Description of the attraction
In the center of Heraklion, on 25 August Street, there is another important historical monument - the Cathedral of St. Titus. The temple got its name in honor of the patron saint Titus, who in the 1st century A. D. preached Christianity on the island. Saint Titus was a disciple of the Apostle Paul and the first bishop of Crete.
In 961, the emperor Nicephorus Phocas withdrew the Arabs from Crete, as a result of which the island was again under the wing of the powerful Byzantine Empire. Then the Cathedral of St. Titus was built to revive the Christian faith and traditions of Crete, which fell into decay after the conquest of the island by the Muslims. The first temple dedicated to St. Titus was in the ancient city of Gortyna (Gortis), which was the first capital of Crete during the Roman era, but it was destroyed by an earthquake. The capital of the island was transferred to Candia (Heraklion), and the relics of the old temple (the relics of St. Titus, the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, etc.) were transported to a new monastery.
In the Byzantine period, the church was the seat of the Orthodox Archbishop of Crete (during the Arab domination, a Christian temple was also located here). Under the Venetians, the building housed the cathedral of the Catholic archbishop. During the period when the Turks dominated Crete, the church was converted into a mosque. All the main relics of the cathedral were taken to Venice by General Morosini shortly before the Turkish invasion of the city.
The great earthquake of 1856 completely destroyed the structure. In 1872, the temple was rebuilt on the old foundation under the direction of the Ottoman architect Athanasius Mousissa. In the 1920s, when the last Muslims left Heraklion, the church was again consecrated as an Orthodox church. At the same time, the church was reconstructed and the minaret was replaced with a bell tower. In 1956, the relics of Saint Titus were returned to Heraklion and today are kept in the Cathedral of Saint Titus.
