Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
church of Áyios Títos
and the Venetian city hall with its famous
loggia
, both almost
entirely rebuilt. Just above this, facing Platía Venizélou, stands the
church of San Marco
,
its steps usually crowded with sightseers spilling over from the nearby platía. Neither of
these last two buildings has found a permanent role in its refurbished state, but both
are generally open to house some kind of exhibition or craft show.
Platía Venizélou
The focal
Platía Venizélou
, also known as
Liontária
or Lion Square, is crowded most of
the day with locals patronizing its café terraces. The
Morosini Fountain
is not
particularly spectacular at first glance, but on closer inspection is really a very beautiful
work; it was built by Venetian governor Francesco Morosini in the seventeenth century,
incorporating four lions which were some three hundred years old even then.
Platía Eleftherías
Platía Eleftherías
,
with seats shaded by palms and eucalyptuses, is the traditional
heart of the city; traffic swirls around it constantly, on summer evenings crowds of
strolling locals come to fill its café terraces, and most of Iráklion's more expensive
shops are in the streets leading of here. At the southeastern corner of the platía an
underground entrance to the
Gateway of St George
- a recently restored sixteenth-
century tunnel and vault housing small art exhibitions - connects the platía with
Ikárou Avenue.
7
The archeological museum
Xanthoudhídhou and Hatzidhaki, off Platía Eleftherías • May, June, Oct Mon noon-5pm, Tues-Sun 8.30am-5pm; July-Sept Mon 1-8pm,
Tues-Sun 8am-8pm; Nov-April Mon noon-3pm, Tues-Sun 8.30am-3pm (check times with the tourist office) • €4 •
T
2810 224 630
Iráklion's
archeological museum
is one of Greece's largest; almost every important
prehistoric and Minoan find on Crete is included in this fabulous, if bewilderingly
large, collection. Hopefully, the current refurbishment (see box below) will be a huge
improvement on the museum's previously dreary presentation. The size of the
collection means that it's not possible to see everything in one visit, and the museum
tends to be crowded - especially when guided tours stampede through - but it's
certainly worth taking time over.
A number of the main exhibits from the collection are on display in the temporary
museum annexe; highlights include the “
Town Mosaic
” and fragments of the
spectacular “
Bull Leaping
” from Knossos, the famous
Festos disc
from Festos Palace, a
bull's head
rhyton
(drinking vessel), the
snake goddess
, and a collection of jewellery
including the
pendant of the two bees
from the Palace of Mália.
Church of Ayía Ekateríni
Ayía Ekateríni Square • Museum daily 9.30am-3.30pm • €2
he
church of Ayía Ekateríni
, an ancient building just below the new
Áyios Minas
cathedral
of Kalokerinoú, has an excellent collection of icons
in its
Ecclesiastical
Museum
.he finest here are six large scenes by Mihaïl Damaskinos (a near
contemporary of Cretan painter Doménikos Theotokópoulos, better known as El
Greco), who fused Byzantine and Renaissance influences. Supposedly both Damaskinos
and El Greco studied at Ayía Ekateríni in the sixteenth century, before the latter moved
to Spain, when it functioned as a sort of monastic art school.
Iráklion's archeological museum closed in 2007 for complete
refurbishment
, with a
temporary exhibition established at the rear of the building while work took place. The
proposed two-year completion date proved hopelessly optimistic (it took four years just to
approve the plans) but a section of the new museum is expected to open sometime during
2012 with full reopening pencilled in for 2013.
