Agia Eleousa, also known as Eleousa, is one of the settlements located on the island of Rhodes, which carries on its shoulders the stigma of the disease that circulated in its atmosphere, but also of the image of the ruined buildings that followed the removal of the Italian administration in the island of Rhodes. Characterized as a ghost village, its paths hide a very interesting story that is definitely worth knowing. Let’s see the village of Agia Eleousa over the years.
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Agia Eleousa: The promising construction
Its architecture was inspired by the green villages of the Italian Alps, which gave their diffuse imprint to the aesthetics of the wider region. Its first inhabitants were no more than lumberjacks from the north of Italy, coming from the valley named Fiemme, who settled there with their families. Besides, the exploitation of timber was one of the most important goals for this mountainous environment, along with the care of the green reforested environment.
Against the backdrop of the dense pine trees that run along the mountain, unique buildings are built painted with colors that stand out for their intensity, always having as their center the village square. The so-called agora had the largest size among the other buildings, with its arches and small curved balconies giving it an extremely charming image. In the streets of the settlement, you would find the school, the Catholic church of Santa Maria, which was later converted into an Orthodox church and dedicated in honor of Saint Charalambos, a post office, and even prisons, thus creating a scenery of a completely integrated community.
Just a stone’s throw from the square, about two hundred meters away, in front of you lies the aqueduct, which provided water for the entire area, which is, even from those years, a place of residence of an endangered species, protected by the letter of the law. This circular tank, which collects the waters of the neighboring Koskinisti spring, hosts a large number of Gizania, i.e. small freshwater fish, which meet to live only on this island.
Agia Eleousa: The scenery changes after the end of the war
The grimmest outcome finds the former school of the village changing its identity and being converted into the sanatorium of the Dodecanese under the name “Queen Frederica”, in order to accommodate the patients suffering from tuberculosis throughout the country, the disease that plagued extensively the beginning of the last century. The abandoned scenery of the settlement was the ideal place for the isolation of patients and the protection of the rest of the island’s inhabitants from transmission. Remaining in operation for more than twenty years, it hosts more than a thousand incidents and although the early 1970s found it closed and exploited by the country’s military forces until the dawn of the new millennium, the name of the village is still intertwined with illness and abandonment to this day.
Agia Eleousa still remains a village with ruined buildings but the former glamour in their landscape is fading, but it remains only to be given a chance to come back to the surface.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Agia Eleousa, also known as Eleousa, is an abandoned settlement located on the island of Rhodes in Greece. It earned the designation of 'ghost village' due to its ruined buildings and desolate atmosphere that resulted from the Italian withdrawal after World War II. Once a thriving community built by Italian settlers in 1935, it gradually became abandoned and is now characterized by its decaying structures and eerie appearance.
Agia Eleousa was constructed in 1935 under the order of Italian governor Mario Lago during the Italian administration of Rhodes and the Dodecanese. The settlement was originally named Campiocchiaro, meaning 'bright village,' and was built as part of an Italian immigration program. Its architecture was inspired by the green villages of the Italian Alps, and its initial inhabitants were lumberjacks from northern Italy, specifically from the Fiemme valley.
After World War II ended, Greece and Italy signed a peace treaty that resulted in the Dodecanese being annexed to Greece and Italian withdrawal from the island. This marked the beginning of Agia Eleousa's decline. The village's school was converted into the 'Queen Frederica' sanatorium to accommodate tuberculosis patients from across the country. The sanatorium operated for more than twenty years, utilizing the isolated location for patient isolation and protection of the wider island population.
During its operational period from 1935 to 1947, Agia Eleousa contained a complete community infrastructure including a village square (agora) with distinctive arches and curved balconies, a school, the Catholic church of Santa Maria (later converted to an Orthodox church dedicated to Saint Charalambos), a post office, prisons, and colorful alpine-style buildings. An aqueduct providing water from the Koskinisti spring was also built just two hundred meters from the square, serving as a crucial water supply system.
The circular water reservoir at Agia Eleousa, which collects waters from the Koskinisti spring, is home to the Gizania—rare, small freshwater fish species that are endemic to Rhodes and exist nowhere else in the world. This endangered species is protected by law, making the reservoir an important ecological site despite the village's abandoned state.
