Sacred sites in Crete

Agia Triada Monastery

Chania, Crete, Greece

Agia Triada Monastery rises from the Akrotiri Peninsula near Chania, a 17th-century complex where Renaissance proportions serve Orthodox devotion....

Chrysoskalitissa Monastery

Chrisoskalitissa, Crete, Greece

Chrysoskalitissa Monastery stands on a rock promontory thirty-five meters above the southwestern coast of Crete, overlooking the Libyan Sea toward Africa....

Diktaion Andron Cave

Part of Mt. Dicti

Psichro, Crete, Greece

High on the slopes of Mount Dicte, above the enclosed bowl of the Lassithi Plateau, the Diktaion Andron opens into the limestone of Crete like a wound in the surface of...

Kamares Cave

Tybakio Municipal Unit, Crete, Greece

High on the southern face of Mount Ida, the highest mountain in Crete, a vast arched entrance opens into the mountain at nearly 1,700 meters....

Knossos

Heraklion Municipal Unit, Crete, Greece

Knossos rises from the hills south of Heraklion on Crete, the ceremonial and sacred heart of the Minoan civilization....

Lato

Agios Nikolaos Municipal Unit, Crete, Greece

High on a mountain saddle in eastern Crete, the ruins of Lato spread across a ridge overlooking the Gulf of Mirabello....

Monastery of Arkadi

Municipality of Rethymnon, Crete, Greece

On a fertile plateau above the olive groves of western Crete, the Monastery of Arkadi holds two kinds of sacred weight....

Mt. Dicti

Psichro, Crete, Greece

Mount Dikti rises 2,148 meters above eastern Crete, anchoring a sacred landscape that spans eight millennia of continuous human reverence....

Mt. Ida

Kouroutes, Crete, Greece

Mount Ida rises 2,456 meters above central Crete, the island's highest point and one of the most layered sacred landscapes in the Mediterranean....

Mt. Juktas Minoan Peak Sanctuary, Crete

Archanes Municipal Unit, Crete, Greece

Mount Juktas rises 811 meters above the Cretan lowlands, its summit crowned by the remains of the most important peak sanctuary in Minoan civilization and a Venetian-era...

Mt. Kofinas Minoan Peak Sanctuary, Crete

Kofinas Municipal Unit, Crete, Greece

At 1,231 metres, Mt. Kofinas rises as the highest peak of the Asterousia range, the southernmost mountain chain in Europe....

Palace of Knossos

Part of Knossos

Heraklion Municipal Unit, Crete, Greece

The Palace of Knossos spreads across a low hill five kilometers south of Heraklion, the ceremonial and sacred center of the first advanced civilization to emerge in Europe....

Paliani Monastery

Paliani Municipal Unit, Crete, Greece

Paliani Monastery stands among olive groves near the village of Venerato, twenty kilometers southwest of Heraklion....

Panagia Kera

Agios Nikolaos Municipal Unit, Crete, Greece

Panagia Kera stands among olive groves on the road to Kritsa in eastern Crete, a small three-aisled Byzantine church whose interior holds what scholars consider the finest...

Petsofas Minoan Peak Sanctuary

Itanos Municipal Unit, Crete, Greece

Petsofas rises above the eastern Cretan coast near Palekastro, a modest summit that served for centuries as one of the most important peak sanctuaries of the Minoan...

Pyrgos Minoan Temple

Ierapetra Municipal Unit, Crete, Greece

On a steep hill above the south coast of Crete, the ruins of Myrtos-Pyrgos hold the remains of a Bronze Age settlement that flourished for nearly eight centuries....

Traostalos Minoan Peak Sanctuary

Itanos Municipal Unit, Crete, Greece

On a windswept plateau at 515 meters above the southeastern coast of Crete, Minoan worshippers climbed for five hundred years to leave clay figurines, model ships, and...

Tylissos Minoan Temple

Tylissos Municipal Unit, Crete, Greece

In the foothills southwest of Heraklion, the ruins of three grand Minoan villas stand among olive groves at the edge of the modern village of Tylissos....