видос корфу

Vidos island

Vidos island in Corfu

Vidos Island is located about a kilometer from Corfu Town and has an area of 530.000 sq.m. The island of Vidos is small in area but has a very important role in the history of Corfu.

Around 80 AD on the island of Vidos, the first Christian church of the Holy Apostles in Corfu was built by Jason and Sosipatros, who named the church after St. Stephen. During the next few centuries, the island was called St. Stephen's Island. This is evidenced by documentary sources dated 1332 by King Charles IV about the transfer of the island to feudal lords for personal use. The island was transferred to the possession of wealthy families, where it was used for summer residences and a place for hunting and entertainment for gentlemen.

In 1537, the Turkish flotilla is approaching the island of Corfu.

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They land on Vidos Island and install a 50-caliber cannon there, from which 19 shells were fired and only 5 hit the old fortress. Local troops smashed the Turkish flotilla, but after this raid, the strategic importance of the island of Vidos became clear.

During the Venetian and French rule, defensive structures began to be built on the island. In 1716 General Scholenburg organized the grandiose construction of a fortress on the island.

 

And in 1727. defensive walls were built around the entire island and a large fortress on its western part. This building was called Scholenburg Fortress.

Under French rule, the fortress is strengthened even more. General Chabot built 450 barracks for soldiers on the island and moved 40 guns there. At the same time, the island is densely planted with trees for the Stratechic camouflage. There were not enough materials for the construction of military buildings and the general decides to demolish the church of St. Stephen (icons from the church are stored in the church of the village of Kouramades). A small port was built in which the headquarters of military operations was located, as well as 3 additional fortresses in the form of a crescent.

In 1798 Russian-Turkish fleet approached the island of Corfu to liberate it from the French troops. After a four-month siege, Russian-Turkish troops captured the island of Vidos, which was considered the "key to Kerkyra". The next day, assaults on the Old and New Fortresses were scheduled, but the French sent truce to Ushakov, and after negotiations, an honorable surrender of the French was accepted.

The French returned to Sotra after 7 years and found additionally installed coastal guns on the island of Vidos, installed by Russian troops. This time, the French did not want to lose and began to strengthen the defensive walls of the island and Vidos.

Napoleon himself took care of the planning of the defensive structure and General Guillaume-Henri Dufour brought it to life. Three powerful fortresses were built on the island of Vidos. The first, on the western side of the island, called Napoleon's Redoute, was the island's last line of defense and was connected to the other fortresses by an underpass. On the east side of the island, the Fortress was called Signal Redoute. The old Scholenburg Fort on the northwest coast has been renovated, expanded and reused. In front of the defensive line were built semi-circular platforms for cannons named Redoute Berthie, and on the western side of the island there was another firing range, named Redoute de West. A lot of small coastal firing points were made around the island.

After the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, Corfu came under British rule. The British found the island of Vidos an absolutely protected island, but in pursuit of their interests to strengthen and use the Island of Corfu, they destroyed all the buildings of the French.

On the island of Corfu, Great Britain allocates an astronomical amount of 1.395.957 lire for all new fortifications, as a result the Duke of Wellington was very angry, saying "... that the fortifications of Corfu were not built from stone, but from gold coins."

On the island of Vidos, almost all French fortifications were demolished. In the ruins of the Church of St. Stephen, a mosaic floor was found, under which ancient bronze vessels were found, which were used in the rituals of worshiping the gods, and this proved that the Church of St. Stephen was built on the ruins of another ancient temple.

The construction of the New Fortifications began on January 14, 1824. designed by Lieutenant W. Worsley and was radical for its time. All fortifications were carried out in secret, unlike the practice of other constructions. The fortresses on the island became the great pride of the state and served as an advertisement for other countries. The new fortifications on Corfu should not have been depicted in paintings or in print, in several cases the map of the island was deliberately drawn incorrectly to mislead the enemy.

Three new fortresses of great originality and significance were built on the site of three former French ones. Huge and powerful fortifications were built on the eastern outskirts of the island on the site of the Signal Redoute and named Fort George, in honor of the King of England (at that time George IV). At the other end of the island, Napoleon's Redoute was replaced by the semicircular Fort Wellington, in honor of the Duke of Wellington and in honor of the victory at the Battle of Waterloo. The old fort of Scholenburg was renovated and new towers of the Martello type were added, with four cannons on top. The remaining French fortified positions throughout the island have been preserved, improved, reused and some new ones have been added.

