Spinalonga

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Spinalonga / Kalydon (Σπιναλόγκα / Καλυδών)
Spinalonga Peninsula with Spinalonga Island (Kalydon)
Spinalonga Peninsula with Spinalonga Island (Kalydon)
Waters Mediterranean Sea
Geographical location 35 ° 17 '51 "  N , 25 ° 44' 17"  E Coordinates: 35 ° 17 '51 "  N , 25 ° 44' 17"  E
Spinalonga (Crete)
Spinalonga
length 440 m
width 250 m
surface 8.5 ha
Highest elevation 53  m
Residents uninhabited

The uninhabited Greek island of Spinalonga ( Greek Σπιναλόγκα ( f. Sg. )) Officially Kalydon (Καλυδών ( f. Sg. )) Is located in the western Gulf of Mirabello . The island belongs to the area of ​​the village Elounda of the municipality Agios Nikolaos in the northeast of the island of Crete . The sea ​​fortress built on Spinalonga by the Venetians in the 16th century is one of the most important examples of the use of the bastionary system in the Mediterranean.

etymology

According to Venetian documents, the name of the island comes from the Greek phrase “στην Ελούντα” / “stin Elounda” meaning “after Elounda ”. The Venetians were unable to understand the expression and translated it into their own language. They called the place "spina lunga" (in German "long thorn"). Although the island was given its ancient name Kalydon again in 1954, the former name from the Venetian era is more common today.

location

Map of Elounda, Spinalonga and surroundings.

Spinalonga is located in a strategic key position at the northern entrance of the Gulf of Elounda (κόλπου της Ελούντας) only 160 m from the north coast of the peninsula of the same name . The shortest distance to the small coastal town of Plaka is around 750 m. The maximum length of the island is 440 m in north-south direction, the greatest width is 250 m in the southern part of the island. The highest point is 53 m.

The island can be reached by boat from Agios Nikolaos in one hour, from Elounda in 20 minutes and from Plaka in 10 minutes. There are two entrances to Spinalonga, the original main gate in the middle of the island's west coast across from Plaka, and a tunnel at the southern tip called Dante's Gate . At the southern tip there are tourist facilities and a landing stage that serves as a landing stage for boats.

history

Already in antiquity the island was fortified to protect the ancient port of Olous . During the occupation of Crete by the Arabs from the 9th century AD, Olous was abandoned and the port was only used sporadically until the Venetian rule. The tradition that the island was supposed to have served as a fortress against attacks by the Arabs at the beginning of the 9th century cannot be proven.

Venetian rule

Francesco Basilicata, The Rock and Fortress of Spinalonga, 1618.

From the late 16th century , the Venetians built a mighty fortress on the old ruins . Due to the conquest of Cyprus by the Ottomans , in 1571 the Venetian Senate passed an extensive fortification program on Crete. The port of Spinalonga was also to be protected from attacks by building a fortress on the island of the same name in order to secure the export of salt from the salt pans established there. The first work began in 1578 when the planning and execution of the fortification was entrusted to the military engineer Genese Bressani. His design included the construction of a curtain wall along the coastline and a place on the highest point of the island, which should serve as an artillery position, as well as other structures that were initially not implemented for financial reasons. The construction of the curtain wall was carried out by local workers between 1579 and 1583. In the first construction phase, three half-bastions and the Moceniga Demi-Lune in the south and the Michiel Demi-Lune on the northern tip were built. During a visit in 1584, the engineer and military commander of Crete's Latino Orsini realized that the island could easily be attacked from the heights of the Spinalonga Peninsula in the south . He then had the rocky ridge of the island fortified with a wall between 1585 and 1586 and connected it to the curtain wall via truss walls in the northeast and southwest.

