Overview

Contemporary city with 23.863  residents,built on seven hills around the river Arachtho.It';s an area planted all over with orange trees and olive trees.Her name which was for first time related in 1081,came from either the Latin expression Artus Arum innermost ,inland-or because during the 10th century she was providing cereals-bread- to the villages all around.

It is the capital of the Prefecture and of the province of Arta,center homonym municipality.Built in the rich plain of Arta or Ambrakia,Arta is the only commercial center of agrarian products of the Prefecture. She has got  factories of juices,rice mills ,weaving factory and different handicrafts.The mental activity of the city condenses at the music-literary association O Skoufas.This association maintain a library and organizes cultural lectures and amateurish theatrical performances.At the city of Arta  is preserved  the grave of the poet Costa Kristalli.His bust is raised left to the street Agrinio-Ioannina as you get in to the city. Besides in the entrance of the Byzantine Castle exists and the bust of Gianni Makrigiani.

The big flourishing of Arta it was marked in the 13th century,when the despots of Ipiros Aggeloi Komninoi made her the capital of the hegemony and they were endowed her with large palaces and with exceptional art churches,where they placed her next to the Mistra and the Thessaloniki.Remarkable where also and the buildings which where created after the posterior Byzantine period,just like the castle and the well-known Gefyri of Artas(bridge of Artas) on the river Arachtho.

In 1346 the Serbs occupied the city.Since then Arta have changed many conquerors and in 1449 she was occupied by the Turks. The Venetian have took her for a few years.During the Turkish slavery Arta had developed and she became an important commercial center.In 1662,in order of patriarch of Jerusalem, was established in the city school in which were taught educated Greeks.In 1796 Arta conquered by Ali Pasha and he kept her until 1820.Arta was from the first cities that took place in the Revolution,but liberated in 1881 with the signature of Berlin';s Contract.

Sights:

• The castle,built in the highest point of the city in north-east, next to the river Arachtho.It is one of the most well-maintained and considerate castle of Greece,with the Xenia inside,filled  with pine trees and garden leaves a pleasant taste to the visitor.A large part of it leans on quadrate block of stone,which they were constituted the base of the wall from the ancient Ambrakia.It was built by the Komninous(13th century) and it is preserved today with very few posterior annexation.Inside the castle,there used to be Makrigiannis as a prisoner-this place used as a prison until 1955-today it is the Municipal Theatre and every summer take place there festivals
• The ancient theatre of Ambrakia inside the city
• Foundations of a temple(end of Archaic Age)in Pyrrou Street
• Holy Street of Ambrakias,in Kommenou Street,width 12m,with rare archaic description of 6th century BC, which certifies the name of the ancient town.There is a tombstone with the names of the people who have been fallen in the battle and the name Ambrakia in the Doric dialect
• Holly Mother the Parigoritisa(1295)it is one of the most brightest Byzantine Greek churches. She is two-storied, built on the foundations of an ancient temple and at A are still there the cells from the time that she was still a monastery.She is very special for her architecture and she posses remarkable wall paintings and sculptures.In her small museum have been saved findings of the ancient city,with more important a copper ash-battle, coins of all times,Archaic and Byzantine sculptures and pictures.There is also findings from the classic cemetery of Koutsomytas