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                                                                                       Aegina -panoramic view of the harbor

    Aegina island in Greece is exceptional not only for the wonderful climate , the peace and beauty of its landscape and its sandy beaches but also for  its ancient history which goes back as far as  3.500  B.C.

On the Hill of Colona to  the left of the harbor  are ruins of eleven prehistoric settlements with their fortified walls and the remains of the Doric temple of Apollo " of the Dolphins".
    From the 6th to the 7th century B.C. Aegina was the greatest naval power in Mediterranean and the first State to
mint silver coins . Dating from this period are the ruins of the famous " Hidden Harbor " one of the most impressive

achievements of ancient Greek  technology.and the famous temple of Aphaia

    After the 10th century AD the people of Aegina living on the coastal areas suffered the repeated attacks of  Saracen pirates and withdrew to the inland  hill of Paleochora, where they say until 188 AD.
    In the medieval town situated on the hill across from the Monastery of Saint Nektarios

, one sees today the ruins of houses, of the castle and a number of decorated churches.
    Also belonging  to this period are "the beautiful Church"

build in the 13th century and so named because of its wall frescos , the Monastery of Chrysoleontissa build in the 17th century in the center of a beautiful valley and the underground church of Faneromeni. There are 

references
to the chapel of Saint Nicholas on the harbor from 1693.
   At the beginning of the nineteenth century the inhabitants of Aegina returned to the coastal areas and build the new town in its present   location. One of the first projects of the new town  was the repair of the Medieval Tower of 
Markellos which became the  seat of the GreeK  Goverment from  1826 to 1827 and the contraction of Aeginas Cathedral

where John Capodistrias,

the first Governor of Free Greece , was given him ecstatic welcome.
    Aegina has so been the  first Capital City of modern Greece   from 1828 to 1829 and the cultural and educational center  of the new country
     Buildings dating  from this period are the Governor's residents and administrative building
the Eynards  teacher's College
,
the primary School and the orphanage (later prison) which gave shelter to some 500 orphans as well as being the fist  library , the museum, the music school and the printing press.
    Towards to the end of the nineteenth century Aegina became a  center of the sponge diving industry and the wealthy  sponge merchants build the large neo-classical homes still seen  in and around the town.
    Nowadays Aegina is known as a tourist   destination with many hotels and tourist facilities offering to the visitors the sense of the old  which remains new in a history travel of 27 centuries.

 

      AEGINAS Official web Site
      Aegina -island . all the information for the island
     Aegina's Photo Albums  -  A lot of digital Photos of the island