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The monk’s bridge

Kalogeriko stone bridge, Kipoi, Tymfi municipality, Zagorochoria, Epirus / Western Greece

By Desolation Road

November 18^th, 2020

Perched in the Pindos mountain range, the region of Epirus in western Greece is wild and rocky, inaccessible and rough, with steep ravines crossed in their depths by inflated rivers - and, thus, with dozens of stone bridges which lay scattered after almost every corner, built by Greek villagers during the Ottoman rule in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Although many bridges up until then were makeshift wooden structures so that the villagers (many of them with their herds) could cross the rivers, as they moved from one village to another and from one pasture to another, the construction of the much more expensive stone bridges flourished with the rapid growth of Epirus trade in those two centuries.

Immigrants from Epirus in the Balkans, Austria and Egypt started opening trade routes with their birthplace - having already secured, with the right price, the consent of the Ottomans. Thus, from the beginning of the 18th century, the large stone bridges multiplied, in order to allow the crossing of rivers by large wheeled caravans carrying goods.

Several of the stone bridges were built by donations of the immigrants themselves, who had gained considerable wealth abroad and wanted to improve the living standards of the relatives they left behind, for their safe movement to the pastures of the herds, to their fields or to the watermill.

The monk’s bridge

The monk’s bridge

Kalogeriko stone bridge

However, the Kalogeriko bridge, renowned in Greece (and one of the very few three-arched), was not funded by a wealthy Greek immigrant but by the Prior of the adjacent Profitis Elias Monastery of Vitsa. The monk (Kalogeros, in Greek) donated 20,000 grosis, a very significant amount for the time, and that is why the bridge was named Kalogeriko.

Earlier, around the 1750s, a villager named Zotos Roussis allocated 8,000 grosis to build the original wooden bridge on this site. However, in 1814 its place was taken by the stone construction of Kalogeriko. Its length is 56 meters and its deck width 3.15 m., while on its sides it has sparse arches instead of a parapet. The height of each arch ranges from 4.80 to 6.70 meters above Voidomatis river.

The purpose of the Prior's donation was to make the passage safer not only for the inhabitants of the surrounding villages but also for the monks, who crossed the river to reach the watermill maintained at this point by the Monastery of Prophet Elias.

Another name for the bridge, the "moving caterpillar", is also easy to understand when viewed from above, as its three arches give it a wavy shape - especially during the spring, when nature blooms and the bridge seems so harmoniously assimilated within it.

The ability to connect the construction of man so evenly with the works of nature, making it often almost invisible in a stone landscape, was just one of the aspects that made the Epirus stone artisans (called bouloukia) so popular all over the Balkans - even in the ranks of the Turks. They consisted of the master craftsman, the craftsmen and the apprentice assistants, passing the art from father to son and speaking their own language, in order to keep the secrets of their art well sealed.

The bridge was restored in 1865 by Alexis Plakidas from the village of Koukouli and again in 1912 by his son, Eugenios Plakidas, while the latter, together with the repair, built one of the traditional Epirus stone founts next to the bridge. Until today, it is called "Fountain of Plakidas". It was also rebuilt in 1950 by the Koukouli community, and in 1969 by the Archaeological Service - as in 1964 it was designated as a protected historical monument.

As the end of WW2 and the tragic situation in which the German Occupation had left Greece was slowly fading in the past, the following decades the opening of dirt roads began to move the bridges of Epirus from utility to oblivion. The population moved en masse to the cities of Greece or immigrated to Central Europe, seeking ways to survive. More and more, since then, these stone bridges are embraced, devestatingly sometimes, by nature.

Visiting Kalogeriko

The Kalogeriko bridge is visible from the road that connects the city of Ioannina with the village of Kipoi; a village built by stone, like the bridge, with arched loggias, cobbled streets and stone houses. The bridge is located on the left side of the road, 800 meters before the village. The area has many more stone bridges, such as the also famous Kokkoros bridge, the Kontodimos bridge at the entrance of the village, the bridge of the old guerrilla captain-Arkoudas, as well as the small bridge of Agios Minas near the church of the same name.

The monk’s bridge

The monk’s bridge

The monk’s bridge

The monk’s bridge

The monk’s bridge

The monk’s bridge

The monk’s bridge

The monk’s bridge

The monk’s bridge

Footnotes

Copyright © Desolation Road / Panos Diamantis

FootNotes

Copyright © Desolation Road / Panos Diamantis

© 2026 Desolation Road

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