relatives in Gavalochori. In order to practice this craft, a cushion, small wooden sticks, and thread affixed to the sticks are required. The girls of Gavalochori began to learn the craft of lace as early as the age of four. Christina Kustouraki-Koukoulari, an important figure in the effort to save the art of kopaneli and a native of Gavalochori, remembers watching the older women of the village make lace and wanting to learn the craft herself. In her neighborhood, there were at least 10 women, aged 20 to 30, who sat on the street, sang mantinades and engaged in kopaneli. To help save the craft, Christina began teaching kopaneli at the Center for Folk Art and Tradition in Athens from 1982 until 2012. In 1985, she published the first of a series of books entitled Cretan Kopaneli, through which she gave instructions and tips on how to make kopaneli lace. In 1990, she and a group of women created the Association of Friends for the Continuation and Preservation of the Kopaneli. In 1994, Debbie Kuchika registered the organization with the International Organization for Lace with Bobbin and Needle (L ‘Organisation Internationale de la Dentelle au Fuseau et à l’ Aiguille or OIDFA), based in France. Christina and her team then started to participate in world conferences in order to present and teach the craft of kopaneli lace. You can admire creations made of kopanel lace, as well as a pillow and bobbins, at the Folklore Museum of Gavalochori. The wedding dress on display in the silk-making room is particularly impressive. This lace dress was made in 1956 from a single piece of lace, unlike the clothes made today, which come from stitching together multiple pieces. Kopaneli is still being practiced in Gavalochori as six women regularly gather in the afternoons in a community building in the village or in front of the Lourakis Mini Market to work on lace designs. Evangelia Bakatsaki, Stavroula Louraki, and Matoula Apostolaki have many stories to tell you.
Dimitris Fronimakis
Folklore Museum of Gavalochori
Dimitris Fronimakis, originally from the village and having studied at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts, has been involved in painting, sculpture, and engraving and is employed as an art teacher. He has taken an active role in preserving and promoting the culture of Gavalochori. He has contributed much to the Folklore Museum, dedicating hours of his daily life to the conservation and organization of the exhibits. With his love and dedication, he contributes to the promotion and protection of cultural heritage. With optimism and commitment to art and culture, he encourages the revival and promotion of the local cultural heritage of the village.
Monica van den Bosch
The Swallow and Gavalianos Kafenes
At the edge of the central square of Gavalochori is the warm and welcoming Gavalianos Kafenes or “Monica’s Tavern.” Monica rents the 300-year-old building, which in the past was used as a barber shop. She and her husband Giorgos took over the taverna in 2002, and initially, they operated the place as a café, serving drinks and snacks prepared by Giorgos’s mother. Then they started serving other dishes, gradually turning the café into a taverna with a full menu. Monica makes sure to use fresh and seasonal produce from local producers, and the menu includes traditional Greek and Cretan dishes. Apart from the taverna, Monica also operates a shop located in the central square just opposite the taverna. It is called The Swallow and is housed in the same building where the Women’s Craft Cooperative used to be. The shop has a wide range of handmade items and locally produced agricultural products, such as handmade lace, tablecloths, soaps, jewelry, clothing, vases, original artwork, and cards.
Melissa Rallis
Mera
Melissa Rallis is a Greek-Australian who was born in Sydney. She graduated from the Kensington School of Art and Craft in London in 1992 and has been working as an artist ever since. In the past, she has lived and worked in London, Washington DC, Athens, Mykonos, and California. She closed her gallery, Kiss My Ring, in Berkeley, California, shortly before the COVID pandemic because she wanted a change in her life. She chose to move to Crete in 2021 because of its location, history, and culture and craft traditions. In Gavalochori, she operates the shop Mera, the name of which comes from the first two letters of Melissa’s first and last names. It is housed in a building that previously served as a mini market, a grocery store, an olive mill, and an animal stable. The business is just a few steps from the main square, and when you enter, you will find a treasure trove of handmade items, both from Greece and elsewhere, such as hand-printed linen towels, clothing, jewelry, cards, bags, pillows, and much more. For Melissa, Mera is an expression of herself. As she explains, “When you see the shop, you see me.” At the same time, she feels that the store expands her social life because it allows her to meet, get to know, and interact with many people.
