St. Catherine Church
St Catherine (Agia Ekaterini) is on Agia Ekaterini square south of Kalokairinou street . It is achurch of Sanaists dating from the 15th century excepting for the door frames of the 17th century. It flourished during the 15th and 76th centuries as a centre of letters and arts where many luminaries of the Cretan renaissance were educated.
Among them were : Kornaros, Chortatzis, Damaskinos, Cyrillos Loukaris, and according to one version Dominicus Theotokopoulos (El Greco) before going to Italy and Spain. During Turkish rule it was converted into a mosque. Today it houses a permanent collection of Byzantine icons. It also contains idols of Christian worship, icons,woodcrafts, murals,documents and church books.In particular it’s worth seeing the six icons of the Cretan agiographer M Damaskinos dated 1582-1591: ” The worshipping of the magi”, “The last supper”, “Don’t touch me”,”Theotokos”, “The first ecumenical council”and “The divine lyturgy”.
St Catherine (Agia Ekaterini) is on Agia Ekaterini square south of Kalokairinou street . It is achurch of Sanaists dating from the 15th century excepting for the door frames of the 17th century. It flourished during the 15th and 76th centuries as a centre of letters and arts where many luminaries of the Cretan renaissance were educated.
Among them were : Kornaros, Chortatzis, Damaskinos, Cyrillos Loukaris, and according to one version Dominicus Theotokopoulos (El Greco) before going to Italy and Spain. During Turkish rule it was converted into a mosque. Today it houses a permanent collection of Byzantine icons. It also contains idols of Christian worship, icons,woodcrafts, murals,documents and church books.In particular it’s worth seeing the six icons of the Cretan agiographer M Damaskinos dated 1582-1591: ” The worshipping of the magi”, “The last supper”, “Don’t touch me”,”Theotokos”, “The first ecumenical council”and “The divine lyturgy”.
