Flórina

Florina grew below a fortified Byzantine settlement known as Chlerenon, on a route through the mountains of western Macedonia. An Ottoman tax register of 1481 recorded 243 households and a commander of the fortress. The town expanded under Ottoman rule, eventually spreading beyond the old defenses and acquiring mosques, baths and inns alongside its Christian churches.

The Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi described Florina in the 17th century as a town of six quarters, with houses, religious buildings and a market of about a hundred shops. Its position made it a local center for the surrounding country, but also exposed it to unrest. During the Greek War of Independence in 1823, the town suffered pillage and damage to its churches, another upheaval in a region crossed by rival forces.