Stella Diomantaraki & Christine Hastorf
Old Cretan Recipes
Stella is a professional sommelier who graduated from the Hellenic Open University with a degree in Greek culture. She is currently active in the gastro bar Steria, located in the Splantzia area of Chania. Based on the principles of sustainability, zero footprint, and recycling, Steria offers a unique perspective on the materials and the potential of Crete as a renowned gastronomic destination. Christine has a bachelor’s degree in human biology from Stanford University and a master’s degree and PhD in anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles. As part of her professional activities as an anthropologist, she has traveled to Bolivia, Peru, Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Hungary, Argentina, and Mexico, where she has focused on plants and their usefulness in the daily life of ancient civilizations. She studies the remains of plants in archaeological sites, and in her laboratory at the University of California—Berkeley, she has developed new scientific methods for studying such plants. These two women joined forces to study and recreate old Cretan cooking recipes found in an old trunk. However, reviving the recipes was not an easy task because the recipes only included the list of ingredients. The quantities of the ingredients were nowhere mentioned, nor was there any description of the cooking process. Their research concluded that the recipes probably date back to the 16th century or even earlier, given the ingredients mentioned in them. Christine and Stella plan to jointly write an article on their project of reviving old recipes for an international journal related to food history.
IN VAMOS
Efi Drosinou
Thesmia shop
Efi was born in Zimbabwe, Africa; grew up in Macedonia; lived for almost 20 years in Germany; and eight years ago decided to return to Greece, when she met her husband, who comes from Vamos. In February 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, she decided to try what she always wanted to do, and she designed her first winter collection. Coming from a family with a great tradition in embroidery and sewing, she started to find colors and special designs in order to create her own clothing line. Thesmia.shop is now housed in a beautifully renovated 200-year-old building, where besides clothes, you can find handmade leather bags with cross stitch or Cretan stitch in traditional designs and vibrant colors as well as handmade leather-care products. All products are made from natural, organic ingredients, handpicked in Crete, and the fabrics used for the various creations are mainly Greek made. A visit to Thesmia will convince you of the truth of the matter.
Giorgos Hadzidakis
Vamos Cultural Association
Giorgos Hatzidakis has been living permanently in Vamos since 1988. Although he was born and raised in Athens, he chose to move here to his family’s place of origin. Versatile and dynamic, he was the initiator and organizer of the very successful Jazz in July festival, which took place from 2012 to 2021. He considers this to be the most important venture he has ever tried. The greatest Greek musicians were featured on the festival stage, and the marginalized Greek jazz scene found a way to be “heard” by the general public and broaden the aesthetic horizons of those who were truly enchanted by it. From 2011 until today, he has been the president of the Cultural Association of Vamos, which has given him the opportunity to develop a wide range of cultural activities such as photography and painting exhibitions, speech nights, creative writing seminars, and parent-counseling seminars. Within this creative framework, the Cultural Association also runs the unique Municipal Library of Apokoronas. The recording of local history, oral traditions, culinary culture, and the study and documentation of rebetiko singing are among the future projects planned. In 2019, Giorgos started his own small company for the production of cultural activities, Vamos Art & Thought, which has released a CD with selections of folk singing from all corners of Greece. The second production will be released in June in collaboration with the renowned musician Nikos Touliatos and is anticipated with great interest. Through Myrto KINSEP, Giorgos is looking for ways to promote the concept of cooperation in every aspect of social life.
