At an altitude of 1060 meters, in the northwest of the prefecture of Grevena, there is a picturesque stone village, with the traditional architecture of the houses of Voio and an incomparable natural beauty, which is due to the wonderful “isolation” due to its location on the Greek map, but also presence of the liquid element between it.
Dotsiko is the northernmost community of the prefecture of Grevena and is considered, not unjustly, a cultural crossroads, since within it meet the livestock practices of the Vlachs, with the skills of the craftsmen of Epirus and the habits of the Koupatsaras.
An unsurpassed example of folk architecture of the village, is considered its single arched impressive stone bridge, which is built at the highest altitude of all bridges in Macedonia and is the only one in the area, where it is located in a settlement. Under its unique arch flows the river Dotsikiotis, a tributary of the Venetian, which divides the village into two settlements (Tsigel and Kiatsavik Mahala).
The bridge is supposed to have been built in 1804 and is attributed to craftsmen from Giannio, while on its body it bears arcades (vertical stones that serve as a parapet, ie as protective structures on both sides of the bridge deck). A second version states that it was built around 1870 by craftsmen of Dotsikos and Kalloni. It is 24 meters long, 4 meters wide and its height is considered quite low, only 4 meters. At the key of the arch on the south side of the bridge, there is a stone carving, possibly to prevent evil. It has even been declared a protected monument by the Ministry of Culture in 1990.
Several years ago, in the late 70’s, many of the shootings of Theodoros Angelopoulos’ film “Alexander the Great” took place in the village. For an entire winter, Dotsiko had been transformed for the needs of the project and many people from Grevena took part in the film unselfishly, either as accomplices or with even small roles.
When in 1980 the first public screening of the film took place in the cinema “Achillion” of Grevena with the presence of Angelopoulos himself, no one could know the distinctions that the work would receive on its way to Cannes. The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, as well as the Special Jury Prize and FIPRESCI Prize, while in the same year, “Alexander the Great” was screened at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, where he was honored with four more awards.
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