Selected Exhibits
3D Reconstructions
The Garrison Building - Disinfection chamber
The Garrison building is located immediately south of the western main gate of the Spinalonga fortress (Porta Maestra). It is one of the Venetian camp's most significant and well-preserved buildings.
It is built during the first phase of the fortress's construction in 1579-1580, while the barrel vault on its roof is positioned around 1582. An opening at the top of the barrel vault serves as a ventilator to the chamber. During the Venetian period, this building is used as an accommodation place for soldiers on duty, while during the Leper Colony period (19 04-1957), it is used as a disinfection chamber.
During this period, the two walled up windows towards the main street of the fortress were opened. At the same time, a large arched window was opened on the west side of the building and a large entrance door on its north side for better ventilation. Finally, a furnace is placed in the interior to disinfect the clothes and personal belongings of the patients transferred to the island, as well as to disinfect the outgoing letters of the patients, which they sent to their families.
Duration: 1 minute.
The tripartite vaulted building
In the southeastern part of the fortress, near the Mountain Gate, the so-called tripartite vaulted building is located. It is the only surviving building of the Venetian military accommodations of the garrison.
The three single-room chambers that comprise the above mentioned accommodations are housed with semi-circular arches and a separate entrance door. The chambers' vaults are placed stepwise, contributing to the rainwater collection, which supplies a small cistern north of the lower room.
Duration: 1 minute.
Building 102
The building with the conventional number 102 is located on the central road of the settlement, north of the Church of Saint Panteleimon. It is a two-story building with a quite high-ceiling ground floor space, which communicates with the auxiliary space of the kitchen to the south.
The display of colourful murals on the interior walls of the two-story house is of particular interest. Here, people, various birds, peacocks, trees, plant motifs, doors of Ottoman architecture, boats, and a seaplane are depicted. The latter is a subsequent addition, as it must have been designed in the 1930s when the British airline company Imperial Airways used the Gulf of Elounda as a seaplane station.
Duration: 2 minutes.
Building 104
The building with the conventional number 104 is located on the main road in the western part of the island. It is one of the examples of surviving houses on the island that maintain their first floor to this day. It had a wooden protruding balcony and a stone-built oven in its courtyard. At the same time, at least one of its interior walls was decorated with colourful frescoes.
Duration: 3 minutes.
Building 201
The building with the conventional number 201 is located on the main street, diagonally across from the Garrison Building. It is one of the oldest buildings of the settlement. In house 201, which was also two-storeyed, the upper floor no longer survives as it has collapsed. Nevertheless, we have photographic evidence that illustrates the original form of the building, on the upper floor of which rectangular windows were opened.
Duration: 2 minutes.