Nikos Fragiadakis
Vamos Orchestra
Nikos Fragiadakis was born and raised in Vamos and works as a professor at the Hellenic Mediterranean University. For the past 12 years, he has been enjoying music through a wonderful orchestra he created himself, the Vamos Orchestra. Nikos is the president and plays the piano, while the arrangements are made by Thanasis Papathanasiou. The orchestra consists of an ensemble of violins, piano, drums, guitars, percussion, and voices. It has collaborated with great performers such as Tasos Apostolou, Ioanna Forti, and Thodoris Voutsikakis. A highlight in the orchestra’s career was its appearance at the Lyric Stage two years ago with three works by Mikis Theodorakis. This year in August, you will have the opportunity to enjoy the Vamos Orchestra at the Rocca Celebrations, while a collaboration with Cores, the vocal ensemble of Marina Satti, in co-production with the Lyric Stage, is imminent. Another important event is the Festival of Music Ensembles, which takes place in various historical places of Vamos. It has already taken place three times to date and is a cultural event funded by the Ministry of Culture.
IN KEFALAS
Vangelis Vlepakis
“The Hermit”
Vangelis was born in 1950 and lives in Kefalas. At the age of 17, he left Crete for a job in Athens and returned to his homeland in 1990. Initially, he went to the caves in Obrosgialos, where he started working with stone and making various creations. As he confesses, ‘I liked it so much there that I thought I would live here for a long time. So I thought I could start doing something, and when I started doing stone work, it clicked, and I found what I liked. All the other jobs I was doing before didn’t appeal to me.” In his own unique style, he has created stone tributes to Theodorakis, the chieftains of Apokoronas, Venizelos, Daskalogiannis, and others. He likes to use the local free stone that he finds in the area. He has created monuments in six places in Kefalas, which are worth admiring if you are near the area. If you are lucky, you will also meet Vangelis, who is always eager to welcome you and exchange a few words with you.
IN KOKKINO CHORIO
Spyros Tzobanakis
Tzobanakis Blown Glass
Spyros Tzobanakis runs the only workshop in Greece that recycles both glass and metal in the same space. The workshop manufactures handmade lighting and decorative objects exclusively from recycled materials. The glass is separated according to color, cleaned, crushed, put in the oven, and melted at 1500 degrees for a few hours until it becomes fluid. Then the temperature is lowered to 1000 degrees, and the glass is worked again depending on what it will be used to make. The metal—mostly bronze—is recycled in small quantities, melted, and used for the various components in lights and other objects. When you ask Spyros what drew him to continue his father’s work, he answers: “I grew up in this glass business. It never occurred to me to do anything else. It wasn’t really something I had to choose. It’s my everyday life. I feel at home here, and that’s how I continue to make art.”
IN VRYSSES
Kosmas Lilikakis
Upcycled Art
Kosmas Lilikakis, originally from Vryses in Apokoronas, studied at the Superior School of Fine Arts in Florence, lived in the past in Athens, and now resides in Chania. His place of origin and his love for the natural environment were the two main factors that brought him back to Crete after he completed his studies in Italy. When asked, “Why Apokoronas and not somewhere else?,” he tells us that “Apokoronas reminded me of Tuscany but without the Renaissance.” His first project upon his return was a printmaking workshop in 1986 in the garden of the house of his grandfather, Ioannis Lilikakis. As an artist-educator with over 30 years of experience, Kosmas has found himself serving art from many different positions, including set builder and stage designer at the Moscow Theatre Olympiad; exhibition organizer; apprentice instructor and creator of art programs; and an artist whose work has been shown in many exhibitions in Greece, France, and Austria. When asked about the cultural heritage of Vryses, a place of childhood memories for him, he answers: “The cultural heritage of Vryses follows the fate of the rest of Apokoronas, with a focus on traditional festivals, which are identified with religious holidays. Many people know traditional music and know how to dance traditional dances to the sounds of the lyre and lute, but what really happens to the intangible cultural heritage?’ He continues: “There are many neglected and unmaintained monuments with nature happily running rampant amidst hundreds of tons of rubbish, a series of rivers, and crazy vegetation.” Kosmas believes that a water museum would be an excellent addition to the Apokoronas region.
