Makronisos

Makronisos

Native name: Μακρόνησος
Kea (left) and Makronisos from the International Space Station
File:GR Makronissos.PNG
Geography
Coordinates
Archipelago	None
Area
Highest elevation	281 m (922 ft)
Country
Greece
Region	South Aegean
Regional unit	Kea-Kythnos
Demographics
Population	0 (as of 2001)
Postal code	840 02
Area code(s)	22880

Makronisos (Greek: Μακρόνησος, lit. Long Island), or Makronisi, is an island in the Aegean sea, in Greece. It is located close to the coast of Attica, facing the port of Lavrio. The island has an elongated shape, 13 km (8 mi) north to south, around 500 m (1,640 ft) east to west, and its terrain is arid and rocky.

In ancient times the island was called Helena.

It is part of the Kea-Kythnos regional unit and in the municipality of Kea.

Today it is uninhabited but it was used as a prison island from the time of the Greek Civil War up until the restoration of democracy, following the collapse of the Regime of the Colonels in 1974. Because of its history, it is considered as a monument of the civil war era; therefore the island and the original structures on it are protected from alteration.

The Kea Channel between Makronisos and neighbouring Kea was the site of the sinking, in 1916, of HMHS Britannic, sister ship of the RMS Titanic.

Films

• Le Nouveau Parthénon (1975) by Kostas Chronopoulos et Giogos Chryssovitsianos.
• Happy Day (1976) by Pantelís Voúlgaris.
• Makronissos (2008), by Ilias Giannakakis et Evi Karabatsou.
• Like Stone lions at the gateway into night (2012), by Olivier Zuchuat

File:Attica 06-13 Sounion 02.jpg

View of the island from Cape Sounion, Attica

Further reading

• Hamilakis, Yannis, "The Other 'Parthenon': Antiquity and National Memory at Makronisos", Journal of Modern Greek Studies 20:2 (October 2002), pp. 307–338.

External links

• Segeln bei Makronisos (in German)

(http://www.abettergreece.com/Makronissos_en.html