On the 17th of April, the students from the 5th grade from the school Panagia Erithiani visited the very first leprosy hospital in Greece, which is located around 20 minutes south of Vrontados.
Once arrived, we were welcomed by our guide for the day and walked down a little path to the leprosy hospital which was founded in the 14th century. Unfortunately, there are only ruins left, although the municipality wants to restore it. The hospital consisted of two parts: the back part, which is the original building and the front part, which was added later on.
The hospital was founded by rich ship owning families, as they wanted to separate leprous people from the healthy population. The building was quite luxurious for that time, as there were only single rooms, providing a bathtub and hot water access. Another indication for the fortune of Chios Island is that the columns in the entrance area were imported from London and the whole building is decorated very nicely, having painted ceilings in most of the rooms.
The Lovokomeio Leper Colony is located in a little valley with a small stream. In the past, there were also two bridges in order to cross the valley, although they don’t exist anymore nowadays. These were frequently used, as olives were cultivated on the other side of the valley. In the back of the glen, you can also see the ruins of an old byzantine church which has sadly been destroyed during the great massacre of Chios, like many other sights on the island.
The students visited the whole colony and also had a little maths lesson afterwards. Their task was to find as many geometrical shapes in the building and the area in general, like circles, right angles or squares.
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