Moni Monastery of Arkadi

Not far from Rethymnon is the famous monastery of Crete - Moni Arkadi. They say it originated in the X century, and perhaps even earlier - during the reign of Emperor Arcadia (377 - 408). In fact, the first non-questioning evidence of its existence are to the XIV century, and the final form he found in the XVI century. The building, which we can contemplate today is the result of reconstruction after the events of 1866 then took refuge in a monastery from the Turkish invaders one thousand Cretans, including fighters for liberation under the leadership of Abbe Gabriel. 15,000 Turks shelled the monastery, and when they managed to break through the gate, started the massacre. Then the Cretans took the desperate decision to blow up the powder magazine, where they hid. Survived the explosion of a total of 114 people.