Listed 11 sub titles with search on: Places of worship for destination: "HERAKLIO Town CRETE".
The small church of St. Minas did not meet the religious needs of the constantly growing Christian community, so the demand arose for the erection of a new cathedral. The plot for the new church used to be a garden that belonged to a Turk from whom it was bought. The architect was Athanasios Moussis and in 1862 the foundation stone of one of the most magnificent and impressive Greek churches was laid. The outbreak of the Cretan revolution of 1866 demanded the stopping of the building work which will continue in 1883 in order to be completed in 1895, when the inauguration of the exquisite temple took place. The church is of the cruciform type with a dome based on a high spandrel, while internally there are also elements of a three aisle basilica. It has two bell towers, one in the northeastern corner and the other in the southeastern one. The right aisle is dedicated to Apostle Titos and the left one to St. Ten Martyrs of Crete. The inside of the church has gone through many changes with new additions. With plans of the architect Anastasios Orlandos the woodcut icon screen was replaced by another one made of marble, the same happened with the bishop's seat. The religious painting of the church was assigned to St. Kartakis who followed faithfully the principles and the models of the Byzantine icon painting. The hundredth anniversary from the inauguration of the Cathedral Church of St. Minas (1995) was celebrated with every solemnity that is suited in an equal occasion and more specifically to one of the most glorious and imposing Greek churches.
This extract is cited May 2003 from the Municipality of Heraklion URL below, which contains images.
With the recovery of Crete from Nikiforos Fokas, the seat of the bishopric is transferred from Gortyna to Chandakas, which became the capital of the island. The new cathedral, which is the most established and largest in the city, is dedicated to the Apostle Titos. Here, amongst other relics, there are gathered the Holy Skull of the Apostle and the miraculous icon of Messopapaditissas. When the Venetians took over Crete, they installed in the orthodox bishop the Latin archbishop, converting by that the church of St. Titos into a Latin bishop. In the middle of the 15th century, the Latin archbishop, F. Dandolo is renovating the church. Other distractions, caused by earthquakes and fire, resulted to the rebuilding of the church from the start around 1557. The church was a basilica, almost square in shape, with a dome in the middle and a bell-tower in the southwest corner. The church from the inside was divided in three aisles with two series of columns. During the Turkish period, the church was given to Fazil Ahmet Kioprouli and it was changed into a mosque, while the bell - tower was tranformed into a minaret. The big earthquake of 1856 destroyed the temple which is being, once more, rebuilt. After the exchange of populations, the Church of Crete repaired it accordingly, and in 1925 it was dedicated again to Apostle Titos. East of the church there was the building of the archdiocese.
This extract is cited May 2003 from the Municipality of Heraklion URL below, which contains images.
It is the Latin monastery of the Crusaders (Crosecchieri) which during the Turkish occupation was made into a mosque with the name of Angebout Pasha. It is of a basilica type with the middle aisle higher than the others. The aisles were connected to each other with two lines of columns that formed arches. The roof of the middle aisle was a two slope one and the other one of one slope.
This text is cited May 2003 from the Municipality of Heraklion URL below, which contains images.
It is the small church of St. Minas and Pantanassa and it is situated southwest of the church of St. Aikaterini of Sinai. It is mentioned in the church catalogues of Chandakas of the Venetian period. Only a characteristic gothic window of the period before 1735, of the north aisle, survives today. During the Turkish siege, the church fell into disuse until 1735, when, after the efforts of the bishop Gerassimo Letitzi, to whose family house also belonged the old deserted church, the inauguration of the renovated metropolitan church took place. It became the centre of the orthodox Christians of the Turkish occupied city. The temple had two aisles roofed with two arches, the north aisle was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the south one to St. Minas. Today's form of the monument is not much different from the Turkish one. The icon - screen, especially the one of the north aisle, is a magnificent sample of ecclesiastical woodcarving (it is gold plated and it is divided by little columns, between them there were the icons). A lot of the churches' relics are found today in the church of St. Aikaterini, most of them, though, have been destroyed. A big number of the icons that still survive today is work of Cretan icon painters of the 18th century of great artistic value. Some significant ones of the north aisle is the icon of Christ's Birth (of Georgios Kydoniaios), the icon of Panayia Galaktotrofousa (of Georgios Kastrofylakas), of the Ypapanti of the same artist, of St. Minas (of an unknown artist) and other icons equally important. Some significant icons of the south aisle is the one of St. Titos with 12 representations from the life of the ten saints martyrs of Crete, the icon of St. Minas with twelve representations of the saint's martyrdom and miracles, the icon of Adam's Creation and others. From the most valuable works of the church are: Vatos, the Divine Liturgy, "Noli me tangere", The Adoration of the Magi, The Last Supper and the First Ecumenical Synod, now all these are found in the Church of St. Aikaterini. This church of St. Minas is connected with one of the most atrocious moments of the local history. In June 1821 Turks slaughtered the metropolitan bishop, Gerasimo Pardali, Bishops, Reverend Fathers, Clerics and civilians that were inside the church and in the precinct. It is also worth noting here the miracle of 1826 which is connected with St. Minas and his church. At Easter of that year and while Christians were inside the church, taking part in the Mass, Turks decided to attack and slaughter them. At the moment, though when they were ready for this atrocious deed, an army officer on his horse appeared in front of them and by showing his sword against them, he prevented them and chased them away from the temple. The Turks thought that the officer was their second in command Ayian Aga that is why they left in panic. From the other hand, the Christians believed that it was a miracle and that the rider was St. Minas himself who protected the people and the city. The church was destroyed after the big earthquake of 1856 and a year later it is renovated. During these years, in the middle of 19th century a bell is being put for the first time in the cathedral.
This extract is cited May 2003 from the Municipality of Heraklion URL below, which contains images.
Tel: +30 2810 542204
Tel: +30 2810 841383
Tel: +30 2810 841376
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