The history of Polychrono begins in 650 BC, when the Eretrians came to the peninsula of Kassandra and founded the colony of Neapolis (Aigi), which, despite all the barbarian raids it experienced, managed to survive until 540 AD when it was completely destroyed by the Huns. In the 11th century, farmers gathered in this area and built the village of "Polychroo", which they named so because of the many flowers that existed there. The village, during the revolution of 1821, was burned down and completely destroyed. Some years later, a few survivors who had fled elsewhere to save themselves returned and rebuilt the village, which due to a verbal corruption was named Polychrono.
The visitor can enjoy the crystal clear and crystal clear sea, with its golden and velvety sand (7 kilometers of beach that deservedly wins the blue flag of Europe every year), walk in the vast pine forest, with its rich springs, see the unique lake Mavrombara, just 3 km. from Polychrono and at an altitude of 200 m. in the heart of Kassandra towards the mountain, a wetland where three species of rare water turtle live. The lake is protected by international treaties, due to its special ecological interest.
The visitor should take a close look at the church of Agios Athanasios (1912), the patron saint of the village, the square of Christ with the church of the Nativity of Christ, which dates back to 1863, and finally the open-air olive mill with the press. It is also worth visiting the ancient cemetery and the wooded hill of the Acropolis of the ancient city. You can also enjoy local products of excellent quality, such as olives, oil, honey, fruit and fish. For the pleasant stay and entertainment of visitors-guests, the village has furnished apartments, rooms and hotels, clinics, pharmacies, entertainment centers, restaurants-taverns, supermarkets, pastry shops, folk art shops, etc.
Many interpret the name of the village etymologically by combining it and referring to the adjective "polys" and the noun "chronos" = the, or polychronos, to polychronon-"the polychron village". With the omission of the noun "village" Polychronon was substantiveized and the adjective polychronon became a noun: Polychronon.
However, there is information, statistical tables and official documents of authorities, in which it is referred to by the name "Polychron-Polychron (multicolored). With this name it refers to the times of the Turkish occupation and in particular the 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century.
This name is most likely due to the multicolor of the flowers, trees and bushes, which adorned all the slopes and fields of the village (forests, fallow and sown). Especially in Spring and partly in Autumn.
Indeed! “The daisies, chamomile, clover, wild vetch, horsetail, poppies, wild mustard, almond trees, apricot trees, pear trees, wild pears, wild sedges, sedges, heathers and sedges”, each in its season and with its color - white, blue, yellow, red, purple, pink - formed a colorful and diverse image, which could justifiably give and did give this name. From the adjective polys and the noun chros-chrotos (gen. Ionic chro-os = the surface of the whole body, skin, skin-the color of the skin, complexion, color) the second declension trigenous and disjunctive adjective o, or polychro-os, polychro-on and the conjugated o, or polychrous, polychroun was formed. From this adjective, taking the neuter polychroon-polychroun and the noun "village", the noun polychroon-polychroun village was formed.
With the omission of the qualifying noun "village" the adjective polychroon-polychroun was substantiveized and the proper noun Polychroon-Polychroun was derived. With this name, sometimes the incoherent and sometimes the concordant, Polychroon-Polychroun, it appears in its historical journey officially (perhaps from the time of its founding).
However, the people, who operate more with emotion and less with logic and almost not at all with grammar and etymology, gave the village the name polychroon from the polychroon of the landscape. Because the village also appears with this name, and indeed at the beginning of the 20th century. But how did Polychroon-Polychroun (or Polychromon) become Polychronon, the name with which it officially appears since 1928 as an independent Community and even today? Linguistically and grammatically it arose with the parenthesis-interjection of the consonant n between the two o+o in the incoherent formula Polychroon-Polychro-n-on = Polychronon. From Polychromon, probably, by the law of "corruption" Polychronon came with the change of the nasal m to the nasal n and the long ω to the short ο.
The founding of Polychronos and its independence as a Community
Tuesday, August 04, 2020
For the initial founding of Polychronos in the area where it is located today and subsequently developed, there is no, despite the research effort, sufficient and certain information that would historically confirm this fact.
For many hundreds of years, the agricultural-livestock settlements with their inhabitants up there, behind the hills and in the forests, lived isolated and far from the sea, the only and main element of communication, for that time, with the rest of the distant world. They had, moreover, an absolute need for communication with the then known world, because they had to transport and channel their own products to them (timber, cereals, oil, wine, honey) and take and transport from there to their place what they themselves did not have.
Thus, at some time, probably at the beginning of the 11th century AD century, they decided to abandon their mountainous residence and began to slowly approach the sea. They chose a location about a thousand meters northeast of ancient Neapolis (or Aegis for some) and there they built the first houses. It was a slightly sloping part of the area descending towards the sea, about three hundred meters from the sea. Two hills, probably natural, “Prophitis Ilias” to the east and “Koutsomylos” or “Koukorozos” to the west, “dominated” the area and could “at any moment” control the entire area and in particular the “Toroneos Gulf”.
In this place, people built their first houses with materials from the surrounding area (timber, stones, lime, water), which were abundant, perhaps few at first, but more later, so that it slowly surpassed the settlement and became a larger village with more residents and houses.
The village in later years followed, along with all the other villages and cities of the narrower, but also the wider area, its fate. It lived happy days in peaceful periods, when it was organized and developed, but also unhappy days, when the various warring invaders fought the Byzantine Empire and the narrower Greek area, such as Thessaloniki and neighboring Halkidiki, and therefore also Polychrono.
After its liberation in October 1912, Polychrono formed a Community with Kassandrino and Pazarakia (Kryopigi).
However, on June 11, 1928, by decision of the Ministry of Interior, which was published in number 176 Sheet, issue A', of the Government Gazette (176 F.E.K., issue A', 11-6-1928), it was recognized as an independent Community and was separated from the other two villages (Kassandrino-Pazarakia). From then on, the modern history of the village as an independent Community begins and lasts until December 31, 1998 (70 years).
The new Community was initially housed in a room in the house of Asterios Kaiafas near Pardalaika. Later it was moved to a small office in a community space south of Agios Athanasios, where the Rural Clinic of Polychronos is currently housed. Finally, since 1981 it has been housed in the current space, where until then the Primary School was housed. The first president of the new community was Georgios Kaiafas of Athanasios and the Secretary was Georgios Dalamagas of Asterios.
MUNICIPALITY OF KASSANDRA: https://www.kassandra.gr/ CULTURAL ASSOCIATION OF POLYCHRONO & FOLKLORE MUSEUM: https://www.facebook.com/groups/polistikossyllogospolychronou/
