A panorama view of the east side of the venetian harbour in Chania – the second biggest city on Crete (Greece). The city was ruled by the Venetians from the 13th to the 17th century and they built a new harbour in the 13th century. Here we see the east front of its main bassin, while on the left a second bassin for the Arsenali ship docks was created further east. On the small hill in the back the ancient greek Cydonia (also called Kasteli) was situated, which was newly fortified during Byzantine rule. Remains of the old byzantine walls can still be seen in the background. In the foreground along the harbour front and the Akti Tompazi pier we see cafés and restaurants stretching towards the Eleftheriou Venizelou Square (right). However the dominant feature here is the old Küçük Hasan Pasha Mosque from osman times. They conquered Chania 1645 and built the mosque soon after – then also called the Janissariies-Mosque. In 1920 the minaret of the mosque was torn down and today the building houses a public gallery.
Today the harbour still boasts an impressive view of venetian and osman architecture and style – thanks to the poor economy of Chania in the early 20th century and the inner city becoming a protected historical monument in 1965.
This cityscape panorama of Chania was presented in week 29 of our 101 weeks 101 cities of europe project.
