Holy Monastery of Kroustallenia
The foundation of the monastery of Kroustallenia on the eastern side of the Plateau of Lasithi dates to the late Venetian period even though its early history remains unknown. During the Ottoman period it was an important religious and devotional centre of the area while it maintained a primary school until the first decades of the 20th century. Despite the fact that it was destroyed twice by the Ottomans since it was the base of revolutionaries during the great Cretan revolutions of the 19th century, the monastery continued its function uninterrupted until the present day. The barrel-vaulted, single-nave catholicon, dedicated to the All-Holy Virgin and dated to the Venetian period, is located on the highest point of the space occupied by the monastic complex. The remaining buildings of the monastery which are spread to the north and west of the catholicon were the result of successive interventions during the 19th and early 20th centuries and were restored recently.
