Description of the attraction
St. Mark's Basilica is one of the most important Venetian monuments in Heraklion. It is located in the city center, not far from Eleftheria Square, directly opposite the Lviv fountain. Today, the building houses the Museum of Fine Arts. It was founded in May 2000 by K. Shizakis and is a non-profit organization. The main goals of the museum are to popularize contemporary art, to promote the work of young artists in Crete, and to educate the population aesthetically and spiritually.
The building of the cathedral was built by the Venetians in 1239 in honor of their patron Saint Mark the Apostle. At the time, it was the main cathedral in all of Crete. It was here that all the most important ceremonies took place, and the Venetian nobility was also buried in special sarcophagi.
The basilica has survived many earthquakes that shook Heraklion over the centuries, but was not badly damaged and only minor repairs were carried out. During the period of Turkish rule, the building housed a mosque. The Society of Cretan Historical Research restored the building to its original form in 1956. Today, the building houses the lecture hall of the Cretan Historical School and an exhibition hall, which displays Byzantine wall paintings from the 13th-14th centuries.
The Museum of Fine Arts hosts educational and training lectures and seminars on arts and artistic activities, various conferences, concerts and other cultural events. The museum provides its premises for organizing a variety of exhibitions of both public and private Greek and foreign collections. The museum also conducts publishing activities.
