SILK PLACES
SOUFLI
THRACE
SILK PLACES
THRACE
The most important stop on the Greek Silk Road is undoubtedly Soufli. A city that, since the 19th century, linked its growth and prosperity to the production of silk. It is the only city in Greece where the tradition continues to this day. You will find Soufli’s silks both in shops in the city and in selected shops throughout Greece. In recent years, efforts have been made expand it’s reach, even achieving collaborations with major foreign fashion houses!
The history of Soufli silk begins around 1830 with the development of sericulture. In the lands around the river Evros, large mulberry orchards were planted, which are the sole food of the silkworm. Thus, since the end of the 19th century, almost all the inhabitants of the city were engaged in the production of silk. The invention of “artificial silk” greatly reduced production worldwide and most of the cottage industries and factories ceased operations. In recent years, efforts have been made to revive sericulture and silk production in the area.
about
EVROS | THRACE
Sericulture, the cultivation of mulberries, the production and trade of silk, were the production sector that made Soufli famous and gave the town economic and social prosperity. Silk, as well as other agricultural occupations and small businesses, such as viniculture and cart construction, brought wealth to Soufli, which became an important business and trade centre during the 19th and early 20th centuries in the broader region of Evros River.
The economic growth and intellectual flourish of Soufli during this period, is depicted in its silk mill buildings, its mansions, its schools and churches. The division of Thrace in 1922, with the subsequent restriction of farm land and trade activities for the people of Soufli, resulted in the economic decline of the town and the emigration of a large number of its population. Nowadays, Soufli, on the grounds of its rich cultural tradition, takes again the broken thread of the past through already tried and new development initiatives.
Even today, Soufli remains the commercial center of a large agricultural area with many villages on either side of Evros river. The
weekly flea-market of the town is deluged with people from the surrounding villages coming to do some house shopping -from food and vegetables to flowers, agricultural drugs and tools.
History, too, was to bring to Thessaloniki the Apostle Paul, who had journeyed into Macedonia to found the first Christian churches. There is a folk tradition that the Gentiles in the city pelted him with stones. And that the Apostle to the Nations lost his Christian patience and pronounced a curse on Thessaloniki: that the stones should never be removed from its streets. And from that day on tradition has called the people of Thessaloniki “Paul-accursed”, and the streets of the city have never yet been cleared of those stones.
History, too, stationed in Thessaloniki a young officer named Diocletian, who became its patron saint under the name Demetrius. And his fame and glory spread with the glory of the Byzantine Empire. This was the age when monuments of faith and art arose throughout the city, in the Byzantine churches.
