Spinalonga

The name

The Venetians turned a Greek phrase into the name Spinalonga

The name began as the Greek expression stin Elounda, meaning to Elounda. The Venetians could not understand it, so they changed it into their own language as spina, thorn, and longa, long. The locals kept the name.

A sea fort

The Venetians laid the foundation stone of the fortress in 1579

In 1578 the Venetians hired the engineer Genese Bressani to plan the fortifications. In 1579 Luca Michiel laid the foundation stone, over the ruins of an acropolis. The fort was equipped with 35 cannons.

35cannons for the Venetian sea fort

1904

In 1904 the first 251 people with leprosy were sent to the island

The Cretan state declared in 1903 that leprosy patients would be isolated on Spinalonga. The first 251 arrived in October 1904, some of them restrained. Their names were struck from the registries of their home towns, and families often avoided mentioning the place.

The Brotherhood

In 1936 Epaminodas Remoundakis began to organise the community

A law student, Epaminodas Remoundakis, arrived in 1936 and founded a Brotherhood of the Sick of Spinalonga. Residents cleaned the streets and whitewashed the buildings. They won permission to marry and to maintain businesses, and a cafe opened.

1957

The residents left in 1957, and the last priest stayed until 1962

The residents were transferred to the anti-leprosy station of Agia Varvara in Attica in 1957. The last inhabitant was the priest Chrysathos Katsouloyiannakis, who stayed until 1962 to keep an Orthodox tradition of commemoration. The island was then left abandoned.