IN TZITZIFE
Manolis Nikoloudis
Rizitiko Singing Group
Manolis Nikoloudis is a lawyer from Melidoni, Apokoronas. While still a student, he came into direct contact with raditional rizitiko songs, which fascinated him. For more than 20 years now, he has been the president of the artistic group Apokoronas, which is based in Tzitzife, a village with a very long history of rizitiko singing, customs, and dancing. When you ask him what the purpose of the artistic group is, he answers: “We try to attract young children to teach them to sing properly. We are also teaching them some things that the traditional old Cretans had such as respect. We have a good environment. Among us we are all like brothers and sisters, and that is recognized. People’s acceptance of what we do gives us strength to continue.” The group is a member of the Federation of Associations and Organizations of Rizitiko Singing, an organization based in Chania. Manolis goes on to say: “We meet once a week. Every Thursday, we gather from 20:00 to 22:00 at the former primary school of Tzitzife, which was given to us by the Municipality of Apokoronas. We are open to everyone.” Every year until 2020, the group organized a performance of rizitiko singing on the 15th of August. On this evening, people from all over the prefecture of Chania would come and sing. If all goes well, the aim is to revive the custom next summer.
IN PAIDOCHORI
Manousos Chalkiadakis
Ceramics
Manousos Chalkiadakis was born in Chania and studied economics at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki. He lived for several years in Athens before deciding to return to his homeland in 1987. An overnight stay at a friend’s house in Paidochori, Apokoronas, was enough to show him the path he was to follow. After buying and renovating a Venetian ruin, he set up his own ceramics workshop there, starting to work on what still fascinates him to this day. His work has been featured in many exhibitions, and he is the recipient of many awards. Manousos started his own gallery in Chania, Tzamia Crystal, which collaborated with the Zoumboulakis Gallery in Athens and presented many exhibitions of Greek painters. Concerts were held in the large space of the gallery with the participation of Tania Tsanaklidou, Alkinoos Ioannidis, the Winter Swimmers, and others. The gallery has now been moved to Santorini, but Manousos himself continues to create in his studio in Apokoronas, trying to communicate his wondrous world with contemporary reality.
IN CLOSING
Charalambos Koukianakis
Mayor of Apokoronas
The mayor of Apokoronas, Charalambos Koukianakis, says of the area, “A place blessed, a place of unique beauty and natural landscape in Crete! The clean beaches, the rich natural environment, the wild beauty of the mountains, the infinite sights and culture, combined with the authenticity of the local people, classify it as a special place that is hard to forget.” The Municipality has made an intensive effort to create and promote infrastructure that showcases not only the unparalleled beauty of the region but especially its cultural footprint. The Municipal Art Gallery of Fre; the Folklore Museum in Gavalochori; the deepest basalt cave in Greece, which is being explored and promoted; the diving park at Obrosgialos, which is now being prepared; and the creation of 12 hiking trails with a total length of 130 kilometers, in conjunction with the cultural route, which will highlight 27 important monuments of the region, offer local and visitors a unique experience of getting to know the history of Apokoronas, the inland areas and also the marine and mountain wealth of the region.
A magazine focused on archaeology and anthropology published by the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The issue that is linked here is from 1990, and it is entirely devoted to archaeological work on Crete. Jennifer A. Moody, the co-director of the Vrokastro Survey Project on Crete and the co-author of the article on the project, is a research associate in the field of classics at the University of Texas at Austin. She has owned a home on Crete for many years.
An article published in 1990 in Byzantina Symmeikta, Charalambos Gasparis of the National Hellenic Research Foundation uses the history and lineage of two major families to explore how members of the Byzantine upper class in the 13th century reacted after the arrival of the Venetians on Crete. One of those families is the Gavalas family, whose name was given to the village of Gavalochori. Gasparis details the number and members of the family, their marriages, their attitude toward the Venetian regime, and their economic activities. The author gave us permission to link his article, and because it was published in an open-access journal, it is also available elsewhere on the internet.
