page_title: Arkadi Monastery
section_title: Church
hierarchical_section_title: Arkadi Monastery / Architecture / Church
caption_attribution_description: English: Inside the church at Arkadi Monastery / Moni Arkadiou, Crete Camera location35°&#160;18′&#160;35.7″&#160;N, 24°&#160;37′&#160;45.9″&#160;E&#160;View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap - Google Earth
context_page_description: The Arkadi Monastery is an Eastern Orthodox monastery, situated on a fertile plateau 23 km to the southeast of Rethymnon on the island of Crete in Greece.
  The current catholicon dates back to the 16th century and is marked by the influence of the Renaissance. This influence is visible in the architecture, which mixes both Roman and baroque elements. As early as the 16th century, the monastery was a place for science and art and had a school and a rich library. Situated on a plateau, the monastery is well fortified, being surrounded by a thick and high wall.
  The monastery played an active role in the Cretan resistance of Ottoman rule during the Cretan revolt of 1866. 943 Greeks, mostly women and children, sought refuge in the monastery. After three days of battle and under orders from the hegumen of the monastery, the Cretans blew up barrels of gunpowder, choosing to sacrifice themselves rather than surrender.
  The monastery became a national sanctuary in honor of the Cretan resistance. 8 November is a day of commemorative parties in Arkadi and Rethymno. The explosion did not end the Cretan insurrection, but it attracted the attention of the rest of the world.
context_section_description: The church is a basilica with two naves; the northern nave is dedicated to the Transfiguration of Christ and the southern nave is dedicated to Saint Constantine and Saint Helen. Saint Helen stands at the center and slightly to the south of the monastery. According to the inscription engraved on the face of the clock, the church was founded in 1587 by Klimis Hortatsis. The architecture of the building is heavily influenced by Renaissance art, as the church was built in the period in which Crete was a colony of the Republic of Venice.
  In the smaller part of the front of the church, constructed by square blocks of regular brickwork, the primary element is four pairs of Corinthian columns. While there is a classically antique influence, the columns themselves, placed on elevated pedestals, are Gothic. Between each pair of columns, there is an archway. The two arches at the ends of the facade support a door and a circular opening, decorated by palm leaves on the circumference. The archway in the center of the façade is plain.
  On the higher part of the façade, above the columns, there is a series of molding and elliptical openings, which are also decorated in palm leaves around the perimeter. The clock is at the centre and, at each end, there are Gothic obelisks. Comparisons of the façade of the monastery with the work of Italian architects Sebastiano Serlio and Andrea Palladio suggests that the architect of the church was probably inspired by them.
  In 1645, the church was damaged by looters who destroyed the altar. Long before the capture of the monastery by the Turks in 1866, the church was torched and the icons entirely destroyed. Only a cross, two wooden angels and a passage of the resurrection of Christ were saved from the flames. The apses of the church were also destroyed.
  The current iconostasis, in cypress, was erected in 1902. From 1924 to 1927, at the initiative of the archbishop Timotheos Veneris, the work of strengthening and restoration of the apses and the clock were begun. The tiles on the interior of the building were totally replaced in 1933.
caption: The iconostasis
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