Church of Ascension at Paleochora
In 1898, during the departure of the Muslims from the province of Selino in a war climate, the European ships that were anchored at Paleochora bombarded three historic churches in Paleochora; Saint Anthony, Saint Kiriaki (not that of Koundoura area, but another east of Paleochora) and the Ascension of Christ at position Panorama. Some decades ago the residents rebuilt them using also the original stones of the first temples. The story of the three churches is almost completely forgotten, so most now think that they are modern temples.
The most important of these three churches, we could say, was the Ascension of Christ, locally called Analipsis. Analipsis is built in a prominent position above the current settlement of Paleochora with spectacular views of the surrounding area. The point of this temple is very important because just behind the sanctuary of the church there is spring with fresh water. This spring was used for supplying the castle of Selino with water and therefore some remnants of the pipeline are visible even today.
Above the temple at the base of the cliff are still visible the bases of some old buildings and a few meters further east survives another building. But the most important thing is that even today the region is called Kalogeros (monk). Therefore, this testifies that the church of Christ's Ascension was one of the many lost monasteries in Crete mentioned by the oral tradition.
The current single-nave church is built at the exact same place as the old one and is quite simple, with austere decor inside. The element that indicates its age is the base of the wall of the eastern side of the temple, which is a remnant of an earlier structure.
