All – Holy Virgin the Galatiani at Malia
Τhe three-aisled church of the All-Holy Virgin in the old centre of the settlement of Malia is the result of successive interpolations to an original single-nave church, the present nave. During the late Venetian period, the church was expanded with the addition of the north and south aisles. The original church has good quality wall painting decoration of the 14th century, while the iconographic programme includes scenes from the Christological and Marian cycles. The depiction of only the main people in each scene, such as in the Crucifixion, where apart from Christ, only the All-Holy Virgin and St. John the Theologian are rendered, is particularly characteristic. Special reference should be made to the representation of the Second Coming, which in contrast to the other, almost miniature, representations of the church occupies not only the west wall but also part of the north and south walls, with the twelve Apostles holding open books with the first letter of their name. An interesting collection of icons from the 15th to the 19th centuries is also preserved in the church, with the most important being the icon of the Entrance of the All-Holy Virgin into the Temple of the 15th century, but also two characteristic of the Cretan School, St. John the Forerunner Kefalophoros [bearing his severed head] and the Deesis.
