Saint Titus Church, Heraklion, Greece

Saint Titus church is one of the most important monuments in Heraklion. In 961, Nicephorus Phocas drove the Arabs from Crete, bringing the island back under the wing of the powerful Byzantine Empire. This is when the first Orthodox church of St Titus must have been built, to rekindle the Christian faith and tradition in Crete, which had declined due to the corsair conquest of the island.

Saint Titus was a disciple of the Apostle Paul and the first Bishop of Crete. The first church dedicated to him was that in the old capital Gortyn, which also housed the metropolitan see of the island until its destruction by earthquake and the Arab transfer of the capital from Gortyn to Chandax (Heraklion) in 828 AD.

The skull of St Titus, the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mesopanditissa and other sacred relics from Gortyn were moved to the new church.

At the fall of Heraklion to the Turks all relics were removed to Venice, where they still remain today. The single exception is the skull of St Titus, which was returned to Heraklion in 1966 and is now kept in a silver reliquary in the church.

During the period of Turkish rule, the church of Saint Titus was ceded to Vizier Fazil Ahmet Kiopruli, who converted it into a mosque known as the Vezir Mosque.

The great earthquake of 1856 totally destroyed the church. It was rebuilt in its present form as an Ottoman mosque by architect Athanasios Moussis, who also designed the Orthodox cathedral of Saint Minas and the barracks in Eleftherias Square.

The minaret of Saint Titus was demolished in the 1920s, when the last Muslims left Heraklion with the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey. Today Saint Titus is an Orthodox church dedicated to St Titus the Apostle, following modifications carried out by the Church of Crete in 1925.

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George Papadopoulos (12 months ago)
Saint Titos at night. A well preserved Christian Orthodox cathedral worth visiting. Entrance is free. The long story short is good to know when you visit. Also another tip for you when you visit are the windows. Beautiful colourful windows worth checking out.

Maria Achilleia (12 months ago)
Beautiful church in the center of Heraklion. Has upstairs sitting area too. Deserves a visit. Entrance is free. There is a service every Sunday.

dio brandaddy69 (12 months ago)
Rating: 4/5 Price: 5/5 Attraction: 4/5 Entertainment: 3/5 Time: 3/5 Type of entertainment: introverted Short: - it is free to enter, you can’t beat free. - the church is beautiful with making wood work, candles, decorations, stained glass and paintings. - just a church beautiful not super entertaining, however very beautiful. - there isn’t much that happened there when I was there, so no more than 10 mins for me. It’s just a church that is very pretty. Details: there is a gift shop. I would recommend going to the church of agios minas over this church as it is a lot more beautiful, and it’s only 10 mins away.

Tyrone (15 months ago)
Probably the oldest church in Heraklion, the initial building was erected in the 10th century after the reconquest of Crete by the Byzantine General Nikiforos Fokas in 961 AD. The church was destroyed twice by earthquake and once by fire in the 14th and 15th century. It was rebuilt without any architectural changes and lived on as the main Catholic Church in Heraklion. Prominent locals were buried in the churchyard during the Byzantine, Venetian and Turkish period. As soon as the town fell to the Turks, the church was converted into a mosque. After the last destruction by the 1856 earthquake, the church was rebuilt from scratch by the architect K. Mousi as it stands today. It was concluded in 1872, a building of neoclassical nature with intense eclecticism and many oriental features as it was initially intended to be a mosque. Titus was St. Paul’s disciple, the first bishop on Crete and guardian of the island. Titus’ skull was given back by the Venetians and is kept in a small chapel to the north of the nave kept in a mitre.

Georges Younes (2 years ago)
Situated in the middle of town and very close to tourist venues, Agios Titos is a smallish Greek Orthodox church which has been recently renovated. Its square shape is atypical, but it's probably due to the fact that the current version of the church was built as a mosque in the middle of the 19th century. The church contains the skull of its namesake in a smaller chapel that is situated close to the entrance. You might miss it if you just visit the main hall.

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