During the first years of the war for Crete (1640–1659), the defenses were expanded. Among other things, earthworks were carried out, the circular wall completed and loopholes added to the fortifications. As early as 1647, Spinalonga became a place of refuge for refugees and rebels from the Ottoman-ruled east of Crete. Together with the Venetian garrison, they defended the island against the Ottoman siege. Even after the fall of Chandax in 1669, Spinalonga, along with the islands of Gramvousa and Souda, remained under Venetian control. It was not until October 4, 1715 that the Ottomans captured the fortification. After a three-month blockade, the islanders' supplies were exhausted, so that the Venetian commander Zuan Francesco Giustiniani had to hand over the fortress to Grand Admiral Kapudan Pasha. The surrender treaty stipulated that civilians could either leave the island with their belongings or remain on the island as subjects of the sultan. This included the right of the remaining Christians on the island to maintain an Orthodox church. Furthermore, the Venetian soldiers were assured a safe withdrawal. With the Peace of Passarowitz in 1718 Spinalonga finally came under Ottoman control . After the Venetians left, 616 residents were imprisoned and sold as slaves. After that, Muslims began to settle on the island.

Ottoman rule

The settlement on the west side of Spinalonga in 1901. Photographed by Giuseppe Gerola .

Between the 18th and 19th centuries, the fortress was of minor military importance. About 200 Ottoman soldiers lived on the island together with Muslim families who had settled there permanently for security reasons. Thus, a small military settlement grew up, which, with the end of Ottoman rule, served as exile for other Muslim families. In 1821 there were 20 families or around 250 people on Spinalonga. At the end of the 18th century and in the first half of the 19th century, the island's economic development stagnated due to the trade restrictions in force in Crete. The Muslim inhabitants of Spinalonga lived secluded on the island, with little contact with the Christian population on the mainland. In the course of reforms initiated in the Ottoman Empire in the mid-19th century, the port of Spinalonga was granted trading rights in 1856. Due to the commercial traffic in the port, the population density on the island increased further. During the Cretan uprising in 1878, Spinalonga was one of the few remaining places under Ottoman control. In 1879 the island became an independent municipality and had 1,112 Muslim residents in 1881. During the Turkish-Greek War , the island was attacked by Greek Orthodox insurgents on February 24, 1897 . After a few hours, a French warship stopped the attack, which damaged the fortress, destroyed several buildings and wounded or killed around 30 people. After the establishment of the Cretan state under pressure from the great powers France, Russia, Great Britain and Italy, French troops were stationed on the island. Probably because of the new administration under Christians, many of the Muslim residents emigrated to Asia Minor in the following years. With the establishment of a leper colony , the last Muslim inhabitants had to leave Spinalonga in 1903.

Use as a leper colony

The Cretan state decided to place all lepers in Crete on Spinalonga. The first 251 lepers came to the island on October 13, 1904. After the unification of Crete with Greece in 1913, others followed from all over the country. The lepers initially lived under the most difficult conditions on the island and lived in the old houses of the Muslim settlement. Only in the 1930s did the situation improve due to various initiatives. In 1935 there were about 300 patients living on Spinalonga. About one patient died and one new patient arrived on the island every week. With government funds, new buildings were built in 1939 and a ring road was created around the island. Parts of the fortress wall were destroyed. From 1948 onwards, the application of new drugs to Spinalonga resulted in increased cure rates. From then on, healed patients were allowed to leave the island. Until 1957 Spinalonga was a leprosy station and thus one of the last leper colonies in Europe. The last resident, a priest, left the island in 1962.

Spinalonga today

After the closure of the leper colony, Spinalonga remained uninhabited. The fortress and many of the buildings were damaged by looting. In 1963 the island was placed under the Greek Tourist Board. In the 1970s, the touristic development began and the island was granted the status of “Archaeological Site”. Most of the buildings erected during the time of the leper colony were demolished and the first restoration work was carried out. Since 1997, extensive measures for the conservation and restoration of the fortress and the buildings have been financed with EU funds. Nowadays the island can be visited for tourists during the day from the beginning of April to the end of October.

