Drapia
Δράπεια | |
|---|---|
 Larnaca District with Ora village area in green. The east segment is the Drapia - Parsada area (annexed 1948). | |
| Coordinates: 34°48′06″N 33°16′45″E / 34.8015958°N 33.2791856°E / 34.8015958; 33.2791856 | |
| Country | Cyprus |
| District | Larnaca |
| Elevation | 607 ft (185 m) |
| Population (1976, 1995,2015) | |
• Total | less than 10 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Post code | 7719 |
Drapia (or Drapeia) (Greek: Δράπεια) is a depopulated village in the Larnaca District of Cyprus. Since 1948, the settlements of Parsata and Drapia are included in the jurisdiction of the Ora village authority area.[1] However the Parsada-Drapia village area is separate from the Ora village area, only joined by a thin strip of territory along the Vasilikos river 3.3 km (2.1 mi) long.[2]
Drapia lies on the Kalavasos to Lageia (Layia) road, about 4 km (2.5 mi) north-west of Kalavasos. To the north, it borders the village of Parsada. It lies on the east side of the Vasilikos river and the village area is dissected by its minor tributaries.[3]
The Hellenic Mining Company began exploitation of copper in the Kalavasos-Asgata area in 1937 and the mining company employed many local inhabitants. A number of the miners resided in Drapia. The village was substantially abandoned after the closure of the copper mines in 1978.[4][3][5]
While the mines were in operation, the mining company ran a railway to transport material from Drapia to the port at Vasiliko. The marshalling yard was 1.2 kilometres (3⁄4 mile) south-west of the village in the valley of the Vasilikos river, within the Drapia (later Ora) village area, close to the present Kalavasos dam. The railway was built in 1937-1938 and was 12 km (7.5 mi) long.[6]
Historical documents refer to the village and its church being in existence from the Venetian period. The village church is dedicated to St. George.[3][4]
Population
Population according to the Census and other sources [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [4] [17]
| Date | Houses | Males | Fem. | Total Pop. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1572 | 13 | |||
| 1612 | 16 | |||
| 1672 | 12 | |||
| 1831 | 10 | 14 | ||
| 1881 | 4 | 11 | 10 | 21 |
| 1891 | 14 | 16 | 5 | 21 |
| 1901 | 9 | 10 | 1 | 11 |
| 1911 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 13 |
| 1921 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 10 |
| 1931 | 9 | 13 | 12 | 25 |
| 1976 | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| 1995 | 3 | |||
| 2015 | 7 |
N.B. Drapia was included with Kalavasos for the 1946 and 1960 censuses. Later it was included with Ora.
References
- ^ Cyprus Gazette No. 3376 of 11 June 1948, Supplement No.3 (The Cyprus Gazette is the Government gazette of the government of Cyprus)
- ^ Search "Ora" in Google Maps, website:maps.google.com - retrieved Oct 2025
- ^ a b c "Δράπεια" (Drapia); article in "Polignosi" the Cypriot encyclopedia run by Politis newspaper and the Bank of Cyprus - www.polignosi.com - retrieved Sep 2025 (in Greek)
- ^ a b c "Abandoned Villages in the Landscape of Cyprus", by Maria Yioutani. Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, University of York, 1995 (Dissertation); p.70. Website: salford-repository.worktribe.com/OutputFile/3379100 - retrieved Sep 2025
- ^ "Asgata - Kalavasos survey" by the Department of Antiquities, 2022 - website: https://www.culture.gov.cy/dmculture/da/da.nsf/d49133d713b3ff4fc22576c70031d30e/feb24399bfee5decc22588ef004f0831?OpenDocument&print - retrieved Oct 2025
- ^ "The Narrow Gauge", edition no. 19, publ. by the Narrow Gauge Railway Society, Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 1956. Avail. from the website of the Narrow Gauge Railway Society: www.ngrs.org/downloads/TNG.1-100/tng19.pdf - retrieved Oct 2025
- ^ Η Πρώτη Οθωμανική Απογραφή της Κύπρου 1572 (The First Ottoman Census of Cyprus 1572), by Ioannis P. Theocharides, publ. Nicosia 2021 ISBN 978-9925-581-29-0 ; p. 132
- ^ Οι Απογραφές του Κεφαλικόυ Φόρου της Κύπρου των ετών 1612/1613 κai 1672/1673 (The Censuses of the Poll Tax of Cyprus of 1612/1613 and 1672/1673), by Ioannis P. Theocharides, publ. Nicosia 2024, ISBN 978-9925-620-46-3; pp. 14, 129
- ^ Osmanlı idaresinde Kıbrıs: Nüfusu-arazi dağılımı ve Türk vakıfları(Cyprus under Ottoman rule: Population - land distribution and Turkish foundations), ed. Haci Osman Yildirim, and Vahdettin Atik, published. by Rep.Turkey Ottoman Archives Department, Ankara, Publication No. 43. Date 2000. ISBN 975-19-2592-4
- ^ Census of Cyprus, printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1884
- ^ Census of Cyprus 1891, printed by Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1893
- ^ Census of Cyprus 1901, publ. Government printing office, Nicosia, Cyprus, 1901
- ^ Report and General Abstracts of the Census of Cyprus 1911, publ. Waterlow and Sons Ltd, London, 1912
- ^ Report and General Abstracts of the Census of Cyprus 1921, publ. Waterlow and Sons Ltd, London, 1922.
- ^ Report of the Census of Cyprus 1931, publ. Government printing office, Nicosia, Cyprus, 1932
- ^ Census of Population, 1976, published by the Statistical Service of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicosia, 1976
- ^ Estimate by City Facts website www.city-facts.com/drapia-ora-cyprus/population - retrieved Sep 2025