The first chapter of Dimitris Tsougarakis’s book, provides a historical outline of Crete from the 5th century to the year 1211. Pages 81-88 of the chapter cover the alleged origin story of Gavalochori about the 12 nobles who were sent by an emperor to settle in Crete. The chapter is linked to this website with permission of the author.
This is the name of Chryssa A. Maltezou’s chapter, which appeared in the book Bosphorou: Essays in Honour of Cyril Mango, includes a discussion of the legend that tells the origin story of Gavalochori (see pages 233-237). Permission to scan and link the chapter to this website was given by the publisher of the book, Adolf M. Hakkert.
Dimitris Tsougarakis has also published an article on the Apokoronas prefecture or region, of which Gavalochori is a part. This article is part of the proceedings of a conference on Apokoronians in 2020, which talks about the history and geography of Apokoronas in the Byzantine Empire and the early Venetian era. The article is included here with the permission of the author.
Το Παραδοσιακό Χωριό Γαβαλοχωρίου
An unpublished manuscript written in 1969 by prominent Gavalochori resident Vasileios Fronimakis. It contains rich information about the history of Gavalochori, including details about its geographic location, its architecture, its olive industry, the village’s water and electricity systems, the old school, the churches in the area, the German occupation during World War II, and the practices that marked various holidays. The typewritten document was loaned to us so that it could be scanned and made available to the public via this website by his niece, Anastasia Fronimaki.
The next three links are about the tradition of kopaneli lace making in Gavalochori. The first two connect to videos that were shown in 2010 on the TV show Good Morning on Crete TV. They show women making the lace and sharing information about this traditional handicraft.
The third link below is an audio recording by Christina Koustouraki-Koukoulari by Κάθε Μία Ιστορία telling about her experiences with kopaneli lace making. Christina is the founder of the Association of Friends for the Continuation and Preservation of Kopaneli, and the recording (and transcriptions in Greek and English) are included here with her permission.
The following video features the 24 Venetian wells, which were built in the 15th or 16th centuries and lie one kilometer (half a mile) outside of the center of Gavalochori. The video was filmed by Φοίβος -Visit Crete in 2019 following a misguided attempt to improve visitors’ experience at the site with the installation of lighting, electricity, and formal pathways. Those “improvements” have since been removed.
This video was created by the Municipality of Apokoronas, and it provides an overview of the key sites of the village. Even if you don’t speak Greek, you will be able to enjoy the images of Gavalochori.
In the next video, Φοίβος – Visit Crete provides a view of Gavalochori from above using drone images. Much of the video features the forest that is adjacent to Gavalochori, but be patient. Images of the village will eventually appear.
Kopaneli Gave Me Life
Christina Koustouraki-Koukoulari
Athens, 2023
When I was the age of 10, I should tell you that in my neighborhood, kopaneli was very well established. It was a household craft. At that time, there were at least 10 women ages 20-30 who would sit on the street and place their “kousounia” (bobbin lace pillows) on the wall. They sang their “mantinades” and would make lace, and periodically, they went into their houses to check on the food they were making.
I would play with their kopaneli sticks and their kopaneli and tangle them up. When they finished their chores, they would give me a little smack: “Christina, you’ve ruined our work!” I loved it. Watching it, I learned how to make kopaneli. Nobody showed me, but by watching the women, I learned how to make the bobbin lace.
But what was I to do if I wanted to make lace myself? One day, I went to our garden and cut a leaf of the prickly pear tree, which is soft. I stole from my mother a spool of thread that she used to weave with. But I also wanted sticks for the kopaneli, so I cut a branch from the carob tree and made sticks on which I then wound the thread from the spool.
Now I needed pins, but I couldn’t steal pins. So I went to the lower field of our garden to a wild pear tree that I knew had thorns. I cut the thorns off. Then I hid under a bush in the threshing circle because I’d stolen the spool, and I knew my mother was going to beat me. So I went and lay down, spread my little legs out in front of me, put the leaf out in front, wrapped the sticks, and made a belt for my doll with the spikes instead of pins. My mother, Theodosia, thought I was lost because I was just a little kid, and she couldn’t find me. So she was calling me: “Jesus, Jesus, where are you?”
