The city of Kalabaka – Stagoi in Byzantine Times

Kalabaka (sometimes Kalambaka) is a town closed to the Meteora monastery.

Location and names of Kalabaka.

The city of Kalabaka is located in central Greece, in Thessaly, and very close to the Meteora monasteries.

Early history of Kalabaka.

A spolia in the wall of one of the oldest church of the town testifies to the existence of the ancient Greek settlement called Aiginion.

The city of Stagoi during the Byzantine era.

In Byzantine times, Kalabaka was called Stagoi. It was first mentioned in Diatyposis written by the Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886-912). In the 10th-century, it probably had a fortress and a bishopric. In 1163, there was a reference to the castle of Stagoi. In 1204, after the fall of Constantinople, Stagoi became part of the Despotate of Epirusi Sythiakakis, its bishopric belongs to the metropolis of Larissa. However, after the end of the Bulgarian Wars, the emperor Basil II ceded the bishopric of Stagoi to the Bulgarian archbishopric of Ochrid by a sigillion issued after May 1020. This situation did not last long, because in the Taktikon no. 10, dated after 1204, the bishopric of Stagoi was again listed under the Metropolis of Larissa. The name Stagoi also occurs in the text of Skylitzes (second half of the 11 th c.). According to the oldest, partly preserved manuscript related to the bishopric of Stagoi, a document of 1163, the town then belonged to the Theme of Servia, in Northern Greece. According to documents from 1163, 1336, and 1339, the town of Stagoi repeatedly acquired funds and privileges from the Byzantine emperors; at least two of these documents, a chrysobul issued by the emperor Andronicus III (1336) and a sigillion issued by the Patriarch of Constantinople (1393), were later copied on the northern wall of the narthex in the Church of the Virgin. The name “Kalampaka,” which replaced that of Stagoi, is probably of Turkish origin. In an official Ottoman document, the town Stagoi (Istagos) is also mentioned as Kalabaqqaya, meaning “the rock with the monks’ hoods”. In their accounts, travelers who visited the city, such as Leake and Heuzey left descriptions of the cathedral with its magnificent ambo. Important information is also provided by the Russian monk V. Barskij, who drew sketches of the Meteora Monasteries in 1745

The bishopric enjoyed privileges and donations from the Byzantine Emperors throughout the middle Byzantine era. It owned significant stretches of land and had dependant farmers in neighboring settlements. Besides its possession in northern Thessaly, its territory included and extensive mountainous zone in Asia and central Pindos. It was a suffragan of the Metropolis of Larissa.

At the end of the 13th-century, they fell under the Duchy of Neopatria. In 1334, they were taken over once more by the Despot of Epirus, John II Orsini, and shortly thereafter they came under the control of the Byzantine Empire. In 1348, they were conquered by the Serbs of Stephen Dushan.

Later, the Ottomans conquered Thessaly and Kalabaka was placed under the administration rule of the Pasha of Larisa, and later on of the Sanjak of Trikala. The name “Kalabaka” originates from this time, and would mean “powerful fortress” in turkish.

Remains of the Byzantine Kalabaka.

Kalabaka preserves its main church of the Dormition (which is the cathedral of the city). It is dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. Up to this day, the three-aisled basilica of the Dormition of the Virgin in Kalampaka was regarded by the scholars as a 12 th c. construction on the ruins of an early Christian basilica. New evidence during recent restoration work and careful study of the building have revealed that the early Christian building never existed and that the original construction of the building, which was paved with a mosaic floor, dates probably from the 9 th – early 10 th c. This early-byzantine building has survived to the present day, with minor reconstructions and alterations in the 11–12 th c. and again in the 16 th c., and with the addition of the exonarthex in the 18 th c. The study of the marble furnishings led to the reconstruction of the original 11–12 th c. marble templon of the church, as well as to the conclusion that the actual marble furnishing (parts of the templon, ciborium, ambo) belong to a uniform group that dates from the period around 1100.

Another church, of the Virgin Mary, incorporates the relics of an ancient Greek temple, probably of god Apollo.

Source here.