Leprosy Island Crete
On 30 may 1903 the decision to transform spinalonga into a leper island was signed and 250 patients were moved there from various parts of crete.
Leprosy island crete. However once on the island they received food water medical attention and social security payments. Previously such amenities had been unavailable to cretes leprosy patients as they mostly lived in the areas caves away from civilization. This was so named because the patients did not know what was going to happen to them once they arrived.
Known in the past as the island of the outcasts it covers an area of 8500 square meters and is most famous for housing the leper colony that victoria hislop wrote about in her bestselling book the island. The story of spinalonga the island of the lepers in crete the island od spinalonga credits.