The bustling city of

Heraklion

The Grand Castle

Today it is phenomenically a cement jungle.
However this town preserves some of the features
that made it be the most important Venetian territory
and one of the most historical places in the Mediterranean.

Top 10 attractions | Lion's Square | Knossos Palace | The Venetian Walls | Venetian Port | Museums | Accommodation

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Archaeological Museum of Heraklion

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Koules Fort

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Knossos Palace

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Heraklion is the largest city in Crete with a population of about 200.000. Heraklion houses the public services and the major scientific centers of Crete, being the commercial center of the island with the main port and airport.

From a scenic city with unique traditional Venetian and Ottoman monuments in the early 1900s, as one of the most historical cities in the Mediterranean, Heraklion, unfortunately, turned into a bustling cement-dominating city, losing almost all of its aristocratic splendor. This bad development was a result of the need for rapid expansion of the city for the settling of the refugees after the Asia Minor Catastrophe (1922), but also from the effort to "modernize" Heraklion by turning the beautiful old buildings into blocks of flats.

However, even today the visitor can get a good taste of the glorious image of the past, while the locals can be surprised by the unknown corners of Heraklion and the story hidden behind them.

The history of Heraklion starts in the Minoan era, as it was the port of the legendary city of Knossos. However, the city in its present location (the old center) was built in 824 by the Arabs and later expanded and fortified by the Venetians and the Turks, who named it as the Large Castle of Candia. The current name Heraklion was given after the liberation of Crete from the Turks in 1898.

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The sebil of Kornarou Square

The sebil of Kornarou Square, which now houses a municipal coffee shop, was built in 1776 by Hadji Ibrahim Aga who spent his entire fortune on its maintenance. It is a polygonal building with arched windows. Under each window there was a tap and a stone trough.

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Sabionara Gate

The Gate of the Sand (Sabionara) is located on the northwest side of the bastion Sabionara. It connected the city with the sandy beach east of the port.

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Yenitsar Aga Fountain

The fountain of Yenitsar Aga is located at the beginning of the Avenue Ikarou, below the epigraphy collection and opposite the Archaeological Museum. It was originally embeded outside a beautiful mansion on the corner of the streets Markou Avgeri and Paleologou, which was demolished in 1980.

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Liopyrakis Megaron

The “Liopyrakis Megaron” is undoubtedly the most important sample of the romantic neoclassical style in Heraklion. It is a work of the architect Dimitris Kyriakou. Its construction began at the end of the first decade of the 20th century. It was one of the most luxurious mansions that were constructed in the first two decades in a very central street, the 25th of August Avenue.

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Panagia Stavroforon (Lady of the Crusades)

The Virgin Mary of the Crusaders (Crosecchieri) on what is now Markou Moussourou St. was part of the Latin rite Capuchin Monastery. The church was surrounded by monastery buildings and guest rooms for pilgrims and visitors on their way to the Holy Land.

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Makasi Gate

The Gate Makasi (meaning "switchman" in Turkish) is a military gate of the Venetian Walls of Heraklion, the gallery of which had a length of 110 meters. The gallery leads to the eastern low square of Martinengo bastion, that housed the canons that protected the bastion Bethlehem.

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Venetian armoury (Armeria)

The Venetian armoury (Armeria or Armarento) is situated between the Loggia and St. Titus Square. Although it served a different purpose than the noble's club, the two buildings formed a single complex.

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Idomeneas Fountain

The fountain is located at Michelidakis street, behind the Historical Museum of Crete. The fountain was not originally here, but adorned the exterior of the house of the doctor Idomeneas Markatatis. We can see two columns with capitals that bear performances with plants and an Ottoman inscription.

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