Rafina is the port of the Mediterranean, on the coast of Eastern Attica. It covers an area of 19,000 acres and its population amounts to 12,168 inhabitants, according to the 2011 census. It is about 25 km away from Athens. Today, its port is one of the largest in Greece and has great mobility.
Ancient history
It is a historic municipality,
inhabited since prehistoric times. In 3200 BC. The prehistoric
settlement of Askitari was built on the homonymous small rocky
peninsula just south of the place where Marikes beach is today. The
settlement of Askitarios was in great prosperity during the period
(3200 - 2000), for example, small rectangular buildings were found
with stone walls at the base, brick ones above and a small hearth in
the center separated by paths in building blocks, a cemetery to the
south and a citadel . The excavations at the Hermitage were carried
out during the three years (1952 - 1954) by the professor of
prehistoric archeology of the University of Athens Dimitris
Theocharis. The word Askitario later came from a rocky cave which a
monk from the Penteli Monastery had turned into a sanctuary. North
of the Rafina stream on the beach between the stream and the main
port, copper processing facilities were also found.
The
Hermitage had fallen into decline since the beginning of the first
millennium BC. then the central settlement of Rafina or Arafina was
created in the place where the central port is today. The
municipality of Arafinia or the municipality of Arafinos was one of
the municipalities of ancient Athens defined by Cleisthenes, with
the name "Arafin". It took its name from its first governor,
Arafinas, who was one of the mythical heroes of Attica. Excavations
in the area also found evidence from the Roman period (buildings,
Roman bath, statues).
Recent history
During the Asia Minor
catastrophe of 1922, many inhabitants of Triglia in Asia Minor came
to Rafina, most of them by ships of the Triglian shipowner Filippos
Kavounidis. They settled in Rafina and formed a refugee settlement
called "Nea Triglia", which, however, did not prevail. But there is
a house-museum which has been preserved since they came due to the
destruction of Smyrna. He belonged to a family that had come and
settled in Rafina after the disaster. The museum also includes all
the furniture and equipment of the family that inhabited it.
The refugees built the Holy Church of the Assumption of the Virgin
Mary in the center of the city very close to the port. In 1929 the
construction of the first church was completed but there were no
icons from the churches of Triglia because those that had been saved
by the Turks went to the Byzantine Museum. The Byzantine museum
initially refused because some icons such as the "Holy Visit" had a
very high value, but after many attempts they managed to extract
them in the same year. The small church of Agios Fanourios that was
erected right next to it was the Holy Table of the church. In the
1950s, almost the entire old town of Rafina was demolished to make
way for the modern town. At the same time, the first church of the
Assumption of the Virgin of Pantovasilissi was demolished, only the
small church of Agios Fanourios, which can be seen today, was saved
and OTE Rafina was built on the site of the first church. The second
church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary of Pantovasilissi that
we see today next to the main square was built very close to the
first, the work was completed in 1958 is the patron saint of the
city.