Places
The Early Christian Basilica at Elounda
In the location of the ancient city of Olous, at the isthmus of Poros, the settlement of Alyngos, as Elounda was called in the sources of the sixth century, developed in the early Byzantine period. The most important excavated monuments of the settlements are, until today, the two early Christian basilicas of the 5th century, […]
Agios Nikolaos (St. Nicholas) at Ormos
The church of Agios Nikolaos is located at the small cove where ships were stranded during the Byzantine and Venetian eras. This is an exceptionally old domed church, one of the few of the Early Byzantine era that survive on Crete, with an impressive apse over the altar. It was built before the Arab conquest, […]
All – Holy Virgin the Vrefokratousa at Agios Nikolaos
The particularly elongated church of the All-Holy Virgin in the old centre of the city of Agios Nikolaos is the result of two successive expansions to the west of the original barrel-vaulted, single-nave church. The original church and the first expansion have two layers of mural paintings of which the oldest, dating to the first […]
Holy Monastery of Kremasta
The monastery of Kremasta is located at a distance of around 2,5 kilometres from Neapolis on the slopes of Mount Kavallara on the route towards the Plateau of Lasithi. According to the dedicatory inscription on the lintel of the catholicon, it was founded in 1593 by Metrophanes Agapetos. From around the middle of the 19th […]
Holy Monastery of Koufi Petra
The female monastery of Koufi Petra (Hollow Stone) is built to the west and at a close distance from the monastery of Kremasta, also on the slopes of Mount Kavallara. The only mention of the monastery in the sources is the indirect reference in a contract of the monastery of Areti, in the year 1630, […]
Holy Monastery of Saint George the Vrachasotes
Even though the oldest reference to the monastery dates to 1549, during the abbotship of Joachim Kontoioannes, the dating of the wall-painted north aisle of the catholicon to the 14th century, places the first use of the space to an earlier period. Indeed, the heyday of the monastery, as can be determined from the surviving […]
Agios Georgios (St. George) of Selinari
Agios Georgios Monastery, located in Selinari gorge, was built during the 2nd Byzantine era. The catholicon is dedicated to Saint George. There are two other churches, one dedicated to the Epiphany and the other to the Resurrection. The icon of Saint George, the protector of travellers, is considered to be miraculous and is a traditional […]
Fraro Monastery
This is a Franciscan monastery, its name originated from the phrase ‘Frates Minores’. It was founded before the second half of the 14th century and its catholicon, dedicated to Saint Anthony, is of Roman Catholicon construction with an ogival arch.
Metamorphosis (Transfiguration) Monastery
The monastery was founded in 1615. The catholicon of the monastery is a single-space arch-covered church, its chancel screen featuring a painting of Adam and Eve, one the one side at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and on the other during their expulsion from the paradise.
Kardamoutsa Monastery
The monastery is dedicated to the True Cross. It was founded in the late 16th century and belongs to the citadel style. The monastery features stone sculptures, capitals and sculpted troughs that prove its peak during the 17th century. The catholicon dates back to 1580. It is situated at the centre of the monastery and […]
