4 km from the airport is the
old Venetian village of Pazinos, called Kalangadon until 1961. As many
other villages in Crete, it was named after its founders, in this case the
Kalangás family. |
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Outside the village stands the
newly restored, but uninhabited, monastery of Agios
Ioannis o Eleimonas.
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The monastery is
mentioned for the first time in 1637, a few decades before the Turkish
occupation of Crete, and as all the monasteries from this period, it is
built with thick walls making it appear almost as a fortress.
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The monastery might however
have been built earlier, as its church is not situated in the actual court,
as is the case of other monasteries in Crete from the late Venetian period.
This break of the traditional style of building indicates, that is has
been built in an earlier and, with that, more peaceful period. Also the
construction around the court makes you think of Italian architecture, so
perhaps the monastery was originally catholic.
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During the Turkish period it
was placed under the nearby Agia Triada monastery, which in its great
periods sent out monks to other monasteries, as for example Pazinos, in
order to take care of the religious ceremonies and fieldwork there. |
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