Administrative Region : Crete
Regional unit : Rethymno
Vryses (Βρύσαι ) Rethymno
Vryses (official: ai Vrysai) is a village and the seat of the homonymous community of the Municipality of Amari, in the Regional Unit of Rethymno, Crete. It is 45 kilometres from Rethymno and is built at an altitude of 600 metres, in a fertile valley at the northern foot of Mount Kentros.[1]
Historical information
The neighboring, now abandoned village of Smiles is mentioned in a document of 1254, according to which Smiles, Monastiraki and its area were recognized as fiefs of Michael Varouhas Petrocheilos. It is possible that Vryses was founded by residents of Smiles during the early Venetian period.[2] The village is mentioned by Francesco Barocci in 1577 as Vrisses. In the Venetian census of 1583 by the Kastrophylakas it is mentioned as Vrisses with 515 dues and in the census of Vasilikata in 1630 it is mentioned as Vrisses. In the census of 1834 which was carried out by the Egyptians the village had a Christian population and 25 families were recorded.[1]
In the census of 1881 it is mentioned in the municipality of Monastiraki and had 219 inhabitants, all Christians. In the census of 1900 it had 262 inhabitants and belonged to the same municipality, which had now been renamed the municipality of Panakraion. In the census of 1920 it is mentioned as annexed to the community of Smiles.[1] In 1925 the village was designated as the seat of its own community of the province of Amari up to the Kapodistrian administrative division, at which time it was annexed to the Municipality of Sivritos.[3] Since 2011 it has been part of the municipality of Amari.
The village was used in 1823 by the activist Emmanuel Tombazis and his 16-member administration as their headquarters. Also, the revolutionary assembly of 1866 was housed in Vryses.[2] The village was destroyed by the Germans in 1944, due to the kidnapping of Major General Kraipe and the abductee's stay for a few days in the area of Mount Kentrois. The Germans surrounded Vryses, along with other villages, at dawn on 22 August 1944. They arrested the men and took them to the school, while the elderly, women and children were taken to Rethymno. After executing 30 men of the village, they set the village on fire. In the neighboring village of Kardaki, they executed 18 men and then set it on fire, as was the village of Smiles.[4]
Population Census
Detailed demographic development of the village according to the censuses:
Census 1900 1920 1928 1940 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011
Population[1] 262 218 237 217 182 229 136 122 179[5] 127 90
Points of interest
The main church of the parish is dedicated to Saint George. Construction began in 1944, but was destroyed by the Germans. It was rebuilt after the war.[2] Fragments of frescoes survive, and Stergios Spanakis suggests that it may be the same as the church of the Virgin Mary, in which Giuseppe Gerola identified sculptures from the Venetian period.[1] On the slopes of Mount Kentrois is the church of Panagia Kryoneritissa. Other churches in the village include Agios Panteleimonas, Agios Ioannis Baptistis, Analipsi (which is located at the top of Kentrois), Agios Pnevma, Agios Antonios and Agios Nikolaos.[2]
In the village of Smiles, the church of the Virgin Mary survives, although in poor condition. The church is dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin Mary and its interior contains frescoes and an arcosolium. An old fountain is located near the church. Also in Smiles is the cemetery church of Despotis Christos.[6]
Education
A school was first opened in Vryses in 1842. This school was one of the first in the prefecture of Rethymno. It was founded after the efforts of Manolis Vivilakis and was taught by the monk Jeremiah Anagnostakis and Antonis Vlastos. In 1861 the school was converted into a co-educational school. In 1862 the first school building was completed, which was replaced by a newer one in 1899 (this building was destroyed by the Germans in 1944). In 1901 the school in Vryses operated as a half-day school, with the teacher teaching in the morning in Vryses and in the afternoon in Gerakari. In 1911 a girls' school also began to operate in Vryses. The school reopened in 1947, in a new building, until 2005, when it merged with the primary school in Apostoloi. The school's peak enrollment was in 1959-1960, when it had 47 students.[2]
Personalities
Emmanouil Vyvilakis (1806-1880) - fighter in the Greek Revolution of 1821 and scholar
Stamatis Kraounakis (1955) - composer[7]
Stamatios Kraounakis, lieutenant colonel, hero of the Albanian Epic and grandfather of the composer
See: Community of Vryses
Vryses of Amari is officially mentioned in 1925 in the Government Gazette 27A - 31/01/1925 to be annexed to the then community of Gerakari, while with the Government Gazette 394A - 09/12/1925 they were designated as the seat of the newly founded community of the same name.[8] According to the Kallikrates plan and the amendment of Cleisthenes I, together with Kardaki they form the community of Vryses, which falls under the municipal unit of Sivritos of the municipality of Amari and according to the 2011 census as a community it has 120 residents while as a settlement it has 90.[9][10]
References
Spanakis, Stergios (1993). Cities and villages of Crete through the ages, volume 1. Heraklion: Graphic Arts G. Detorakis. p. 205.
"Vryses of Amari". RethNea.gr. 10 July 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
"Vryses of Amari (Rethymno)". Administrative Changes of Settlements - Detailed. EETAA-Hellenic Company for Local Development and Local Government S.A. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
"Vryses, 22 August 1944". Municipal Museum of the Kalavryta Holocaust. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
"Vryses". www.amariotes.gr. Archived from the original on December 29, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
Church of Panagia in Smile cretanbeaches.com Retrieved December 10, 2019.
Incidents that close the bravery of Stamatis Kraounakis in the epic of 1940
«EETAA-Administrative Changes of Settlements». www.eetaa.gr. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
«Official Gazette of results of PERMANENT population Archived 2021-10-04 at the Wayback Machine», p. 10884 (p. 410 of pdf)
"Law 4555/2018 - Government Gazette 133/A/19-7-2018 (Articles 1 - 151) (CLOSED Program) (Codified)". e-nomothesia.gr | Legislation Information Bank. Retrieved on 2 May 2022.
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Vryses (Βρύσες) Chania
Vryses (Βρύσες) Kryonerida Chania
Vryses (Βρύσες) Lasithi
Vryses (Βρύσες) Messinia
Vryses (Βρύσες) Preveza
Vryses (Βρύσαι) Rethymno
Vryses (Βρύσες) Samos
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