Ahead of Greece’s commemoration of the Greek Revolution on March 25, three more historic trees in the Peloponnese tied to the country’s War of Independence have been added to the “Network of Ancient Trees of the Geek Revolution.”
The announcement was made by the Institute of Culture of Messinia and the selection of the three trees is based on the long and substantiated study by local researcher, Panayiotis Lalousis. The Network of Ancient Trees of the Greek Revolution currently includes 71 historic trees across the Peloponnese and aims to protect and preserve them as living elements of Greece’s natural and cultural heritage.
The three trees are all located in the province of Lakonia, in southern Peloponnese and stand as Greece’s last silent witnesses of the history of the place and the landscape, trees that “saw” and “heard” the Greek revolutionaries dreaming of a free country. They are trees that lived through the battles of the Greek Revolution and “heard” the bells ringing the message of freedom from the Ottomans while to this day, they remain shrouded by myths and stories from 1821 and on.
The three historic trees tied to Greece’s Revolution added to the Protection Network
The first tree is an olive tree (of the Myrtolia variety), located in the rural settlement of Apidia in the Evrotas Perfecture and which has been recently declared as a protected natural formation. The olive tree survived the devastation wreaked by Ibrahim Pasha and his forces in September 1825 and “witnessed” the Turkish-Egyptian forces take the residents of the settlement captive.
The second tree is a cedar, located near the sea in he tiny Elafonisos island, on the southern tip of Lakonia. It was next to that cedar that, according to historic evidence, Greek revolutionaries like Miaoulis and Kriezis docked their ships and where Theodoros Kolokotronis in 1806, years before the Revolution, escaped from Moreas.
Lastly, the third tree is another olive tree of the Athinolia variety, located inside the castle town of Monemvasia, next to the Byzantine church of Saint Sophia. It “witnessed” the town’s surrender to the Greeks from the Ottomans on July 23, 1821 and the Greek revolutionaries gather under its shade before raising the Greek flag over the town’s walls.
In the coming months, the three trees will be marked with the network’s commemorative label, which was created by Johanna Kordos, and inspired by Greece’s leading figure of the revolution, Theodoros Kolokotronis.
Greece’s War of Independence lasted between 1821 and 1829, when Greek revolutionaries fought the Ottoman Empire. Greece became an independent state in 1828.
While the Greeks were involved in their own war (1824-1825), the Ottomans started a major campaign to recapture the cities and countryside now governed by the revolutionaries.
On February 26, 1825, the Egyptian Army of Ibrahim Pasha landed undisturbed in Methoni, in the Moreas, with 4,000 infantry and 400 cavalry, and took over the city’s castle. His plan was to take back the entire Peloponnesian peninsula from the Greeks. Greek forces battled Ibrahim Pasha and his forces, who wreaked havoc in the peninsula, for the next few years until they were defeated with the help of Allied forces.
Outrage as historic Peloponnesian tree linked to Greek Revolution uprooted
In February 2025, despite local opposition and efforts to save the tree for years, the Municipality of Trifylia in the Peloponnese, southern Greece, uprooted the historic “Tambakis Mulberry,” a 300-year-old tree, tied to the country’s War of Independence.
The tree was uprooted on Tuesday, February 11, and local authorities justified the removal citing plans to create parking spaces. The decision has outraged locals who say authorities did not consider alternatives, like transplantation.
The mulberry tree had been adorning Filiatra’s main Kapodistria’s Square for centuries, as a symbol of the nation’s history. While the Greek War of Independence raged, the Egyptian forces under Ibrahim Pasha had invaded the Peloponnese in 1824 after the Ottomans had asked for assistance to crush the Greek revolt. Pasha and his army ravaged much of the peninsula while fighting fierce battle with the Greeks.
In 2021, during the 200-year anniversary for the Greek Revolution, the mulberry tree was included in Greece’s Network of Centenarian Trees of the Greek Revolution, which still stand as silent but living witnesses to historic moments across the Peloponnese. A year later, it was marked with the network’s commemorative label, as part of a series of events celebrating similar trees tied to Greece’s War of Independence across the Peloponnese. The historic tree was also a candidate for inclusion in the List of Protected Natural Monuments of Greece.
Surviving the devastation wreaked by Ibrahim Pasha and his forces in 1825, the tree’s destruction 200 years later has sparked an outcry. Despite their efforts to save the historic tree, many locals now lament the loss of a landmark that could have served as a point of historical tourism.
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