Designed as a fan-shaped pentagon, Fort George was a fantastic design, the forerunner of a new generation of forts, the so-called polygonal fortresses, and was favored by British and other European military engineers and architects by the end of the 19th century. The fortress was made using the best materials and technical means of that time and was considered impregnable. 19 guns were mounted on the walls and were turned towards the sea. Fort George was surrounded by a wide ditch with a vertical left and right wall, inside which were tunnels and galleries with numerous loopholes for soldiers who could pour a barrage of fire on the enemy or on anyone else who dared to fall into the pit.

Another important feature of Fort George was the inclusion in the middle of the "donjon" (keep), which was a powerful fortress within a fortress, impregnable by shells, the last line of defense, on the walls of which there was a lot of heavy artillery, ready to hit the enemy on any fortress on the island and on the sea. A covered walkway connects Fort George with Fort Wellington, large water tanks were built in all forts to have the ability to be self-sufficient in drinking water during a siege. There were also warehouses, dormitories, military headquarters, powder magazines and everything that was required for permanent residence of the army.

The defense system on the island of Vidos was never used. The island served British geostrategic interests and acted as an obstacle for the same reason, in accordance with the Treaty of London in 1863 annexing the island of Corfu to Greece. All fortifications on the island of Vidos, along with the rest on the island of Corfu, had to be demolished in order for Corfu to join the Union of the Ionian Islands of Greece. Corfu was to be declared an unfortified city, so that it could never again pass to any other power.

So, Major de Vere, the Royal Engineer, following the order of General John Fox Burgoyne, Inspector General of the Fortifications of Great Britain and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of England, to demolish all the fortifications on the island of Vidos, and only after great pressure from X. Trikoupi (Governor of Corfu), the Old and New fortresses.

In a matter of seconds, the fortresses on the island of Vidos were blown up and local residents, from the opposite shore, witnessed the demolition of the monuments, unable to intervene, but shouting "Long live the union" after each explosion. At the time when the Greek flag was raised over the island of Corfu, 50 British warships were carrying 70,000 tons of weapons and other ammunition to Malta and other destinations.

Since then, there have been no attempts to build fortifications on the island. Today, in many parts of the island, the consequences of explosions and tons of torn soil are obvious, where there were no fortresses. Fort George is almost destroyed by explosions and only one part of the fort's walls has been preserved and this is enough to allow the visitor to imagine all the grandeur of the past. Separately, many parts of Wellington Fortress on the western edge and the left vertical wall of the trench were also thrown. The outer walls of the Scholenburg fortress have survived to some extent, but in the center of the fort, which was of the Martello tower type, only ruins remain. Recently, an underground passage was discovered in Fort Scholenburg, leading to two galleries with "edges" and loopholes, which miraculously survived the explosions. Some graves of French and English soldiers, forgotten in the dense vegetation, evoke moments from the past. Many of the fort's cisterns that were not destroyed are kept in very good condition and used especially during the summer months, and all the main "gunners" in the western part of the island are also in relatively good condition. The old stables are currently used as a restaurant.

Life returned to Vido Island in 1898 when the west coast government agricultural stations were established, planting trees and pines. In 1912, three entrepreneurs rented the island of Vidos, who built on the shore of the bath and organized a recreation center on two sandy beaches, and worked with great success, but ended their existence with the outbreak of World War II.

In December 1916, 130,000 Serbian soldiers arriving in Corfu after the defeat were settled on the island of Vidos under the rubble of the British forts. About 30 thousand Serbs died from fatigue, illness and poor hygiene, the island was turned into a large cemetery. Many years later (1936), the island of Vidos received a license from the Yugoslav government for the construction of a Serbian mausoleum (a monument and cemetery of Serbian soldiers) on the east coast. Since then, visitors have been coming here every year for the pilgrimage of offering parts to the fallen soldiers.

From 1918 to 1925 Vidos was attached to the criminal prison in Corfu, and in 1925 prisons were established there.

In 1929, on the ruins of the English church of St. Stephen, Metropolitan of Corfu, Patriarch Athenagoras built a new church, which was destroyed on October 10, 1944, when the Germans left Corfu. A relic of this era is the coastal lookouts on the western side of the island of Vidos, which are now known as "gunners", which were built by the Germans to guard the harbor in Corfu.

During the occupation in the 1940s, the island's prisons were used as detention facilities for political prisoners. There is also a solitary cell in the vertical walls of the fortress of Wellington. From 1948 to 1976, a juvenile prison operates on the island and immediately falls under the jurisdiction of the Greek tourist organization.

1985 Vidos Island passes to the Municipality of Corfu, which is still responsible for the storage, maintenance and development of the island.

Now the island of Vidos is a tourist destination for visitors from all over the world. There is a tavern and a children's summer camp on the island. From May to October, small boats run from the port to the island. The island of Vidos is inhabited by a wide variety of birds (such as pheasants) and motley rabbits.