Arkadi Monastery

It is located 20 km SE of Rethymno in a lush green landscape full of oak trees, kermes oak trees, pine trees and vineyards. Built in 1587, its architecture is influenced in various ways by the early renaissance, the gothic and classic style as well as the early baroque style. At first, it acquired reputation as a center for copying Greek manuscripts, a work the monks of the monastery had been in charge of. At the same time, it was also renowned for the elaborately embroidered canonicals it produced. On November 8th 1866 an army of 15,000 Turks equipped with 30 canons and under the command of Souleiman Bey besieged the monastery, where 325 armed fighters with their wives and children (964 persons in total including the monks) had found shelter. They blew up the power ked so as not to become slaves of the enemy. After the liberation the monastery was reconstructed according to its original form. Therefore, the building the visitors see today is not very different from the original one. The monastery houses a museum with an exhibition of findings from the "Arkadi holocaust", heirlooms, weapons, icons, an ossuary, etc.