My mother found me and saw me trying to make the lace. I was scared because I’d stolen the spool, and I thought she was going to beat me. Instead, my mother—this wonderful person, a woman who was born in 1900 and died in 2000, a hundred years old, who never left the village ever, yet she had an education and passed on to us such a good principles—took me by the hand, went into the house, and told my father, “You need to make a “kousouni” (bobbin lace pillow) for the girl.”
“Why, Theodosia,?” he asked.
“We have to make her a “kousouni” so she can start making kopaneli lace.”
After that, I finished elementary school and went to high school. I bought my first school apron (we had to wear an apron with a white collar) with money I earned from making doilies. I made them by taking my “kousouni” in my arms when I went to the field to watch the sheep. I sat in the field and made lace. In the seventh grade, I also bought my school books and my first pen with the money I made from the doilies I made in the summer. Merchants came from Athens and collected the lace and sold it there.
I finished high school and took my exams in Chania. I then enrolled in the Ariadne School of Home Economics. I finished school and got my degree. Joy! In 1957, I moved to Athens.
Then I met my husband, Stelios, and I was appointed to a government position in 1973. I was appointed to Leonidio of Kynourias. We went to Tripoli so I could sign the contract for the position. In 1974, we got married. I was in love. I couldn’t leave Stelios. Impossible! He said, “Do whatever you want to do. You’re free to keep your job if you wish. I’ll come when I go to the Peloponnese, you come to see me, and so on.” “No,” I said, “I don’t want to, I’m fine.” I didn’t accept the government position, and the job was withdrawn.
We started our life very, very well. But I could see that in the village, Chinese linens were starting to be imported. They were coming from abroad. I didn’t like that at all. And bobbin lace was losing popularity; people didn’t value it as much. Because I was educated with the money I made from weaving, through the value of this art, I didn’t want it to be lost. So what did I think? I decided to go ask for a place to teach bobbin lace in Athens.
I thought I’d start by going to ERT1 (national tv station). I didn’t have any connections there, and I knew no one. What should I do? What should I do? I was watching ERT1, and I was watching Mylonas, who had a show, The Traditional Songs. I thought to myself, “I’m going to go there.” So I went to the gate of ERT and knocked, and they asked me: “Where are you going?”
I said, “To Mr. Mylonas.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“Yes.”
He let Stelios and me pass, and we went in. Mr. Mylonas was in office number one. I knocked on the door, the door opened, and his secretary was sitting in front. She said to me: “What do you want? Do you have an appointment?”
Before she could say anything, I said to Mr. Mylonas, “Excuse me very much. To tell you the truth I don’t have an appointment. I told a lie to come in and ask a favor.”
“What do you want?” he asked. I said, “I have an art, I want to promote it, I want to teach it. I don’t have people to help me or go anywhere. I ask for two or three minutes on television for people to see me and hear my story. Maybe someone wants to come and learn it.” He replied: “Wait.”
“OK, I’ll wait,” I said. I wasn’t leaving now no matter what.
“We’ll call you on the phone.” I wrote my phone number down. The next day, I got a call, and he said: “Saturday at noon, be here. You’re going to be on Mrs. Sakakou’s show.” Kelly Sakakou. I was so excited! I took with me a handmade tablecloth and some other bobbin-lace items. We made a corner with all this stuff. We sat down, and I went live, asking people if anyone wanted to learn bobbin lace, but nobody called me. Nobody called. So nothing happened from ERT; nothing came out of that show. Bless those people, but nobody was interested.
I read the newspaper, and I saw that the Angeliki Hadjimichali studios were offering classes. So I went. I talked to a teacher, Mrs. Demetra, and I said that I know this art, and I want to show it to the women. She got up, God bless her, and she said to me: “There are no students interested in kopaneli!”
