Basilica of St. Mark
Venetian ducal church turned Ottoman mosque, now a municipal art gallery on a historic Cretan square.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Basilica of St. Mark in Heraklion traces the building across two empires, from its founding in 1239 as the ceremonial church of Venice's rulers here, through the twenty-one-year Ottoman siege that ended Venetian rule in 1669. You will hear how the conquest reshaped the church itself once the Ottoman official Ahmet Pasha claimed it, and how the building kept changing hands after it closed as a mosque in 1915.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Cathedral Holy Temple of Saint Titus
Byzantine-founded cathedral once turned mosque, home to the returned skull relic of Crete's first bishop.
Ag. Ekateríni Sinaitón (Museum)
Venetian-era monastery church with Cretan Renaissance icons and a school that once trained El Greco.
Heraklion Venetian Port
Sea fortress guarding a Venetian harbor, built on sunken ships and armed against a twenty-one-year siege.
Pantokrator Venetian Portal
Venetian fortress gate carved with the Lion of Saint Mark and a medallion of Christ the Almighty.
Jesus Gate (Kainourgia Porta)
Renaissance fortress gate with a plain outer face and a richly carved inner facade by Michele Sanmicheli.
Priouli Fountain
Renaissance fountain with Corinthian columns, dug for water during a twenty-one-year siege and later Ottoman-inscribed.