The Living

Monuments

Either due to their enormous size or following legends, some trees in Crete have been declared natural monuments. Among the most famous of them are the evergreen plane-tree of Ancient Gortys, under which Zeus and Europe mated and, thus, Minos was born.

Many of the monumental trees have been officially designated as monuments of nature by the Greek state. One of them is the oversized hawthorn of Ancient Zominthos. Some other trees have been associated with the struggles of the Cretans for liberation, such as the huge oak tree Mandalenis at Korfes, the plane tree of the Pente Parthenes at Ancient Lappa and the oak tree of Ismael at Mathia. Monumental ancient plane trees are met in Krassi, Vlatos and within the monasteries of Saint George Gorgolainis, Saint John at Gionas and Holy Fathers at Azogyres.

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Hawthorn of Zominthos

Zominthos was a small Minoan town at Psiloritis Mount with a sacred spring, which was located close to the Ideon Andron Cave and Anogia town. Besides the religious importance of the town for the ancient Minoans, today the archaeological site of Zominthos hosts a second attraction. This is a special tree that has been declared a protected monument of nature from the Greek Ministry of Culture.

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Mathena olive tree

The olive tree of Mathena has been declared as monumental by the Association of Cretan Olive Municipalities as a natural monument due to shape and relief trunk, forming a cave with its adjacent rock.

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Gre Ele olive tree at Kato Tripodo

The olive tree has been declared by the Association of Cretan Olive Municipalities as a natural monument due to its size, shape and relief trunk. The name of the site is Gre Ele which means Old Olive and refers to this tree. Its variety is throumboelia and is grafted on a rootstock of a wild olive tree. It is estimated to have been planted in 650-500BC and is located very close to the archaeological site of Eleftherna.

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Saint George olive tree at Anissaraki

The olive tree of Saint George is one of the many ancient olive trees in the areas Anisaraki and Vardaliana near Kandanos village. It has been declared as a memorial by the Association of Cretan Olive Municipalities due to its flattened shape and textured trunk.

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Genna olive tree

The olive tree at position Kardamiana, near Genna, has been declared by the Association of Cretan Olive Municipalities as a natural monument due to shape and relief trunk. Its variety is called throumbolia and is grafted on a rootstock of a wild olive tree.

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Paliamas Olive Tree

Paliamas Olive Tree has been declared monumental by the Association of Cretan Olive Municipalities due to its relief trunk and size. This olive tree dates back to the Sub-Minoan First Geometric period, produces big olives and it’s got a big cavity in its trunk, where three people can fit in. Its perimeter at its foot measures 20.40 meters and at a height of 80 cm from the ground it measures 10.50 meters.

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Splantzia Plane Tree

Below this plane tree, that has been declared as nature monument, the 99 Holy Fathers settled after arriving to Crete from Egypt, Cyprus and Turkey. This is located inside the monastery if the 99 Holy Fathers. They say that its branches form 99 crosses.

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Gorgolaini Monumental Trees

The monastery of Gorgolaini hosts two ancient trees that have been declared a nature monuments by the Greek state: a cypress and a plane tree. Both are located at the end of the garden, one next to the other.

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