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Concept
Moscopole
Summary
Moscopole or Voskopoja (Voskopojë; Moscopole, with several other variants; Moschopolis) is a village in Korçë County in southeastern Albania. During the 18th century, it was the cultural and commercial center of the Aromanians. At its peak, in the mid 18th century, it hosted the first printing house in the Ottoman Balkans outside Constantinople, educational institutions and numerous churches. It became a leading center of Greek culture but also with elements of Albanian and Aromanian culture, all with great influence from Western civilization.
One view attributes the decline of the city to a series of raids by Muslim Albanian bandits. Moscopole was initially attacked and almost destroyed by those groups in 1769 following the participation of the residents in the preparations for a Greek revolt supported by the Russian Empire. Its destruction culminated with the abandoning and destruction of 1788. Moscopole, once a prosperous city, was reduced to a small village by Ali Pasha of Ioannina. According to another view, the city's decline was mainly due to the relocation of the trade routes in central and eastern Europe following these raids. Today Moscopole, known as Voskopojë, is a small mountain village, and along with a few other local settlements is considered a holy place by local Orthodox Christians. It was one of the original homelands of much of the Aromanian diaspora. It has been also nicknamed as "Jerusalem of the Aromanians", "New Athens" or "Arcadia of the Balkans".
In modern times, Aromanians no longer form a majority of the population, with incoming Christian and Muslim Albanians having further settled in the village, especially after World War II.
The town is known as Voskopojë (definite form: Voskopoja) in Albanian. The Aromanian name of the town varies between Moscopole, Moscopolea, Moscopoli, Moscopola, Muscopuli, Muscopulea, Voscopole, Voscopolea and Voscopoli. The Greek name of the town varies between Μοσχόπολις (transliterated into Moschópolis, Moscopolis, Moskopolis) and its vernacular equivalent form Μοσχόπολη (Moschópoli).
Official source
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