Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "HERAKLIO Town CRETE".
The city was regained by the Byzantine Empire in 961 A.D. after many
unsuccessful attempts. After the Crusaders occupied Constantinople in 1204, they
gave Crete to Boniface of Monferrat who sold the island to Venice for one thousand
pieces of silver. Under Venetian rule the arts flourished and Candia, as the Venetians
renamed it, became a centre of learning. Many scholars and artists took refuge
in Candia after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The Venetians began construction
of the city walls in 1462, which were completed more than a century later. The
walls were 4km in length, of a triangular shape and had seven bastions. The Venetians
also built the harbor and various other masterly architectural works. The walls
proved their deterrent strength when the city was besieged for 21 years, one of
the longest sieges in history. The final surrender came in 1669 after 100,000
Turks and 30,000 Venetians had been killed. Turkish occupation was heavily resented
by the Cretans and continuous guerrilla warfare was waged against the Turks and,
in return, the Turks often made reprisals against the Cretan population in the
cities. Iraklion grew in size after the 1913 union with Greece. However, its strategic
location again made it a target for invading forces in 1941. The German bombardment
during the Battle of Crete caused a great amount of damage and after the war the
city was extensively rebuilt. Chania was originally the capital of Crete. The
administrative centre of Crete was transferred to Iraklion in 1971.
Today Iraklion is the biggest city in Crete (and fifth in Greece)
with a population in excess of 130,000. It concentrates most of the economical
activity of the island, and is the main port of entry to Crete for the majority
of visitors. The Iraklion airport receives approximately 15% of the total tourist
traffic of Greece.
This extract is cited October 2004 from the URL below, which
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