books were destroyed when Greek warriors used their paper in the 14 gunpowder mills that worked day and night, supplying them with gunpowder. For this reason Dimitsana has been called "the Nation's powder keg". In 1960 Dimitsana's population was about 2,000, but a lot of people have since then emigrated to the United States, Australia and elsewhere. Sights Dimitsana is a stone-built village with remarkable mansions, most of which are now restored. It is a typical sample of Gortynia's architecture and it is registered as a traditional one. The statue of Patriarch Gregory V dominates in the central square and also the family houses of both him and Germanos III of Old Patras can be seen. Dimitsana's Library contains today about 35,000 books, manuscripts and documents. In Dimitsana's Museum, housed in the Library, there are collections of weaving, looms and handicrafts and an archaeological one. The Elementary School was built 1898–1910, by a donation of Andreas Syngros, and is a characteristic sample of that period. It operated as a girls' school until 1930 and later as county court. Not far from the village is the Open-air Water Power Museum (1997), created by restoration of abandoned pre-industrial facilities, based on the Water Power. It includes a flourmill, a traditional cauldron, a tannery, a tanner's house and a gunpowder mill. In the surroundings important sights include the Old and the New Philosophou Monastery and Prodromou Monastery, both located inside Loussios's gorge. Subdivisions The municipal unit Dimitsana is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets): Dimitsana (Dimitsana, Karkalou, Moni Aimyalon i Filosofou, Palaiochori) Melissopetra Panagia Rados Rizospilia (Rizospilia, Kato Rizospilia) Zatouna (Zatouna, Vlongos, Markos) Zigovisti Notable people Germanos, metropolitan bishop of Patras (1771–1826) Gregory V (1746–1821), Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Theophanes III (1570-1644), Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Tassos Gritsopoulos, historian Archbishop Ieremias of Gortyna Gallery See also List of settlements in Arcadia List of traditional settlements of Greece References External links Municipality of Dimitsana (official site, pages in Greek and in English) Dimitsana Dimitsana in Gortynia (in Greek) GTP - Dimitsana GTP - Dimitsana municipality Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation open air water-power museum Populated places in Arcadia, Peloponnese