Arta

Town and department in the Epirus region of Greece; area (department) 1,612 sq km/622 sq mi; population (2001) 19,400. It derives its name from the River Arakhthos, on which it stands and which formed the boundary between Greece and Turkey until 1912. Its chief industries are woollen and cotton textiles, embroidery, and leather-working. The town has a Byzantine castle and a medieval bridge.

The town was founded by Corinthian colonists in the 7th century BC. Its ancient name was Ambracia, and it was the capital of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus. The town was taken by the Turks in 1449, captured by Ali Pasha in 1798, and ceded to Greece in 1881. Arta has a palace of the Orthodox metropolitan, the Church of the Virgin of Consolation, and other 13th- and 14th-century churches.