Giannitsa

In the area of "Old Market", on the southern hill of the city, there was an Early Neolithic settlement (late 7th to early 6th millennium BC). Giannitsa was also inhabited through the Bronze and Iron Ages. Incidental findings, such as coins, inscriptions, and sculptures indicate that the area was inhabited during the Hellenistic period (323-30BC). In ancient times, the area was called Bottiaea.[10] In the vicinity of the city ancient towns of Pella and Kyrros and medieval metropolitan centre of Giannitsa were presented.[11]

Postcard of Giannitsa, around 1900.

Though there was probably a pre-existing Byzantine castle in the vicinity, the importance of the city of Giannitsa begins with its foundation by Gazi Evrenos in around 1383 – 1387. Giannitsa became the base of the ghazi followers of Evrenos who took Macedonia and later Albania. The city (known as Vardar Yenicesi or Yenice-i Vardar under the Ottomans) was an important Ottoman cultural center and sacred area in the 15th and 16th centuries. Starting in the mid-15th century, Giannitsa became a center of literature and the arts. Under Ahmet Bey, a descendant of Gazi Evrenos, many mosques, schools, workhouses and charitable projects were founded.[12] In 1519 (Hijri 925), its population consisted of 793 Muslim, 25 Christian and 24 Jewish households and it was a zeamet of Mevlana Ahmet Çelebi.[13]

Although Persian was widely studied in the Ottoman-held Balkans (Rumelia), Vardar Yenicesi differed from other localities in the Balkans insofar as that it was a town where Persian was also widely spoken.[14] However, the Persian of Vardar Yenicesi and throughout the rest of the Ottoman-held Balkans was different from formal Persian both in accent and vocabulary.[14] The difference was apparent to such a degree that the Ottomans referred to it as "Rumelian Persian" (Rumili Farsisi).[14] As learned people such as students, scholars and literati often frequented Vardar Yenicesi, it soon became the site of a flourishing Persianate linguistic and literary culture.[14] The 16th-century Ottoman Aşık Çelebi (died 1572), who hailed from Prizren in modern-day Kosovo, was galvanized by the abundant Persian-speaking and Persian-writing communities of Vardar Yenicesi, and he referred to the city as a "hotbed of Persian".[14]

In the early 20th century, Giannitsa was a battleground between Bulgarian and Greek partisans in the Macedonian struggle. Penelope Delta's novel Secrets of the Swamp (referring to the shores of Giannitsa Lake) is a romanticised account of this from the Greek point of view.[15]

Map of the Battle of Giannitsa.

Greek soldiers at the lake during the Balkan Wars (1912–13).

Monument to the Balkan Wars.

Giannitsa "retained its emphatically Turkish character up to 1912" and members of the Evrenos family lived in the city in a large palace in the center of town until then.[16] In the First Balkan War, the Battle of Giannitsa (20 October 1912) was one of the most important battles the Hellenic Army fought.

The German army invaded Giannitsa on April 11, 1941 . On April 20, 1941, some Austrian forces arrived. The municipal registry of Giannitsa confirms four random killings in various parts of the city. On 16 September 1943, the Municipality of Giannitsa, headed by the Mayor, Thomas Magriotis and the help of local soccer teams organized a demonstration in the city and indulge in German commandant a text against the intention of the Germans to surrender Central Macedonia to the Bulgarians. According to oral testimony on November 13, 1943, the Germans arrested around 50 people, whom they transferred to the camp of Pavlos Melas at Thessaloniki and they killed thirteen. At the same time, the Germans invaded for the first time the village Eleftherohori 7 km (4 mi) away from the city, steal and destroy. In this attack there were no casualties. On 23 March 1944, the village was burned, and the place deserted. Eleftherohori lost 19 lives. On 5 August 1944, the Austrian soldier Otmar Dorne left the German occupation army and joined the 30th Constitution of the E.L.A.S, based in Mount Paiko. The defection of Dorne, and the presence of the Wehrmacht sergeant Schubert, led to mass reprisals on 14 September 1944 in Giannitsa: about 120 residents of Giannitsa were executed by forces of the Jagdkommando Schubert with the collaboration of Greek units under the command of G. Poulos. Among those executed was the Mayor, Thomas Mangriotis. The Swedish ambassador Timberg indicated that one third of the city was destroyed by fire. The citizens left the city. Emile Wenger visited Giannitsa few days after the mass execution, as a representative of the International Red Cross and wrote "Giannitsa is already a dead city". On 20 September 1944, a citizens' committee sent a message to the National Government stating the facts and asking for weapons. The Germans left Giannitsa on November 3, 1944.[17]

During this period in the city is formed Bulgarian action committee and later Central Bulgarian-macedonian committee, headed by the local citizen Georgi Kayafov.[18][19][20] Also a Thessaloniki bulgarian club branch was formed by locals Georgi Yankulov, Perikle Gyupchinov, Hristo Panayotov and Georgi Kayafov.[21]

Mausoleum of Gazi Evrenos.

Giannitsa was an important center in the Ottoman period, and several important monuments survive, such as the Tombs of Gazi Evrenos (built in 1417) and Gazi Ahmed Bey, the Kaifoun Baths, the Great Mosque, the Army Mosque, the hammam of Evrenos, and the Clock Tower, built from 1667 to 1668 by the Ottomans. (The choice of location was made with military criteria because they wanted to control the commercial activity that took place across the city and throughout central Macedonia.) These monuments have been declared historical monuments by the Greek Archaeological Service.[16]

Points of interest include also the Cathedral Church of Giannitsa (achieved in 1860), the Neoclassical Multicenter, the Filippeio tourist center, the Macedonian tombs, and the prehistoric settlement of Archontiko.

Traditional Costumes at the Folklore Museum of Giannitsa.

• The Folklore Museum of Giannitsa (opened in October 1977) by the "Philippos" History and Folklore Association to promote local history and traditions.
• The Military museum of Giannitsa (opened 24 February 2012), displays photographs, texts, weapons, uniforms, medals and other materials, with a particular emphasis on the Battle of the Swamp and the Balkan Wars 1912–1913.

Philip II of Macedon statue at Phillipio hill.

• Black Statue - The Memorial of Giannitsà, erected at the eastern entrance to the town in 1926 in honor and remembrance of the battle of Giannitsà (Sculptor: Gregory Zevgolis).
• Mass Grave, a list of the residents who were executed at the 1st Primary School on 14 September 1944 by German troops.
• Alexander the Great, near the Cultural Center, unveiled on 20 October 2009, the anniversary of the liberation of the city and the Day of the Macedonian Struggle.[22]
• Philip II of Macedon, located in the park of the "Filippio" tourist center. Near the statue, there is a relief depicting the Macedonian phalanx.
• A bust of the Makedonomachos Gonos Yiotas in Gonou Yiota Square.

Aravyssós park.

About 10 km (6 mi) northwest of the city is the spring of Aravissos, which produces drinking water. The surrounding grove and creek include a popular park.

• O Logos tis Pellas (weekly; Greek Ο λόγος της Πέλλας)
• Giannitsa (daily; Greek Γιαννιτσά)

• Pella TV (Greek Πέλλα τηλεόραση)

• Pella24
• Pellanet
• Giannitsa City news
• Logos Pellas