{"id":31680,"date":"2020-04-15T10:20:26","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T07:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/omilo.com\/lazaretta-the-former-quarantine-of-syros-island\/"},"modified":"2022-02-19T18:55:15","modified_gmt":"2022-02-19T16:55:15","slug":"lazaretta-the-former-quarantine-of-syros-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/omilo.com\/fr\/lazaretta-the-former-quarantine-of-syros-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Lazaretta, The Former Quarantine of Syros Island – Omilo"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nSince 2005, during the summer months, Omilo is organizing its Greek Language and Culture courses on the island of Syros<\/a>. The Omilo students usually fly to Athens or Mykonos, and from there travel by boat to Hermoupolis, the harbor of Syros island, and the capital of all Cycladic islands.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you are about to arrive and face the harbor, you have a magnificent view over the hills of Hermoupolis and Ano Syros.\u00a0 <\/strong>When you look to the left, on the southern extremity of the port, you also see a st<\/strong>one building, which once was the island’s quarantine, the \u201cLazaretto\u201d. Nowadays, the building is beautifully lit at night, so it is easy to spot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Lazaretto had been built between 1839 and 1841 and back then travelers coming by from Turkey or Egypt stayed for about a week in the lazaretto, to avoid the possibility of contagious disease transmission, like the plague.
\nAs you can imagine, there are plenty of things to say about this interesting building and its different purposes throughout history.
\nThe architect who built the lazaretto was King Otto’s Bavarian engineer, Wilhelm von Weiler. It had 32 \u201cstudios\u201d with a fireplace and a separate kitchen and bathroom for travelers as well as galleys and offices for the administrative staff.
\nIt operated from 1840 until 1961. However, in those 120 turbulent years of Greek history, the building was used for different needs: as a quarantine, as a refuge for the refugees of Crete, as a prison for criminals, and much later for political prisoners and also as a madhouse.<\/p>\n

Small window from another time<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The ruined buildings that stand there on the southern tip of Syros testify to the hardships of another era. In many travel diaries of that time, the living conditions of the Lazaretto guests who arrived in Ermoupolis, looking for adventure and other horizons, or just for business purposes, are described in detail.<\/p>\n

We, at \u00a0Omilo<\/a>, were fortunate to read such a diary firsthand. Our student, Helena Drysdale, opened for us a small window of that time, bringing us the travel diary of her English great-grandfather, George Ferguson. Helena agreed we could share it also with other Omilo students, and we thank her sincerely.<\/p>\n

Below you will find a small excerpt from that diary.
\nAfter reading it ourselves, Omilo\u2019s visit to the Lazaretta ruins was like a short journey through time and history.
\nThe video was taken during the summer of 2018.<\/p>\n