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Melina-Maria Daskalopoulou, Eleni Tsarkou
Euboea or Evia is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow island. It is about 180 km long and varies in breadth from 50km to 6km.
Its geographic orientation is from northwest to southeast. Dirfys and Ochi mountain ranges traverse its central and southern part respectively.
Euboea is also known as the Triarchy of Negroponte, a crusader state established on the island after the partition of the Byzantine Empire following the Fourth Crusade. From circa 1930, it became a regular Venetian colony as the Kingdom of Negroponte. Numerous traces of Venetian towers and castles scattered in the mountainous landscape testify that the Venetians took advantage of the intense relief for communication, observation and fortification.
The discovery of magnesite deposit in the northern part of Euboea in 1842 has had a great impact on its current geomorphology. The mining process which started in the 19th century and is still active, left behind remarkable ex-mining areas filled with water, industrial buildings’ remains and facilities such as rails, wagons, loading ladders, and furnaces. In ‘Mining Trail ‘ project all these contemporary traces are organized in a journey in order to initiate people to the mining process through personal experience , and how landscape changes throughout the years by human activity.
Mining Trails
Considering the variety and the value of the industrial remains of mining process, the natural and artificial remarkable landscapes and the difficult access to these areas, this project proposes an aerial route -organized in four stations- which enables people experience mining process and its history.The aerial route, is based on the traces of the aerial transportation system of Anglogreek Magnesite Company which was active in 20th century, transporting magnesite from mining areas to ports.
Now, visitors start their journey from the old factory in Katounia area at Euboean Gulf, and end up to Pili or Kymasi area at Aegean Sea. The intermediate stations are the ex-mining areas Kakavos and Paraskeuorema. In the first one the magnesite mining is still active and the second has been turned into biotope. In both sites, walking and biking paths around the artificial lakes are designed, and specific pre-industrial buildings are reused as environmental center and hostel, making these remote areas attractive to the public.
©COASTAL DOMAINS 2016-2017