• Shoe, Tsarouxia
Shoe, Tsarouxia
Shoe, Tsarouxia

Object ID
2013.16.8.A
Object Name
Shoe, Tsarouxia
Material
Leather; Yarn
Object Entities
Kremidas, George (owned by)
Apostle, James (is related to)
Apostle, Geraldine (is related to)
Kremidas, George (is related to)
Baltas, Despina (is related to)
Object Description
This red leather right shoe is decorated with sequins and a pompom . There are three pieces (one for the heel and two on the front) of stiff leather sewn together with white leather accents. The front also has a strip of white leather with toothed borders that runs across the top seem of the shoe. On that strip of white leather and the red leather of the lateral side front of the shoe several sequins are attached with blue thread. Four of these sequins have fallen off leaving the blue thread behind. The brown leather sole of the shoe comes up and over the toe but is mostly obscured by the large pompom at the tip. The bottom half of the pompom is blue string while the top half has white with a dot of read strands at the very center. The pompom covers the tip of the toe which points up.
Origin
This outfit was worn by Mr. Kremidas from the time he was twenty until he was quite old (approximately 1880-1960). This is the right shoe in a pair. Tsarouxia trace their origins in some form back to Byzantine times. However, they were made popular by Ottoman turks who disseminated them throughout the Balkins Today these shoes are noteveryday wear but the Evzones (Presidential guard) wear them as a part of their uniform.

George Kremidas and his wife Despina lived in the Greek village of Dessila, Greece. Dessila is a tiny village in the area of Messenia on the Peloponnese. Their daughter Angeliki, the third of five children, was the only member of the immediate family to emmigrate to America. While living in New England, she married Nicholas Apostolos and subsequently gave birth to two sons: George and James. The family moved to Michigan and both sons served in the military during World War II. Afterwards both sons earned degrees from Worsham College of Mortuary Scieince in Chicago and opened a mortuary in Muskegon, Michigan together. James married Geraldine Pavlis. In 1960 the two left to visit his family in Greece, however, on the day of their departure George Kremidas (James' grandfather) passed away at the age of 98. The personal artifacts included in this accession were given to the Apostles during this trip.
Rights and Reproduction
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Citation
Shoe, Tsarouxia, National Hellenic Museum, https://collections.nationalhellenicmuseum.org/Detail/objects/9823. Accessed 04/19/24.