Web links

Commons : Spinalonga  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ UNESCO World Heritage Center: Fortress of Spinalonga. Retrieved September 29, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Πανδέκτης: Spinalogka - Kalydon. Retrieved September 30, 2019 (Greek, English).
  3. ↑ Georgia Moschovi: Spinalonga, eastern Crete . Athens 2005, ISBN 960-214-451-3 , pp. 14 .
  4. ↑ Cosmescu, Dragoş ,: Venetian Renaissance fortifications in the Mediterranean . Jefferson, North Carolina 2016, ISBN 978-0-7864-9750-8 , pp. 80 (English).
  5. ↑ Georgia Moschovi: Spinalonga, eastern Crete . Athens 2005, ISBN 960-214-451-3 , pp. 15 .
  6. ↑ Georgia Moschovi: Spinalonga, eastern Crete . Athens 2005, ISBN 960-214-451-3 , pp. 17 .
  7. ↑ Μαρια Αρακαδακη: ΤΟ ΦΡΟΥΡΙΟ ΤΗΣ ΣΠΙΝΑΛΟΓΚΑΣ (1571-1715). ΣΥΜΒΟΛΗ ΣΤΗ ΜΕΛΕΤΗ ΤΩΝ ΕΠΑΚΤΙΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΝΗΣΙΩΤΙΚΩΝ ΟΧΥΡΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΒΕΝΕΤΙΚΗΣ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑΣ . 1996, doi : 10.12681 / eadd / 6550 (Greek, handle.net [accessed on August 4, 2019] Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης (ΑΠΘ). Σχολή Πολυτεχνινω Αώκιντν ώτινττιντττιντανω τώτιντντηντινινω χώτχντανηνω Αιτιντανω Αώτιντανηνω.
  8. ↑ Nikolaos S. Stavrinidis: Translations of Turkish historical documents concerning the history of Crete - Documents from the period 1694-1715 . tape III . Heraklion 1978 (Greek).
  9. ^ Yannis Spyropoulos: Slaves and Freedmen in 17th- and Early 18th-Century Ottoman Crete . In: Turcica . tape 46 , 2015, p. 179 , doi : 10.2143 / TURC.46.0.3087634 (English, peeters-leuven.be [accessed on August 4, 2019]).
  10. ↑ Georgia Moschovi: Spinalonga, eastern Crete . Athens 2005, ISBN 960-214-451-3 , pp. 23 .
  11. ↑ Efpraxia S. Paschalidou: Military operations of the great powers during the cretan revolution (1897): the greek perspective . Ed .: General Staff of Slovenian Armed Forces. April 2009, ISSN  1580-1993 , p. 128 ( slovenskavojska.si [PDF]).
  12. ↑ Georgia Moschovi: Spinalonga, eastern Crete . Athens 2005, ISBN 960-214-451-3 , pp. 28 .
  13. ↑ Chryssi Bourbou: The leprosarium of Spinalonga (1903-1957) in eastern Crete (Greece) . In: Eres. Arqueología / Bioantropología . tape June 14 , 2006, ISSN  1130-6572 , p. 127 (English, amazonaws.com [PDF]).
  14. ^ Marianna Karamanou, Christina Antoniou, Kyriakos P. Kyriakis, Georges Androutsos: L'île des lépreux: Spinalonga . In: La Presse Médicale . tape 42 , no. November 11 , 2013, p. 1526–1529 , doi : 10.1016 / j.lpm.2012.11.024 (French, elsevier.com [accessed August 4, 2019]).
  15. ^ David Sharp: Leprosy lessons from old bones . In: The Lancet . tape 369 , no. 9564 , March 2007, p. 808–809 , doi : 10.1016 / S0140-6736 (07) 60385-7 (English, elsevier.com [accessed August 4, 2019]).
  16. ↑ Georgia Moschovi: Spinalonga, eastern Crete . Athens 2005, ISBN 960-214-451-3 , pp. 35 .
  17. ↑ Vasiliki Michalaki, Antonia Kotsiou: Razarajuće epidemije grčke populacije u novije doba . In: Acta medico-historica Adriatica . tape 15 , no. 2 , 2017, p. 283–290 , doi : 10.31952 / amha.15.2.6 (English, amha-journal.com [accessed on August 4, 2019]).
  18. ↑ Georgia Moschovi: Spinalonga, eastern Crete . Athens 2005, ISBN 960-214-451-3 , pp. 36 .
  19. ^ Ministry of Culture and Sports: Fortified islet of Spinalonga. Retrieved September 30, 2019 .