Mavri Rachi Monument

This monument was erected in 1956 to commemorate the holocaust that occurred there on June 22, 1824. On this spot, 150 Greek fighters fought their final battle to the bitter end against the Ottoman invaders who razed and then depopulated the island as a punishment for its active participation in the Greek Independence War. More than half of the island's permanent inhabitants and refugees were slaughtered or captured, those who escaped initially went to Monemvasia or Aegina. The destruction of Psara inspired the Greek national poet, Dionysios Solomos, to write these famous lines in 1825: 'On the scorched ridge of Psara / Glory is walking alone / Thinking of the brave young men, / Wearing a crown on her head / Made of the little green that was left / On the face of this desolate land.' At the end of the 19th century, the greatest Greek painter of that time, Nikolaos Gyzis, created the masterful oil painting 'After the Destruction of Psara.'