Description of the attraction
In the center of the old town of Rethymno, on the shopping street Arcadiou, near the Venetian harbor, there is an elegant Venetian Loggia. The building was built in the middle of the 16th century by the famous Venetian architect Michele Sanmicheli. The Venetian Loggia is a square structure with three arched facades, each of which has three equal semicircular arches. The central arch on each side was the entrance to the structure. The southern wall of the Loggia has no arches and is a blank wall. The western façade is adorned with two gargoyles with human faces. It was originally an open structure with a sloping wooden roof, which was converted into an upper floor in 1625. During the period of Turkish rule in Rethymno, a mosque was located in the Venetian Loggia. A minaret was built on the western side, but in 1930 it was demolished. Not far from the loggia is the famous Rimondi fountain.
The Venetian Loggia was the place where the Venetian nobility and statesmen gathered to discuss economic and political issues. Also, the building of the Loggia was used as a resting place for the local aristocracy and for a variety of entertainment events. The building now belongs to the Ministry of Culture. For some time, the Venetian Loggia housed the Archaeological Museum of the city of Rethymno with an interesting collection of artifacts from the Neolithic to the Roman era.
A beautiful architectural monument of the 16th century has survived to this day in almost its original form. In the 1990s, the restoration of the Venetian Loggia was carried out.
