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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Address

Agiou Titou 3, Heraklion, Greece
See all sites in Heraklion

Details

Founded: 16th century
Category: Religious sites in Greece

More Information

www.explorecrete.com
www.heraklion-crete.org

Rating

4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Knossos (5,3 km)
Heraklion Archaeological Museum (0,3 km)
Koules Fortress (0,5 km)
Saint Minas Cathedral (0,4 km)
Historical Museum of Crete (0,4 km)


Phaistos (43,3 km)
Gortyn (35,2 km)
Malia Minoan Palace (32,9 km)
Keras Kardiotissas Monastery (32,3 km)
Hodegetria Monastery (50,9 km)
Kremasta Convent (44,4 km)
Agarathos Monastery (16,3 km)
Vosakou Monastery (27 km)
Vrontisi Monastery (31,7 km)

User Reviews

Abay Wicks (18 months ago)
Nice serine quiet church
Alexandra Birtar (18 months ago)
Here you can find relics of Saint Titus and miracle icons of Virgin Mary. The church is very nice. We visited it late August 2018.
spyroula stavraki (19 months ago)
Very nice old Temple. Clean. Exactly in the heard of the market. A yard full of trees.
Evi Kor (19 months ago)
A jewel of the old part of the city, historical church of unique architecture
Stavros pantermarakis (21 months ago)
A must see if you are a traveler... Just enter the temple and take a seat... And let your self to feel it's majestic vibes.
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