DK Travel : Crete : History & Culture

Page
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Panagia Kera

The most important Byzantine-era church in Crete, Panagia Kera, was built in the 13th and 14th centuries. The church is dedicated to the Virgin and to saints Anthony and Anna, and is adorned with expressive murals depicting the two saints, as well as 14 scenes portraying the secret life of the Virgin Mary after Christ’s Crucifixion and Resurrection.
Phaestos

The ruins of the Minoan palace at Phaestos, on a hilltop by the south coast of Crete, are second only to those at Knosos. A maze of walls and courtyards marks the site of the Second Palace at Phaestos, built around 1600 BC. Hieroglyphics on the clay Phaestos Disc still puzzle scientists (see Phaestos).
Phaestos

This labyrinth of ruins dating from around 1600 BC includes a Minoan courtyard and theatre with tiers of stone seats, a monumental stairway, peristyle hall and a vast central courtyard. The still undeciphered Phaestos Disc, which was discovered here, is on display in the Irakleio Archaeological Museum (see Irakleio Archaeological Museum). Phaestos was destroyed around 1450 BC by the cataclysm that also laid low the rest of Crete’s Minoan palaces. Not usually as crowded as the more famous Knosos, the site at Phaestos has an impressive location on a hillside above fertile farmland (see Phaestos).
Plateia Venizelou

Leave Plateia Ekaterinis by its northwest corner, and walk east to Plateia Nikoforou Foka, then left to Plateia Venizelou. The Morosini fountain stands in the middle of the square, with two stone lions standing sentinel.
Porta Kenouria

The most appropriate place to start exploring Irakleio’s Venetian heritage is this ornate archway through the city’s mighty walls, built in the mid-16th century by the Italian military engineer Michele Sanmichele. At this point, the walls are some 40 m (130 ft) thick, so it is not surprising that they withstood 16th-century Ottoman artillery and everything else thrown at them.
Praisos

This scenic site – with only the remnants of a temple, house foundations and a city wall to be seen – was the last enclave of the Eteocretan (“true Cretan”) descendants of the Minoans. It survived until the 2nd century BC, when it was sacked by Dorians.
Profitis Ilias

Like the Diktian Cave, this cave near Arkalochori is also claimed as birthplace of Zeus.
Pumphouse and Fountain

Walk through the portal and along Evans, named after the excavator of ancient Knosos, to Plateia Kornarou, named after the writer of the Cretan epic poem the Erotokritos . In the middle of this square stands a pretty, six-sided stone building, a café set within a pumphouse built by the Turks. Stop here, if you like, for a coffee in the shade of plane trees. Beside the café is the Venetian Bembo Fountain – note the broken, decapitated marble torso of a Roman statue built into its stonework.
Rethymno

The massive fortress that dominates Rethymno’s harbour was built by the Venetians with sloping walls to better deflect the Ottoman Empire’s gigantic cannon. But it proved no match for the military ingenuity of the Turks, and fell after a short siege. Ironically, it became a far more successful stronghold for the Turkish Ottomans (see Rethymno).
Roman Conquest

The first Roman invasion of Crete in 71 BC is repulsed by the Dorian Greeks, but a second attack in 69 BC succeeds. Some Cretan cities side with the invaders, and by 67 BC Crete is firmly in Roman hands.