Arkadi Monastery
A little South-East of Rethymno lies the Arkadi monastery. A beautiful and intact monastery from the 16th century.
In Crete you will find many of these, but this one has a story:
Arkadi was well known for it's science, art, wine and olive-oil. But the story people now remember is the one of the Cretan Resistance. The Ottoman empire, that occupied Crete, held great interest in the monastery.
After having been pillaged many times, the Cretans managed to take it back from the Turks. When troops of the Ottoman empire in November 1866 began their final attack to retake it, the 964 people that were sheltering there blew themselves up in the powder room. They would rather die than be captured.
This lead to heavy and shocked reactions from the rest of the world. Which in turn was like a snowball effect which lead to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in Crete and Greece.
In Crete you will find many of these, but this one has a story:
Arkadi was well known for it's science, art, wine and olive-oil. But the story people now remember is the one of the Cretan Resistance. The Ottoman empire, that occupied Crete, held great interest in the monastery.
After having been pillaged many times, the Cretans managed to take it back from the Turks. When troops of the Ottoman empire in November 1866 began their final attack to retake it, the 964 people that were sheltering there blew themselves up in the powder room. They would rather die than be captured.
This lead to heavy and shocked reactions from the rest of the world. Which in turn was like a snowball effect which lead to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in Crete and Greece.
