Place:Voskopoja, Albania

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Moscopole (; , , or ; or ; or ) is a village in Korçë County in southeastern Albania. During the 18th century, it was the cultural and commercial center of the Aromanians. At its peak, in the mid 18th century, it hosted the first printing press in the Ottoman Balkans outside Istanbul, educational institutions and numerous churches and became a leading center of Greek culture.

Historians have attributed the decline of the city to a series of raids by Muslim Albanian bandits.^[1] Moscopole was initially attacked and almost destroyed by those groups in 1769 following the participation of the residents in the preparations for a Greek revolt supported by the Russian Empire.^[2] Its destruction culminated with the abandoning and destruction of 1788. Moscopole, once a prosperous city, was reduced to a small village by Ali Pasha of Ioannina. According to another opinion, the city's decline was mainly due to the relocation of the trade routes in central and eastern Europe following these raids.^[2] Today Moscopole, known as Voskopojë, is a small mountain village, and along with a few other local settlements is considered a holy place by local Orthodox Christians. It was one of the original homelands of much of the Aromanian diaspora. It is sometimes called as a Jerusalem of the Aromanians.

History

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Prosperity

Demographics

Although located in a rather isolated place in the mountains of southern Albania, the city rose to become the most important center of the Aromanians. It was a small settlement until the end of the 17th century, but afterwards showed a remarkable financial and cultural development. Some writers have claimed that Moscopole in its glory days (1730–1760) had as many as 70,000 inhabitants; other estimates placed its population closer to 35,000; but a more realistic number may be closer to 3,500. According to Max Demeter Peyfuss, "the truth may be closer to this number [sc. 3500] than to 70,000. Moschopolis was certainly not among the largest Balkan cities of the 18th century".

According to the Swedish historian Johann Thunmann, who visited Moscopole and wrote a history of the Aromanians in 1774, everyone in the city spoke Aromanian; many also spoke Greek, which was used for writing contracts, in fact the city is said to have been mainly populated by Aromanians. The fact was confirmed by a 1935 analysis of the family names shows that the majority of the population were indeed Aromanians, but there were also Greeks and Albanians present in the city.^[3]

Economy

Historically, the main economic activity of the city was livestock farming. The alternative name "Voskopolis" and derived ones mean "city of shepherds". This activity led to the establishment of wool processing and carpet manufacturing units and the development of tanneries, while other locals became metal workers and silver and copper smiths.^[2] During the middle of the 18th century, the city became an important economic center whose influence spread over the boundaries of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, and reached further the Ottoman-ruled Eastern Orthodox world. This trade involved as far as the Archduchy of Austria, the Kingdom of Hungary, and the Upper Saxony. Until 1769, the town traded on a large scale with renowned European commercial centres of that time, such as Venice, Vienna and Leipzig.^[4]

Culture

A printing press operated in Moscopole, with it being the second one in Ottoman Europe to be established after that of Constantinople under the supervision of Gregory of Durrës. This establishment produced a total of nineteen books, mainly the collection of the Services to the Saints but also the Introduction of Grammar by the local scholar Theodore Kavalliotis.^[2] The later became director of the city's prestigious educational institution, which from 1744 was known as New Academy or Hellenikon Frontistirion, sponsored by wealthy foreign merchants. Moreover, the city hosted an orphanage, known as Orphanodioiketerion, possibly the first in the post-Byzantine Orthodox world, a hospital and a total of 24 churches.

A cultural effervescence arose in Moscopole, and many authors published their works in both the Greek language (which was the language of culture of the Balkans at the time) and Aromanian, written in the Greek alphabet. In 1770, the first dictionary of four modern Balkan languages (Greek, Albanian, Aromanian and Bulgarian) was published here. Daniel Moscopolites, an Aromanian native priest of Moscopole, compiled a quadrilingual lexicon of Greek, Aromanian, Bulgarian and Albanian, that aimed at the Hellenization of the non-Greek-speaking Christian communities in the Balkans. Due to the high level of intellectual activity and Greek education, Moscopole was nicknamed as New Athens or New Mystra. As such, the city became an important 18th century center of the modern Greek Enlightenment.

Decline

The 1769 sacking and pillaging by Muslim Albanian troops was just the first of a series of attacks to the city. Moscopole was attacked due to the participation of the residents in the preparations for a Greek revolt supported by the Russian Empire known as the Orlov Revolt.^[2] Its destruction culminated with the razing of 1788 by the troops of Ali Pasha of Ioannina. Moscopole was practically destroyed by this attack, with some of its commerce shifting to nearby Korçë and Berat.

The survivors were thus forced to flee, most of them emigrating mainly to Thessaly and Macedonia. Some of the commercial elite moved to the Archduchy of Austria, and the Kingdom of Hungary, especially to the respective capitals of Vienna and Budapest, but also to Transylvania, where they had an important role in the early national awakening of Romania. The city never rose back to its earlier status. However, a new school was established at the end of the 18th century whose headmaster in 1802 was Daniel Moscopolites. This school functioned the following decades, thanks to donations and bequests by baron Simon Sinas. During this period, many members of the Aromanian diaspora who migrated to Budapest and Vienna started developing a unique Aromanian identity, being one of the first Aromanian populations to do so. These cities became gathering centers for Aromanians and Aromanian language and culture was promoted.

In 1900, a report by the Greek consul Betsos gave details of the demographic composition of Moscopole.^[5] It noted that the 18th century destruction of the settlement resulted in the dispersal of its Aromanian population and that some old remaining families moved to other places, in particular Korçë.^[5] Around 30 old families remained, with the socio-political crisis that engulfed the nearby Opar region resulting in Albanian Christians leaving their previous homes and settling in Moscopole.^[5] Aromanians from two nearby settlements also resettled in Moscopole.^[5] In 1900, Moscopole was populated by a total of 200 families, consisting of 120 Albanian and 80 Aromanian families.^[5] Most of the older Aromanian families had a Greek national consciousness while 3 families along with some of the newer residents were pro-Romanian (from a total of 20 older families), led by an unfrocked priest named Kosmas.

In 1914, Moscopole was part of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus. The now village was destroyed again in 1916 during World War I by the marauding Albanian bands of Sali Butka.

During the Greco-Italian War, on 30 November 1940, the town was captured by the advancing Greek forces. In April 1941, after the capitulation of Greece, Moscopole returned to Axis control. The remaining buildings were razed three times during the partisan warfare of World War II: once by Italian troops and twice by the Albanian nationalist Balli Kombëtar organization. Of the old city, six Orthodox churches (one in a very ruined state), a bridge and a monastery survive. In 1996, the church of St. Michael was vandalized by three adolescent Albanians under the influence of a foreign Muslim fundamentalist.^[6] In 2002, the five standing churches were put on the World Monuments Fund's 2002 World Monuments Watch.

Modern times

Today, Moscopole is just a small mountain village and ski resort. Nonetheless, memories of glory days of Moscopole remain an important part of the culture of the Aromanians. During recent years, a Greek language institution and a joint Greek–Albanian initiative has operated in Moscopole. Moscopole, known in Albania as being a traditionally Christian settlement, is a neighbour to various Muslim and Christian Albanian villages that surround it, although the latter ones have become "demographically depressed" due to migration.^[7] During the communist period, some Muslim Albanians from surrounding villages settled in Moscopole, making locals view the village population as mixed (i përzier) and lamenting the decline of the Christian element.

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