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 Location |
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Tinos lies between Syros, Andros and Mykonos. It has a lot of mountains with an area of 194 sq km and a coastline of 106 km.
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 Population |
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Tinos has a population of approximateley 7.800 inhabitants
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 History |
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According to mythology, Tinos was the home of Aeolus, god of the winds, a reference to the strong winds which often beat down on the island. Poseidon was the god chiefly worshipped on Tinos, a fact evidenced by the remains of a temple dedicated to him and Amphitrite at Kionia.
The Ioanians came here around 1000 BC. In the 6th century it was ruled by Eretria, while in 490 BC it was seized by the Persians, regaining its freedom after the battle of Marathon.
In 1207, tinos was conquered by the Venetians, the first Venetian rulers being the Ghizi family.
In 1715, Tinos was taken by the Turks, to be liberated by the Greeks in the War of Independence of 1821.
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 Religion |
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This topic is not island-specific. It applies to the nation of Greece.
Orthodox Christianity is the recognized dominant religion of Greece and it is legally protected by the state. This has caused legal discrimination against non-Orthodox Churches, and although the constitution of 1975 removed the power of most of the old laws against Protestants, problems still exist today. There is a lot of fear towards anything outside of the Orthodox Church, especially on the islands. However, repeated rulings of the European Court of Justice in favour of religious minorities in cases of discrimination have led to a relative increase of the freedoms that these religious minorities now enjoy.
Venetian rule her lasted longer (approximately 500 years) than on any other island of the Cyclades. One result of this is that Tinos has the largest Roman Catholic community in the Cyclades.
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 Saints |
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Tinos, also called the holy island, is the island of `Our Lady`, the greatest center of pilgrimage in Greece, rather like Lourdes in France.
The year 1822 was an important one for Tinos, for it was then that the famous icon of the Blessed Virgin was discovered, after a nun in the Kechrovouni convent saw it in a dream. She is honoured on the island today as St Pelagia of Tinos.
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 Prayer |
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Most of the visitors of Tinos are Greeks, since Tinos is the island of Our Lady, the greatest center of pilgrimage in Greece.
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 Miscellaneous |
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The traditionally white villages have unadultered cycladic architecture and the famous dove-cotes which are constructed with great skill and imagination are found almost exclusively on Tinos. Tinos is the island of artists. Some of the most important Greek painters and sculptors of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Halepas, Philippotis, Sochos, Ghyzis and Lytras, were from Tinos. Tinos has superb beaches with white sand, crystal clear water and cool breezes in the summer.
The island has long spells of sunlight in the summer, which helps to make Tinos one of the most intersting places in the Cyclades.
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 Celebrations |
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On the 15th August, at the Feast of Dormition of the Virgin, (and also on 25th of March) the road uphill to the Church of Our Lady is followed by thousands from all over Greece, to venerate the wonder-working icon of the Virgin. The church and the town Tinos become crammed with people and religious services take place next to the commercial fair being held in the surrounding streets. The church stands imposingly high up at the end of the road. It is built of white marble. Its interior is dominated by the famous icon of Our Lady, one of those said to be the work of the Evangelist Luke. It is studded with diamonds, sapphires and pearls, the offerings of emperors, kings and the faithful. The church was built in 1823 on the spot where the miraculous icon was found
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 Resources |
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www.greektravel.com
www.in2greece.com
777 wonderful greek islands; Yiannis Desypris; ISBN960-7504-08-9
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