Lions Square
Venetian fountain of four stone lions, fed by a fifteen-kilometer gravity aqueduct built in sixteen twenty-eight.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Lions Square in Heraklion opens with the empty pedestal above its four stone lions, once crowned by a colossal marble Poseidon so large that locals called the whole fountain the giant's fountain, until an earthquake most likely brought him down. It follows Venetian governor Francesco Morosini, who in 1628 answered the city's chronic lack of fresh water with an underground aqueduct running fifteen kilometers from springs on Mount Juktas, using nothing but gravity to push water into a hidden reservoir beneath the square. Morosini was proud enough of the feat to strike a medal with his own face on one side and the fountain on the other.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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