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Pyrgos

Pyrgos is the capital of the Prefecture of Ilia, and is its biggest city. It is a relatively new city, built on seven small hills. Its foundation took place during the occupation of Greece by the Turks. It is 4 kilometres far from the sea, 19 kilometres from Ancient Olympia and 315 kilometres from the Greek capital, Athens. Its main landmarks are the two exquisite neoclassical buildings designed by Schiller, the Municipal Market and the Apollo Municipal Theatre plus the central square with the Eparcheion. Today it is inhabited by about 45.000 people.

At the place where the city is build today, archaeologists locate the Ancient city of Dyspontion while at the city's suburb, lies the Ancient city of Letrina. From this ancient city came the official name of Pyrgos, as 'Letrina'. The city owes its name to a tower (in Greek 'Pyrgos'), located at the Eparcheion, built by Ioannis Tsernotas the years 1512-1520 A.D. This tower existed in its place until the June of 1825, when the citizens, after the Sunday church pulled it down, blinded by civil fights.

The city's growth was very fast. It is mentioned for the first time, with the name of Pyrgos, in 1687, when for an interval of 25 years Venice dominated western Peloponnese. Its population, at that time, was about 5.000. Pyrgos took an important role at the Greek revolution of 1821. The revolution at the city started on 29th March 1821, by Charalampos Villaetis and many residents offered themselves to the cause.

After the liberation of Greece, Pyrgos became one of the important cities of Greece. The rate of growth was very fast and in 1870 the population was 9.000 (at a time when Athens had 45.000 inhabitants).

The railroad that connected Pyrgos with the city's harbour, Katakolo, (with a length of 13 kilometres) is the second railroad constructed in Greece and the first outside Athens. At that time, many neoclassical buildings and houses were constructed in the city, such as the Municipal Theater and the Municipal Market. Unfortunately, today, many of the old neoclassical houses have been replaced by apartment buildings.

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