Korestia: The brick villages of Kastoria with the red color

Korestia, also known as “plinthian villages”, is a cluster of mountain settlements (Above and Lower Sranion, Melas, Macrohori, Mavrokampos, Agios Antonios, Gavros, Halara), which is found mainly on the road connecting it to the Prespes. Korsteon Municipal Unit is located in the northern part of the Municipality of Kastoria in western Macedonia. DIVERSE Feature of the area are the scattered abandoned brick-built villages with the impressive red color, which are examples of traditional architecture, however, most of their residents emigrated after the Civil War. The name comes from corruption of the ancient Macedonian country, called Orestis, by its first inhabitants, settled in the 2nd millennium BC. The Koresteas geographically cover the western foothills of Mount Bern, the eastern foothills of Mount Orlovo and the eastern foothills of Mount Triclario. The Korstean region is bordered by other historical areas of western Macedonia, such as Popol to the east, and the Presp region to the north. CORVERSE The villages of the Korsteian area are built next to the tributaries of Livadopotamos (or Ladopotamos), the main water carrier of the area, which in its upper Rou forms the closed and long valley. The river then exits the area, crosses the gorge of Koromilia and meets Aliakmon on the plateau of Argos Orestiko. The traditional architecture of the villages is special for the area of western Macedonia. The old houses are built of mud with red soil, water and straw, which give the reddish color to the landscape of the area, while the roofs were covered with wood, reeds and tiles. The way the houses were constructed was maintained by the masters until the mid-20th century and then abandoned. In recent years, the inclusion of the settlements of the municipal unit of Korstes in protection status, by the Ephorate of Newer Monuments of Central Macedonia, has been studied. The only to date characterized by the Ministry of Culture historical and preserved building of the area is the house where the hero of the Macedonian Struggle Pavlos Melas was killed, which operates today as a museum of Paul Melas. Of the brick-built houses of Korstes, located within the boundaries of the municipal unity, some one hundred houses have been rescued in the abandoned settlements of Gavros, Kranionas and Mavrokampos, while in a similar number have been rescued in a better state, in the residential settlements of Agios Antonios, Macrohori and Melas. Corstian settlements have been the scene of film films, such as Philip Jail’s film “Paul Melas”, “James Bond: For your eyes only” by John Gle, “Deep Soul” by Pantelis Voulgaris, as well as “Metero Step of the Pelargo” by Theodoros Angelopoulos.