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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Olive Trees
In Crete there are many ancient olive trees that have been declared monumental by the Association of Cretan Olive Municipalities. The oldest olive trees in the world are located at the location Azorias by Kavoussi and Ano Vouves by Chania. The crowns for the...
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Sacred Trees
In the religion of the Minoans, the olive tree had a prominent role as it can regenerate continuously and almost never die. This could symbolize the perpetuation of life through death, like nature. Ancient Greeks used to post dedications on wild olive trees (and other species) to keep evil away. Although all these seem very distant, it is very impressive that even today there are customs that have their roots in the dendrolatric beliefs of antiquity.
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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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Vlatos plane tree

In Vlatos village, district of Kissamos, we meet one of the many huge plane trees of Crete. This specific legendary plane tree has been declared a nature monument by the Greek State.

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Pente Parthenes Plane tree

This plane tree is located in the Roman cemetery of Ancient Lappa and below the chapel of Five Virgins. Below it there is a cool spring with five taps, symbolizing the Five Virgins that were killed here by the Turks. This plane tree has been declared as a natural monument.

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Kaloidena plane tree at Ano Meros

The surrounding area of the old and deserted monastery Kaloeidena near Ano Meros is dominated by rich vegetation of plane trees, watered by a large water spring. But the tree that stands out is the plane tree of Kaloeidena just above the spring as it is the oldest of all the trees that surround the monastery, but it is also the most impressive tree of the whole region and can be listed to the monumental trees in Crete.

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The oak tree of Katharo

One of the oldest, if not the oldest, oak trees in Crete is located at position Theriolakos in Katharo Plateau. The perimeter of the giant tree on the ground level reaches 24m and one meter above the ground the it reaches 9m. Its characteristic feature is the tremendous hollow the trunk forms, which can fit many people comfortably.

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Keramota plane tree

At the picturesque village Keramota in province Mylopotamos we meet one of the several monumental trees of Crete. This is the perennial plane tree at the eastern end of the village. The tree in Keramota belongs to the species of Platanus orientalis and its age is estimated at about 2000 years. It is the oldest tree in province Mylopotamos and although it is located on the main road, almost everyone ignores its existence as it is located a few meters further down the road, thus the drivers see the upper part of it.

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