
Pantokrator Venetian Portal
Venetian fortress gate carved with the Lion of Saint Mark and a medallion of Christ the Almighty.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Pantokrator Venetian Portal in Heraklion reads the two faces carved into the stone above you, the winged Lion of Saint Mark facing the city and a medallion of Christ the Almighty that gave the gate its name. It traces the gate back to 1567 and its designer Michele Sanmicheli, one of the era's most sought-after military architects, who built it with a trick no other gate here had, two arched passages side by side, one for soldiers and weapons and one for ordinary carts and townspeople. Look up for the doge's coat of arms cut into the stone above the outer arch.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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