The first traces of Neolithic settlements around the city dates back to approx. 7 millennium BC .
Heraklion lies near the ruins of the palace of Knossos, built around 2000 BC . The collapse of Knossos took place around 1400 BC Then, Crete came under the control of Mycenaean culture, until its collapse around 1100 BC.
The current city was founded in 824 years by the Saracens, who dug a huge ditch of defense around the city. Saracens provides port pirates who rob Byzantine ships, as a refuge and base.
In 961 the Byzantines led by Nikiforos Phocas captured the city and plundered it and murder all the Saracens, it completely burned, and the huge treasures collected by the pirates transported to Constantinople, supposedly for 300 ships. Byzantium controlled rebuilt later Khandak for the next 243 years.
In 1204 the town was bought by Venice, reportedly for 1000 pieces of silver. To protect yourself first before rebellions reluctant them local people, then before the Turkish raids, the Venetians greatly improved defense of the city, building enormous fortifications, most of which still exists - among Koules fortress in the harbor, and a huge wall, thick in places to 40 m, with 7 bastions. Chandak name has replaced its Italian version, Candia. Under Venetian Candia bloomed and after the fall of Constantinople was one of the major cultural centers of the Renaissance. From here came from, among others, El Greco.
After the Venetians came the Turks, bringing the 200-year rule of the Ottoman Empire (with a transition period of supremacy of Egypt in the years 1832-1840).
The Ottoman Empire withdrew from Crete in 1898, after a series of uprisings of the local population and the Greek-Turkish war on the continent. The city became the first part of the Republic of Crete, and then, after 1913, was incorporated into the Kingdom of Greece. After liberation, the name was changed to the city of Iraklion (Heraklion - "city of Hercules"), with reference to the port of Heracleum existing nearby in Roman times.
In 1941, the city was largely destroyed by German bombing during the invasion of Crete. After the war, the destruction rebuilt. In 1971 moved the administrative center from Chania to Heraklion.
9 the most important sites of Heraklion:
1. Palace of Knossos
Fragment of ruins of the palace was discovered in 1878. In 1899. Sir Arthur Evans discovered during excavations extensive ruins of the palace derived from the period 2000-1400 BC (Minoan), called the palace of Minos or Cretan labyrinth.
About 1450 BC when the Achaeans occupied Crete, the palace was finally destroyed at the end of the fourteenth century. BC
2. Heraklion Archaeological Museum
It is the largest museum collecting exhibits from excavations on the island and the second largest collection of ancient Greek monuments and excavations.
3. Koules Fortress
The "Castello a Mare" is a fortress located at the entrance of
the old port of Heraklion. It was built by the Republic of Venice in the early
16th century. The fort has two stories, with a total of 26 rooms, which were
originally used as barracks, a prison, storage rooms, a water reservoir, a
church, a mill and a bakery.
4. Historical Museum
The museum presents exhibits closely connected with the history of Crete from early Christian times to the present.
The most valuable exhibit of the museum is one of the first paintings of El Graco - Mount Sinai.
5. Church of Agios Titos
It has Byzantine origins in AD 961, was converted to a Catholic church
by the Venetians and turned into a mosque by the Ottomans, who also rebuilt it
after the devastating 1856 earthquake. It has been an Orthodox church since
1925.
6. Cathedral of St. Minas
It is a Greek Orthodox Cathedral, serving as the seat of the Archbishop
of Crete. It was built over the time period of 1862-1895. The construction was
interrupted during the Cretan Revolution of 1866–1869. It is one of the largest
cathedrals in Greece, with a capacity of 8,000 people.
7. Morosini Fountain
Eleftheriou Venizelou Square is a square in the city centre, named after
the Cretan statesman Eleftherios Venizelos. It dates back to the Venetian era
and is more commonly known as Lions Square, after the Venetian-era Morosini
Fountain its midst, which features four lions supporting the main basin.
8.Loggia
The elegant building of the Loggia is one of the finest monuments of
Venetian Crete. The Loggia (noblemen's club) now standing in Heraklion was
constructed in 1626-28 by Francesco Morosini, the same man who built the Lions
Fountain (Fontana Morosini) in Eleftheriou Venizelou Square. This is the fourth
and final Loggia built during the period of Venetian rule.
9. Venetian Walls and Tomb of Nikos
Kazantzakis
These great walls and bastions were part of the fortress-city the Venetians
called Candia. Two of the great city gates have survived fairly well. On the
Martinengo Bastion at the southwestern corner of the great walls is the grave
of Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1947), a native of Iraklion and author of Zorba the Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ.
