Trikala

For other uses, see Trikala (disambiguation).

Trikala Τρίκαλα
Litheos river flowing through the city of Trikala.
Location
Trikala
Coordinates	39°33′N 21°46′E
Location within the region
Government
Country:	Greece
Region:	Thessaly
Regional unit:	Trikala
Mayor:	Christos Lappas
Population statistics (as of 2011)
Municipality
- Population:	81,355
- Area:	608.5 km2 (235 sq mi)
- Density:	134 /km2 (346 /sq mi)
Municipal unit
- Population:	62,154
- Area:	69.2 km2 (27 sq mi)
- Density:	898 /km2 (2,326 /sq mi)
Other
Time zone:	EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
Elevation (center):	115 m (377 ft)
Postal code:	421 00
Telephone:	24310
Auto:	ΤΚ
Website
www.trikalacity.gr

Trikala (Greek: Τρίκαλα) is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece. It is the capital of the Trikala regional unit, and is located northwest of Athens, northwest of Karditsa, east of Ioannina and Metsovo, south of Grevena, southwest of Thessaloniki, and west of Larissa. The city is straddled by the River Litheon, which is a tributary of Pineios river. According to the National Statistical Service, Trikala had 81,355 inhabitants in 2011, while the Trikala regional unit had 131,085 inhabitants.

History

Ruins of the ancient Asclepeion.

View of the clock tower, located at the medieval fortress of the old town (Varousi).

The region of Trikala has been inhabited since prehistoric times and the first signs of life in the cave of Theopetra are reach back to approx. 49,000 BC. Neolithic settlements from 6,000 BC have been discovered in Grand Kefalovriso and other locations.

The city of Trikala is built on the ancient city Trikka or Trikke, which was founded around the 3rd millennium B.C. and took its name by the nymph Trikke, daughter of Penaeus, or according to others, daughter of Asopus river. The city was an important center in Antiquity as the birthplace and main residence of Asclepius. In the region existed indeed one of the most important and ancient asclepieia. The city is mentioned in Homer's Iliad as having participated in the Trojan War with thirty ships under Asclepius' sons Machaon and Podalirius. In the Mycenean period, the city was the capital of a kingdom, and later it constituted the main center of the Thessalian region of Estaiotis, which occupied roughly the territory of the modern Trikala Prefecture.

In historical times, the city of Trikke and the surrounding area of the river experienced prosperity. It fell to the Achaemenid Persians in 480 BC, while ten years later it joined the Thessalian monetary union. In 352 BC it was united with the Macedonia of Philip II. The city became a location of hard battles between Macedonia and Rome. While Philip V of Macedon and his son Perseus tried to keep the city, after 168 BC it fell to the Roman Republic.

In the early centuries AD and during the Byzantine era the region was conquered by many intruders: Goths (396), Huns (447), Slavs (577), Bulgarians (976-1025), Normans (1081), Catalonians (1309–1311) and from 1204 by the Franks, while for a short period it was part of the Despotate of Epirus. The city's current name first appears in the early 12th century, in Anna Komnene's Alexiad. The city was conquered by the Ottomans in 1393, and after an extended period of decline it became an important center of cottage industry, with famed woolen textiles and leather products. The city also constituted an important intellectual center for a time during the Ottoman domination (1543-1854) with the Trikke School (and later Greek School), where famous intellectuals of the time, such as Dionysios the Philosopher, taught.

On 23 August 1881 with the Treaty of Constantinople between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Greece, the city passed in Greek sovereignty, along with the remainder of Thessaly. It fell again under Turkish sovereignty briefly during the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. Afterwards, Trikala played a fundamental role in the rural workers' mobilizations in the early 20th century against the Thessalian landlords and was the scene of the foundation of first Agricultural Cooperative in Greece, in 1906.

Administration

The municipality Trikala was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 8 former municipalities, that became municipal units:

• Estiaiotida
• Faloreia
• Kallidendro
• Koziakas
• Megala Kalyvia
• Paliokastro
• Paralithaioi
• Trikala

Province

The province of Trikala (Greek: Επαρχία Μαργαριτίου) was one of the provinces of the Trikala Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipalities Trikala, Farkadona and Pyli. It was abolished in 2006.

Infrastructure

A snapshot from the old town.

View of the old railway station.

Trikala is home to the General Hospital of the Trikala Prefecture. The Physical Education and Sport Science department of the University of Thessaly is also located in Trikala, and was founded in 1994, with the first students being admitted in the academic year 1994-1995; it was originally housed in the Matsopoulos Park facility, but moved to the new Karyes campus in July 1999. Trikala has over 20 schools of secondary education, and a modern night technical school also functions in the town.

Sporting teams

• A.O. Trikala, a football team that competed in the Greek first division as recently as the year 2000.
• AS Trikala 2000 BC, a basketball team that competed in the Greek top division between 2008 and 2010. The team was dismantled following the teams relegation from the top division and ensuing financial difficulties

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Greece

Trikala is twinned with:

• Amberg, Germany
• Braşov, Romania
• Chongqing, People's Republic of China
• Pyatigorsk, Russia
• Talence, France
• Tucson, USA

Notable people

• Œcumenius (about 990) Bishop of Trikka (now Trikkala)
• Evangelos Averoff (1910–1990), politician
• Georgios Kondylis (1879–1936) army officer, Prime Minister of Greece
• Sotirios Kyrgiakos (1979) footballer
• Dimitris Mitropanos (1948–2012) singer
• Christos Papanikolaou (1941) pole vaulter
• Efthimios Rentzias (1976) basketball player
• Vassilis Tsitsanis (1915–1984) songwriter and singer
• Sofia Sakorafa (1957) javelin's thrower
• Georgios Koltsidas (1970) footballer
• Dimitrios Sgouros (1969) pianist
• Apostolos Kaldaras (1922) popular musician
• Elias Katsanos (1922) author
• Kostas Papanikolaou (1990) basketball player

External links

• Trikala local portal
• City of Trikala
• Trikala wi-fi Internet coverage
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Trikkala". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.