Kozani

Antiquities from the prehistoric to the Byzantine period have been unearthed in many sectors of the city. In the east part of Kozani, an ancient necropolis has been found, dating to the early Iron Age.[6] During Philip II of Macedon's reign, the region was named Elimeia, which was part of Upper Macedonia and probably in the same place there was a town named Tyrissa.[7] In the south-west of the modern city, on Siopoto hill, there was a settlement named Kalyvia, between 1100 and 1300, traces of which are still preserved.

Saint Nicholas (Agios Nikolaos) church

Kozani was probably founded by Christian settlers who, after the Ottoman conquest, withdrew from the plains of Macedonia into the mountains, during the 14th and 15th centuries. Its secure position soon attracted other Christians expelled from Epirus, in 1392.[8] Together with the settlers from Epirus, many cattle-breeders moved in the region.

The first recorded mention of Kozani is in an Ottoman register of 1528, as a settlement with 91 houses, 23 singles and 15 widows.[9] In the Ottoman tahrir defter (number 167) of 1530, the settlement is recorded as a village with the name Kozani, and was within the kaza of Serfice.[10] One of the most important colonizers of Kozani was the chief shepherd Ioannis Trantas, who settled about 100 families.[11] His son, Charisios Trantas, managed to obtain a Sultan's firman in 1664, according to the terms of which the town came under the protection of the Sultan's mother, was endowed with many privileges, and became forbidden for the Turks to settle in.[12]

Agios Nikolaos' clock tower (Mamatsios), landmark of the city, in 1916.

In 1664, the magnificent church of Agios Nikolaos was built. In 1668, the library and the famous school of Kozani were founded. During the 17th and 18th century, commercial relations with the countries of central Europe gave the opportunity for the city to flourish economically. During the 19th century, as foreign travellers relate, the population of the town was Greek, and was growing (Leake 1835:305[13] and Bouè 1854:87[14]).

The town's growth was disrupted in 1770, because of conflict that erupted between Kozani's local inhabitants and Kozanite merchants in central Europe, who contributed to the town's prosperity; even more catastrophically, the city was pillaged by Turkish beys in 1770. A subsequent incursion by Aslan bey, in 1830, ravaged the city immensely. In 1855 next to St. Nicholas Church a 26 meters high bell tower was built, which would become the symbol of the city. In 1939, a clock was added to the top of the tower, donated by Greek-American, Konstantinos Mamatsios.[15]

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Kozani was part of the Manastir Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. In the 1881–1893 census, the kaza of Kozana had a total population of 27,652; consisting of 15,017 Muslims, 12,633 Greek Orthodox, and two Armenians.[16] According to the 1904 population census of the Greek Kingdom's consulate, 12,000 Greeks and 350 Aromanians were living in Kozani at the time.[17]

Kozani, 1918

The clock tower today in Nikis Square

View of the municipal park

The Greek army entered Kozani on 11 October 1912, during the First Balkan War, after its victory against the Ottoman army in the Battle of Sarantaporo. By this time, the population of the town was 12,000 Orthodox Greeks.[18] In 1923, during the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, about 1,400 Greek families from Pontus and Asia Minor were settled in Kozani.

Metropolite Joachim of Kozani with guerillas of ELAS during WWII

In the 20th century, the city grew tremendously, as lignite reserves in the area started being used by Public Power Corporation, making Kozani the foremost producer of electrical power in Greece. An earthquake that occurred in the region on 13 May 1995, with a magnitude of 6.6 on the Richter scale, caused only property damage.[19]

The city now combines modern with old architecture. Some magnificent buildings are the clock tower, the town hall, the folklore museum, the "Valtadoreio" Gymnasium, the National Bank of Greece building, the "Ermioneion" Hotel and the mansions of Georgios Lassanis and Grigorios Vourkas. The Municipal Library of Kozani called "Kovendareios" is the second biggest in Greece, and it has 150,000 books, rare publications, valuable documents, and one of the rare copies of Rigas Feraios' charter. For this reason Kozani was included in the National Cultural Network of Cities with object the promotion of the Book and Reading. The Institute of Book and Reading was established and Kozani is now known as City of Books.[20] Today Kozani is the administrative, commercial, economic, and transport centre of the region of West Macedonia.

• The Archaeological Museum of Kozani
• The Historical–Folklore and Natural History Museum of Kozani is a place worth visiting. It is built according to old Macedonian architecture, and in its 6 floors, visitors can see everything about the geography, natural history, flora and animals of the region, as well as the history, the traditions and the past way of life in Kozani.
• The Museum of Modern Local History of Kozani
• The clock tower and the church of Agios Nikolaos - 350 years old - in Nikis Square.
• Other attractions include the Grigorios Vourkas Mansion and the Georgios Lassanis Mansion. The second one lies in a central square, named Lassani Square and it is used as the Municipal Map Library.

