Speaking to APE-MPE, the mayor of Agios Nikolaos, Manolis Menegakis, rarely in a monument does history “speak” so vividly from the depths of the centuries, as in Spinalonga, this small island rock at the northern entrance of the Elounda bay.
“They very aptly described it as a historical palimpsest. Fortified fortress of ancient Olounds, place of resistance against Arab raiders, rare example of an island pro-monarchic Venetian fort (1579 – 1715), stronghold and refuge of the Chaini (1645 – 1715), place of exile and prison at the beginning of the Turkish rule, Ottoman settlement from the beginning from the 19th century until 1904, a leper home (1904 – 1957), an attraction candidate for the World Cultural Heritage Monuments” said Mr. Menegakis, adding that “the imprint of what happened at times is on this island”.
The island of Spinalonga, which has important archaeological findings, some of which have been highlighted and others whose goal is to be highlighted, as the mayor of Agios Nikolaos said, gathers the interest of not only foreign visitors but also visitors from all over Greece or the Crete.
“The island receives thousands of visitors every day – many of whom are repeat visitors – who can see the impressive Venetian walls, but also the reconstruction of the lives of the lepers through the restored buildings. It is a place with a great history that in any case deserves to be visited” said Mr. Menegakis, who added that in addition, the island deserves to be included independently in the protected UNESCO Monuments and this is still, as he said, one of the objectives of the Municipality which will not give up the effort to include the Monument in the Unesco list”.
In Spinalonga, the visitor can arrive by daily ferries from Plaka (the settlement opposite the island), from Elounda and Agios Nikolaos, while during the summer season the itineraries of the ferries are very frequent, on a daily basis. The day boats, as explained by Mr. Menegakis, are part of the local economy, serving at the same time the arrival to the Monument.
With regards to accessibility, Mr. Menegakis said that with a focus on PWDs who face difficulties, mainly due to the absence of a ramp to board the day boats, the aim is to promote solutions.
“It is an established weakness. The municipality has at its disposal an initial study for the construction of a new pier “on piles” and for the repair of the existing mooring works in the port of Spinalonga. We intend to proceed with the study and seek funding from any available source. Either from the Ministry of Culture, or from the Region of Crete,” said Mr. Menegakis to APE-MPE.
The next big bet for the island is the lighting, which aims to highlight all its features. As the mayor of Agios Nikolaos noted, there is a preparatory work to commission a lighting study, which will follow the standards of the lighting of the Parthenon and the Acropolis.
“The proposal for the lighting study of the fortified island of Spinalonga which has been submitted to the municipality by the lighting designer Mrs. Eleftheria Deco, at the urging of Mrs. Kostanza Sbokou, a local entrepreneur, mainly highlights the architectural interventions but also the settlement of Spinalonga with in such a way that during the night hours it appears to be inhabited by people. A “fleeting” memory of the long-term presence and living of human existence and activity – a visual “narrative” of the island’s history that also acquires an entity at night” noted Manolis Menegakis, concluding with reference to the time of implementation of the specific project, that “the for the last two years there have been discussions on the conclusion of a program contract for which the Municipality of Agios Nikolaos is waiting for a financing decision to be issued by the Ministry of Shipping, given that there has been a political commitment to this”.
Finally, as the mayor of Agios Nikolaos added, the contract will be a collaboration between the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy, the Municipality of Agios Nikolaos and the “Daedalos” Development Organization.
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