GavalochoriGreece.org

14/03/2026

Exploring the heart of Gavalochori: Aerial drone view over the central dome of the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (built 1896-1908), and an interior gaze straight up.

15/02/2026

Venetian wells.

The water that collected in this spot was first used by the Dorians, a tribe of Greeks who conquered Crete around 1100 BC (which is why the area close to the wells is still called Dorkes). The actual wells, however, were built by the Venetians sometime during the 15th or 16th centuries.

The wells weren’t used by the residents of Gavalochori to supply drinking water because each house had its own cistern for collecting rainwater. The site was an important gathering spot for the villagers, however, until 1969, when a municipal water system was built. It was here that they watered their animals—cows, oxen, horses, donkeys, sheep, and goats; met other villagers; and shared the latest news. The wells are also where the women did the laundry, using open fires built near the wells to heat the water. Blankets and rag rugs, however, weren’t washed at the wells but were taken to the village of Kera and cleaned in the sea because salt water was known to clean these items better than sweet water. The leaves of the plane trees scattered through the area were collected by the women and taken home to be dried and used as filling for mattresses.

24/01/2026

At the end of a tiny dead-end alley, just behind the Folklore Museum in Gavalochori, you'll find this charming ruin that's recently been cleared of its rubble. It's beautiful, and now that the debris is gone, it can be appreciated much more.


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05/01/2026

A still life.


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03/12/2025

💜 Η Χριστίνα Κουστουράκη-Κουκουλάρη, με καταγωγή από το Γαβαλοχώρι, ειδήμων στην τέχνη του κοπανελίου και διακεκριμένη δασκάλα, απεβίωσε στην Αθήνα στις 18 Νοεμβρίου 2025. Σε όλη τη διάρκεια της ζωής της, υποστήριξε με πάθος αυτό το ιδιαίτερο είδος θαυμάσιας χειροποίητης δαντέλας, μελετώντας τις μορφές και τις τεχνικές του, διατηρώντας την παράδοση και εμπνέοντας πολλούς και πολλές, που επέδειξαν ενδιαφέρον, να ασχοληθούν με την τέχνη αυτή. Για να μάθετε περισσότερα για τη ζωή και το έργο της, επισκεφθείτε το «GavalochoriGreece.org» στον σύνδεσμο https://gavalochorigreece.org/el/kopaneli-lace . Εκεί θα βρείτε, επίσης, τα τρία βιβλία της για το κοπανέλι, καθώς και μία ηχογραφημένη συνέντευξη στην οποία μιλά για το έργο και την κληρονομιά της. Η Χριστίνα θα κατέχει για πάντα μια ξεχωριστή θέση στην ιστορία του Γαβαλοχωρίου. Αιωνία η μνήμη της.
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Gavalochori native Christina Koustouraki-Koukoulari, renowned kopaneli master and distinguished teacher, passed away in Athens on November 18, 2025. Throughout her life, she championed the art of kopaneli lace, studying its forms and techniques, preserving its traditions, and inspiring new practitioners to take up the craft. To learn more about her life and work, visit GavalochoriGreece.org and navigate to “The Place” ”Kopaneli Lace.” There you will also find three of her books on kopaneli along with an audio interview in which she discusses her work and legacy. Christina holds a special place in Gavalochori history. May we remember her forever.

27/11/2025

Shepard Andreas from

24/11/2025

✨ Ανάβουμε τα φώτα!
📅 6 Δεκεμβρίου • ⏰ 19:00
Σας περιμένουμε στην πλατεία! 🎉

10/11/2025

Two wonderful ladies enjoying themselves in front of our Folklore museum.

The Folklore Museum was started in 1965 by a president of Gavalochori, Vasileios Fronimakis, who encouraged residents of the village to donate the archaeological, historic, and folkloric heirlooms that are now exhibited in the museum. As he explained, “I made every possible effort for the revival of our old village and started a very systematic and intense cultural campaign. I collected medieval and ethnographic material of the wider region of our community, and I looked after the preservation of our local customs by protecting them against deterioration and the illicit trade of antiquities” (Folklore Museum). Initially located in a building off the main square that also housed a store, a library, and the village administrative office, the museum was moved in 1993 to its current location, a house built in the traditional Gavalochori style.

11/10/2025

05/10/2025

The Church of Saint John the Baptist began as a monastery of nuns. It was destroyed by the Turks in the late 17th century, and the nuns who survived fled to and settled at the Church of Saint Anthony. In 1750, a man in Gavalochori began rebuilding the church, but the Turks forbade the work, and the rebuilding stopped. His grandson picked up where his grandfather had left off and completed the renovation in 1852.

14/09/2025

On the main road between Gavalochori and Agios Pavlos, you will find the Church of the Holy Cross, a white church with ivory trim.

The name or feast day of the Church of the Holy Cross is September 14, and religious services are celebrated the evening before and the morning of this day in the church.

Little is known about the history of this church except that an iconostasis or icon stand stood in the spot and served as a kind of temple prior to the building of the formal church in 1877.

The Holy Cross for which this church is named refers to the cross on which Jesus was crucified. It is alleged to have been discovered by Saint Helen (Agia Eleni, Αγία Ελένη), the mother of Saint Constantine (Agios Konstantinos, Άγιος Κωνσταντίνος) and an empress of the Roman Empire. In her later years, she visited Jerusalem and was able to identify the place where Jesus had been crucified. When the earth was dug up at the site, three crosses were revealed, one thought to belong to Jesus and the others to the two thieves who died alongside him. To test which of the crosses belonged to Jesus, a severely ill or dead person was touched with the three crosses and was instantly healed or brought back to life when touched by the third one. Thus, it was believed to be the cross of Jesus. The largest collection of pieces of this cross—13—are held in the main church of the Xeropotamou Monastery on Mount Athos in northeastern Greece.