I said, “Excuse me” and left. As I going down the stairs, a woman came up next to me. “My good lady,” she said. “My good lady. I want to learn kopaneli, but come upstairs to the headmistress. Come in the morning.”
Monday morning I was there! I told her my thoughts, and she said “OK!” She got me an appointment at the Cultural Centre of the Municipality of Athens, 50 Akademias Street.
I started in February, 1982, and left in 2012. Thirty years I taught kopaneli there. They weren’t called classes there—they were seminars. They were six-month seminars. Kopaneli, my dear ladies and gentlemen, is not learned in six months. It takes years to learn kopaneli.
One of my students at that time—she has passed away now—Zoe Terlexis, told me: “Listen, Christina, we’ll make an association, and the women will come there.” “And how are we going to make the association? We have nothing,” I asked. “Don’t worry!” she said: “All the expenses will be mine.”
I gathered the people I knew would support me. There really are women from that time who are still board members. We got the women together and made the bylaws. We had to put a name on the bylaws before we gave them to the accountant, so we decided to meet at a taverna to come up with a name for the association. I suggested we should name it Penelope or Cleo, and so on. But then the other women, who had already come to an agreement without me, spoke up and said, “Who did we learn bobbin lace from? From Mrs. Christina! So the club will be called Christina.” I was very, very moved.
Kopaneli—the Cretan kopaneli—was no longer known. It has a kinship as we see it with the Russian kopeli. I don’t know how it came down to Crete. I know that in 1908, Olga—Queen Olga—came down to Korakies, and she saw that the nuns were poor. But they had a loom, they had gardens, and they did whatever they could to survive. She took a nun, Minodora Athanasaki, and brought her to Athens. Then there was a school here with 300 pupils that the queen had at that time, and Minodora learned kopaneli. She then returned to Crete, to Korakies, and in this monastery, there were seven nuns from my village, from Gavalochori. So the root of the Cretan kopaneli is considered to be Gavalochori.
Debbie Koutsika registered us in 1994 with the World Lace Organization (OIDFA), based in France, and from there on we started going to world conferences. I must tell you that we have attended 12 conferences, we have gone abroad, and we have been very much recognized.
I must say that all my progress and all my creations over all these years I owe to the support of my husband. We did not have children. When we learned that there would be no children, we turned the page and said that we would live as God wanted us to live, and that’s really how it happened. All those conferences I told you about: He sent me with all his love, with all his soul.
I am very, very happy because the classes I was teaching at Hadjimihali are still going, and I’m still going to the club to this day. Stelios will never tell me not to go. He tells me, “Go, get up and go. If you’re well, go. Is it Thursday? Go, go, do your lesson. Just don’t be late.” His only words now are, “Just don’t be late.” If my husband were bothered by me going to class, I would enjoy my peace and quiet and my house, but I would be unhappy, whereas now I am happy. I am full, I am content, and that is great. Great value in life to say you are full. I did what I wanted to do, and he understood me.
I had a dream, and I believe I achieved it. I had a dream. I know I am leaving behind knowledge of kopaneli so that it remains. It’s history, it’s art, it must stay. Let the children see it and learn it.
This is the art I’ve loved since I was a little girl, and it’s given me life. It gave me value. Art gave me value. That’s what I need to emphasize. If I hadn’t made this art, I’d be nothing. Do you understand that? But I found the right person, and he helped me, and I was able to make all this happen. I can’t say anything else.
Story by: Καθε Μια Ιστορία
We have not yet received permission to include some of the sources presented above. In all of the cases that commonly require permission, we tried repeatedly to obtain consent, but the owners or publishers of the sources did not respond to our requests. In the case of the book Γαβαλοχώρι Αποκορώνου: Η Ταυτότητά Του (Gavalochori–Apokoronas: Its Identity), we could find no information about the author or the publisher, so we were unable to contact anyone to request permission to include the book here.
