Heraklion Agia Ekaterini church

Location: Town

The church of Agia Ekaterini (Saint Catherine) is located close to the Cathedral of Saint Minas, in the heart of Heraklion Town, and has given its name to the square of Saint Catherine. Today, this square is a distinctive part of the town, with cafeterias, playgrounds for children and lots of pigeons. Surrounded by modern buildings and blocks of flats, this stone Venetian church seems out of time.

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This church formerly belonged to the Orthodox Venetian Monastery of Saint Catherine, a dependency of Sinai. The convent was established in the 10th century, but the church was originally built around the 13th or 14th century, during the early Venetian times. The diaconicon and the pointed arches formed between the transept and the naive date back to this original construction, as does the side mortuary chapel dedicated to the Ten Martyrs of Gortys (Agioi Deka). This is indicated by elements of Gothic architecture. During the second half of the 16th century, the part of the church that lies to the west of the transept was rebuilt in the Renaissance style, and the renovation was completed in the 17th century.

From the mid-16th to the mid-17th century, the Monastery served as an educational institution teaching the ancient Greek classics, philosophy, theology and painting. Many prominent members of the local community studied there, including famous Cretan writers, like Vitsentzos Kornaros. It was here that the Cretan school of iconography flourished, represented by such famous painters as Domenicos Theotokopoulos (El Greco).

After Heraklion was occupied by the Turks in 1669, the church was converted to a Muslim mosque, till the early 20th century, when Crete became autonomous. Today, Saint Catherine houses the Ecclesiastical Museum of Heraklion, exhibiting many rare icons painted by Michael Damaskinos, another representative of the Cretan School of Icon Painting, as well as ecclesiastical vestments, manuscripts, and frescoes. It is open to visitors every day in the morning, but service is held only once a year on the name day of Saint Catherine, on November 25th.