The neighbourhood is in the southeast of Edessa, south of the Waterfalls Park.[1] It was originally located next to the rock that had been the site of the Byzantine acropolis,[2] so it is built along the top of a cliff on the remains of the citadel and the city walls, overlooking the site of the ancient city.[3]
History
Varosi was the first Christian section of Edessa.[2][3][4] Its walls withstood Turkish bombardment for eight months, after which they were torn down; Christians there continued to worship under the Ottomans.[5]
During the Nazi occupation of Greece, resistance fighters used Varosi as a base, because their knowledge of the neighbourhood and its proximity to the plains made it relatively easy to escape searchers.[5] As a result, the Germans burnt a large part of the neighbourhood in 1944.[3][4]
Varosi is the only old quarter of the city to have survived.[4] It was declared a traditional settlement in 1983, and has been restored.[3] Several 19th-century houses in traditional Macedonian style are preserved, including some mansions.[3] They characteristically have stone foundations and protruding upper storeys supported by wooden beams.[5]
^ abMaurice Cerasi (2007). Multicultural Urban Fabric and Types in the South and Eastern Mediterranean. Beirut: Orient Institut. p. 146. ISBN9783899135923.
