Armata 2022, Spetses Island

Spetses is preparing for an unforgettable celebration, full of new events and surprises, which at the beginning of September will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Spetses, better known as “Armatas”.

It is about the naval battle of September 1822, in which the oligarchy fleet of the Greek islanders defeated the numerically and qualitatively superior Ottoman fleet thanks to the heroism of a Spetsian flamethrower, Kosmas Barbatsis, who set fire to the Turkish flagship with his flamethrower.

September marks exactly 200 years since that unexpected Greek victory that protected the siege of Nafplio and led to its liberation from the rebel Greeks.

Every year since the 1930s, the people of Speciots commemorate the anniversary that coincides (according to the old calendar) with the Nativity of the Virgin on September 8 with a reenactment of the naval battle on the second Saturday of September. But this year Armata promises to be truly special for visitors and locals alike.

The Municipality of Spetses and the professionals of the island have planned a special series of events with a lot of taste and variety, not only as they close exactly two centuries since that leading day in the history of the island which was the first of all the islands to declare the revolution in 1821, but also because it will be the first “Armata” in three years, due to coronavirus.