Description of the attraction
Chania Cathedral, better known as the Cathedral of the Three Martyrs, is one of the most important temples in Crete. The cathedral is located in the historic center of Chania, east of Halidon Street, in Mitropoleos Square (Athenagoras Square), near the Venetian harbor.
During the Venetian domination, on the site of the Cathedral of the Three Martyrs, another temple was located - the Church of the Virgin, which was supposedly built in the 14th century. After the Turks captured Chania in 1645, the Church of the Virgin was converted into a soap factory. The main relic of the temple, the icon of the Virgin, was kept in a warehouse for a long time.
In the 19th century, the factory belonged to the family of Mustafa Nayli Pasha Giritli (Governor of Crete, and later the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire). According to local legend, one of the factory workers had a vision in which the Mother of God appeared to him and asked him to take the icon and save it. The man did not dare to disobey, and thus the icon left the walls of the temple. After some time, the son of Mustafa Pasha fell into the well behind the church, and the devout Muslim, in complete despair, turned to the Mother of God in prayer with a request to save the child. In exchange, Mustafa vowed to return the church to the Christians. The child was miraculously saved, and the factory, along with the land, were transferred to the Christian community of Chania for the construction of a new temple. The construction of the Cathedral of the Three Martyrs was completed in the early 1860s. The icon of the Mother of God was returned to the temple. With the financial support of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, at the end of the 19th century, the cathedral was renovated and a new bell was cast.
Today, the Cathedral of the Three Martyrs is a three-aisled neoclassical basilica with a high bell tower on the northwest side of the temple. The facade is decorated with sculptural pseudo-columns, cornices and arched openings. The interior of the cathedral is decorated with works of famous Greek artists. A monument to the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras is erected on the cathedral square.