• The Municipal Park Kouri located in Agios Dimitrios where you can see the Cultural Center and the Municipal Theatre of Kozani, and the hill of Xenia with the nice view of all the city
• The Museum of the Macedonian Struggle in Chromio, a museum dedicated to the history of the Macedonian Struggle.
• Polyphytos bridge crossing the artificial Polyphytos lake. With a length of 1,372 m (4,501 ft), it is the second longest bridge in Greece after the Rio–Antirrio bridge.

The province of Kozani (Greek: Επαρχία Κοζάνης) was one of the provinces of the Kozani Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipalities Kozani (except a few villages that were part of the Eordaia province) and Servia-Velventos.[24] It was abolished in 2006.

Kozani carnival is one of the most important events in the region, taking place at the end of winter. The dates change each year, depending on the start date of Lent. Carnival festivities in Kozani, and generally in Greece, last eleven days, starting on Tsikopempti (: Grassy Thursday, equivalent to Mardi Gras) and ending on Kathara Deftera (: Clean Monday, equivalent to Ash Wednesday).

The Historical–Folklore and Natural History Museum of Kozani.

During the Kozani carnival, great bonfires are lit in different parts of the city; every night, another district lights its fire and people dance around it; on the last night of the carnival, all fires are lit. These festive fires, as well as the cultural associations that organize the festivities in each district, are called Fanoi (fires). Each fanos welcomes visitors and locals to their district with songs and dances, and treats them to local delicacies, namely kichia (feta cheese wrapped around a snail-shaped phyllo) and meatballs, as well as wine. Popular songs are sung around the fire, with the singers and crowd dancing in a primitive way that sees repeating the same steps and gestures; at midnight, scatological and explicit songs are sung. In between songs, bands play instrumental songs, such as the Enteka, often called Kozani's "national anthem". It is worth nothing that all of these festivities are executed in the city's dialect, Kozani Greek.[30]

In 2010, Theodoros Lakkas, one of the most prominent figures of the fanoi, lead singer of the fanos Lakkos t' maggan and writer of funny short stories, published the first anthology of Kozani's carnival songs, entitled Ivgati Agoria m stou chouro [Go dance, my boys].[31] This has been the first attempt so far to collect all the songs in one volume.

At the end of summer Lassaneia Events are organised. They consist of theatrical representations, concerts, athletic events etc. The name "Lassaneia" comes from Georgios Lassanis, who was from Kozani and participated in the Greek War of Independence. A part of those events is also the new authors song festival "Nikolas Asimos".[32]

Niaimeros is a fair in the north of the city in the Niaimeros place. It takes place on the first Tuesday of October. It used to last 9 days (niaimeros = nine days), but now it lasts only 3 days.

Official local public holidays are the celebration for the liberation of the city from the Turks on 11 October and Saint Nicolas day - Kozani's patron - on 6 December.

The municipal Band is named Pandora. It was founded in 1902, and it takes part in all the events and celebrations.

• 
  Fanos; an old carnival custom.
• 
  The mansion of Georgios Lassanis in Kozani. Today it is used as a Municipal Map Library.
• 
  Vourkas mansion
• 
  Metropolis (seat of the Orthodox Metropolite/Bishop)
• 
  University of Western Macedonia's Library

A typical dish in Kozani is the so-called Yaprákia. The main ingredients are meat and rice in salty carbage-leaf, having the shape of an egg. It is used often as Christmas food. Kichí (Kozanitiko kichí) is another local dish, which is actually a cheese pie with circular-snail form.

Georgios Lassanis

• Ioannis Amanatidis (b. 1981), footballer
• Nikolas Asimos (1949–1988), composer and singer of self-defined musical style "krok"
• Elias Atmatsidis (b. 1969), football goalkeeper
• Evripidis Bakirtzis (1895–1947), military officer and member of Greek Resistance during WWII.
• Anna Diamantopoulou (b. 1959), civil engineer, politician, and former EU Commissioner, for Employment and Social Affairs, in the Prodi Commission
• Eleftherios Foulidis (1948), Orthodox Christian iconographer
• Georgios Lassanis (1793–1870), scholar and politician
• Giorgos Papakonstantinou (b. 1961), economist and former Minister for Finance of Greece
• Michalis Papakonstantinou (1919–2010), lawyer, author and former Minister for Foreign Affairs (1992–1993)[33]
• Georgios Parakeimenos, educator
• Christos Rafalides (b. 1972), jazz vibraphonist, composer, and jazz-music educator
• Georgios Sakellarios (1765–1838), educator
• Ieroklis Stoltidis (b. 1975), footballer
• Apostolos Telikostoglou (b. 1995), taekwondo practitioner
• Chrisanthos Theodoridis (1934–2005), songwriter and singer of pontic music
• Ioannis Topalidis (b. 1962), former football player, assistant manager of the Greece national football team.
• Panos Tzavelas (1925–2009), member of Greek Resistance during WWII, and musician influenced by communist themes

• Kozani FC (Greek Third Division, 1st group)