Lazareto (Corfu)

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Lazareto (Λαζαρέτο)
Lazareto Corfu.jpg
Waters Ionian sea
Archipelago Ionian islands
Geographical location 39 ° 38 '56 "  N , 19 ° 52' 50"  E Coordinates: 39 ° 38 '56 "  N , 19 ° 52' 50"  E
Lazareto (Corfu) (Ionian Islands)
Lazareto (Corfu)
length 400 m
width 200 m
surface 70 ha
Residents uninhabited

Lazareto ( Greek Λαζαρέτο ( n. Sg. ), Also Agios Dimitrios Άγιος Δημήτριος) is a small island about two nautical miles northwest of the city of Corfu in the bay of Gouvia, about 1.4 km from the east coast of the island of Corfu . Like many islets in front of the Greek ports, it served as a sick and quarantine island during the Venetian rule over the Ionian Islands , modeled on the lagoon island Lazzaretto Vecchio in Venice. In the early 16th century, the Venetians founded a monastery of St. Mary of Nazareth, of which only remains have survived, and later a first leprosy station. After the conquest of Corfu by Napoleonic troops, the island was occupied by the Russian navy and the buildings were used as a military hospital. During the time of the Republic of the Ionian Islands , the island was restored to its original function, but was only used sporadically after unification with Greece . During the Second World War, the Axis powers established a concentration camp on the island in which members of the Greek Resistance were interned. During the Greek Civil War 1946-1949 the island was used by the Greek military as a prison island, almost 200 communists and other opponents of the regime were killed on the island during this time. In 1962 the prison was finally abandoned.

Today there are still the ruins of a small church of St. Demetrius, a two-story building erected by Italian troops, a wall that originally belonged to the church of St. Mary of Nazareth and where those condemned to death were shot and the cemetery where the Those killed were buried. Former prisoners and descendants of the victims founded the Lazareto association in 1976 and built a memorial for the victims of the shootings. The island is state-owned and was designated a National Historic Monument in 1992. The Greek tourism organization (Ελληνικός Οργανισμός Τουρισμού), which manages the island, announced the establishment of a national memorial in 2003.

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