In the area of Agia Paraskevi in Nicosia, where the Cyprus University is located today, at the beginning of the 19th century there was the only leprosorius on the island, or rather, a whole village for patients with leprosy. It was built in 1807-1808 by the Grand Dragoman Cyprus Hajigaorgakis Cornesios. Before that, people who suffered from leprosy were forced to live on the streets and ask for alms.
Once, the Turkish Pasha, who controlled Cyprus, accompanied by Khadzhigaorgakis Korvesios, an Ottoman official of Greek-Kirus origin, drove through the gates of Famagusta and saw the leaked ones sitting there. Pasha, who was angry with such a sight, ordered all the lepers to be collected and executed. However, Cornesios begged the Turkish ruler to show mercy and instead organize a place where they could live outside the city. Pasha liked the idea and he allocated for construction a plot of 500 strings (50 hectares) near the village of Agia Paraskevi.
Leprozoriya was in the suburbs of Nicosia until 1955, when the English administration decided to transfer him to Larnaca, to a site next to the salt lake, which was five times less. The residents of Leproseia, having learned about this decision, began to fiercely protest against the move. By that time, a whole village of people who had a leprosy had formed in Agia Paraskevi. There were separate houses in the village, farm buildings and a temple in honor of St. Haralampia, who was revered as a defender from leprosy. However, the decision of the colonial administration was final and all residents had to move. They dismantled the church and took the stones to a new place.
In Larnac, the settlement, where the lepers were transported, was called hagios Haralambos. Each resident had his own housing and a small plot of land. A cafe, a restaurant, a cinema, a first -aid post and, of course, a church that was erected from those very stones opened here.
It was not forbidden to leave their settlement by the lepers themselves, they could move around the country, avoiding only populated areas. The administration of the island paid them a benefit, subsidies for clothes and cash gifts for Christmas. Of course, these rights of the lepers did not gain immediately and not of the kind will control the island of the British. In the 1910s, patients with leprosy began to fight for a better life and arranged marches to the residence of the governor. Their supporter in the colonial administration was the Swedish physician, chief physician of Cyprus, Dr. Heidestam.
About 150 people and medical personnel lived in the village of Hagies Kharalambos. As medicine develops and victory over the leprosy, the village is empty and today there is no one here. But the church of St. Haralampia, where a memorial service is performed every year about everyone who helped patients with the inhabitants of the island.
Photo BigCyPrus.com.cy
This article was first published in the "Vestnik Cyprus" on November 30, 2021. Part of the information could be outdated.
