Monuments of Cretan Tradition

Architecture

Major cities of Crete are home to impressive architectural structures, mainly from the Venetian and the Ottoman Era. Forts, scenic harbors, palaces, fountains and temples are the main attractions of the cities. On the other hand, the interesting attractions in the hinterland include arched bridges, water and wind mills, aqueducts, cisterns and chapels.

Venetian and Ottoman architectural patterns, combined with features of folklore architecture, are evident in contemporary houses. Arched gates since the Venetian era, and sahnisi (protruding covered balcony) since the Ottoman era, are some of the features used even today.

The traditional rural house is an evolution of the prehistoric home dwelling; it is constructed with stone, branches and soil, while wooden beams support the roof. To the interior, there is space for animals, while the main features include a stone-built wine press covered by with a wooden platform, a fireplace for cooking and heating, and some niches in the walls for storing household utensils.

Some of the most interesting traditional buildings, perfectly adapted to the needs and particularities of the mountainous areas of Crete, are mitata. They are round domed buildings, made solely of dry stone, being an evolution of the domed Minoan tombs. Mitata provided shelter to shepherds and were used for milking goats and cheese-making. They are met in all ranges of Crete, but Nida plateau near Anogia is the most famous place to come across such constructions.

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Vrouhas Windmills

One of the large windmill parks of Merambelo district is located at Vrouhas village and consists of nine mills. They all turned only in a certain wind and their type is called Axetrocharis (this has rectangular shape with a round side where the mill is installed). In Crete we meet another type, Xetroharis that is completely circular, turning to all winds.

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Kissos Fountain

What characterizes the village Kissos in the province of Agios Vasilios in Rethymnon, like all the villages located in the root of Kentros mount, are the many water springs. In the central square of the deserted village we meet the beautiful square with the old plane tree. Geroplatanos (Old plane tree) are actually two plane trees close to one another, and one specifically is one of the biggest in Crete and has a really impressive trunk.

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Elliniki Kamara at Vrisses

Elliniki Kamara (i.e. Greek Arch) is an arched bridge built in the Hellenistic Era with some later additions (Venetian and Ottoman Era). The name comes from Hellenistic Kamara. The opening of the arc is 11.10m long, 8.40m high and has a width of 3.00m.

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Kolokasia

Kolokasia is a deserted village of Sfakia province, near the exit of the gorge Asfendou and near the village of Agios Nektarios. Its inhabitants mainly abandoned it because of its isolated position and moved to Agios Nektarios. Today most of the houses are dilapidated and some have been restored by some Germans who bought the ruined houses and restored them. The houses are a live sample of the simple traditional architecture of Sfakia.

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Nissi Settlement near Moundros

On the European hiking trail E4 connecting Alones to Agios Konstantinos, atop a hill near Moundros village, we meet the deserted settlement of Nissi. Its remaining collapsed houses depict that this place has an important past. Among the dilapidated houses, there survives the church of Saint George, while a few meters away there is the church of Panagia Nissiani.

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Kyliaris Watermill at Stilos

It is a two-room mill of the years of Venetian rule. It functioned as a mill of any kind of flour, until 1960. It is a unique sample of a mill with two carved stone and wooden water towers “Vagenas” (water pipelines in the rotors).

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Marnellides Windmills

Near the settlement of Marnellides, Merambelo district, we still meet one of the many windmill parks of Crete. There are still standing 8 windmills in a row, while a little further up the mountain there is a ninth secluded windmill. . Others survive in good condition and others have collapsed. Marnellides mills are of the more usual windmill type of Crete that turns only in a certain wind and is called Axetrocharis (this has rectangular shape). These mills were used for grinding grain.

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Xerokambos site at Valis

Next to the lively village Valis of Messara Plain (Heraklion prefecture) you will find Xerokambos, a ruined and abandoned village. The last residents left Xerokambos shortly after the Second World War, during which many villages in Crete were devastated. There are houses that still stand, where youcan admire the unique typical architecture of Cretan cottages, all built with stone.

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