Articles from this Tag
August 27, 2017
The last inhabitant left Spinalonga in 1962. He was the father Chrisanthos a priest of the Greek Orthodox Church who spent 5 years more on Spinalonga after its abandonment to maintain the religious tradition to memorialize buried people at 3 and 5 years after their deaths. Father Chrisanthos was not a leper and never got […]
August 26, 2017
The first treatment for leprosy was introduced in the 1940s but it took 10 more years for a more effective drug against the Hansen disease. In 1957 Spinalonga's leprosy hospital was decided to terminate operation. The cured patients, were allowed to return to their families while some more severe cases were transferred to other hospital […]
August 25, 2017
Leprosy perhaps is one of the oldest documented human diseases and references can be found in texts written thousands years ago. The disease leaves marks on the skin mostly on limps and face that give a terrifying look to people infected. For this reason, lepers were treated as unclean and became outcasts of the society. […]
August 24, 2017
Life on Spinalonga was far from being easy. Many times the leper patients on the island had to uprise in order to gain some basic benefits for their survival. In 1936 the 21 years old leper Epaminondas Remountakis, a law student from Crete was brought to the island. He was a very active man with […]
August 23, 2017
Lepers were living banished from civilization for centuries. Many of them found refuge in caves. The Spinalonga leper hospital allowed them to have access to medical care, to live in a organized society while food, water and houses were provided by the state. Lepers had a social life and some of them got married on […]
August 22, 2017
When the lepers arrived in Spinalonga they had to go through from one of the two entrances of the fortress. This entrance was a long, wet and dark tunnel. People gave the name "The Dante's Gate" to the entrance because they didn't know what was expecting them at the other side.
August 21, 2017
In 1904 the first 251 leper patients originated from Crete were settled on the island of Spinalonga. After the union of Crete with Greece in 1913, lepers from all over the country start coming to the island.
August 20, 2017
The islet morphology, its distance from the shore and the Venetian fortification structures led authorities to create on Spinalonga a leper colony. On 30 of May, 1903 a leper hospital was founded on Spinalonga and all Hansen disease patients from Crete are transferred to spend the rest of their lives on the isolated island.
August 19, 2017
Spinalonga was one of the last remaining Venetians fortresses that were occupied by Ottoman Turks. Its importance to the Venetians trade routes was great while many Christians found a refuge there during the Venetian-Turkish war of Crete.
August 18, 2017
Spinalonga gained a lot of popularity the last years. Every day more than 1500 tourists visit the island which makes it the second most popular archeological site in Crete after Knossos.