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The Loggia was an essential public building in every Venetian city, and this institution was not absent even from Venice's colonies. For Candia, Loggia is considered to be one of the most elegant architectural monuments of the Venetian period, a representative example of the palladian style. During the Venetian period, Loggia was the official meeting place of sovereigns and nobility where they discussed various topics concerning economic, commercial, and political matters. It was also used as a place where people passed their time, something like a combination of a chamber and a gentlemen's club. The Loggia we see today is the fourth one; others that were built before this were abandoned due to their position, or were made obsolete by time.

The last Loggia was built around 1628 by the ‘General Provisioner' Frangisko Morosini, known also by the homonymous fountain in the centre of the town. It is situated next to Armeria (the armoury where they used to keep guns and ammunition), and is a building of a rectangular type with two floors, with doric type columns on the ground floor and ionic ones on the first floor. At the corners of the building there were square columns. The space between the columns, on the ground floor, had a low parapet, while the middle was open and served as the main entrance leading onto 25th August St, known then by the name "Ruga Maistra".

 After the fall of the city to the Turks, Loggia lost its old identity and glamour. The new conqueror did not feel the need of such a building and had it made into the seat of the high finance officer, Tefterdar, and the secretary general, who was a Christian officer, responsible for the matters that concerned the Christians and the Turkish authorities. The Tefterdar also had jurisdiction over the "Armeria" (the storeroom where they used to keep their guns), now called "tzephanes". The Loggia's adventure continued even after the liberation from the Turks.

The newly independent Cretan State proposed that the building could be used as an Archaeological Museum. After, an earthquake however, it was better considered that the building was not safe and the idea for housing a museum was abandoned. Later in 1904 it was regarded that the building was ready to fall and people started, unfortunately without any care, to demolish the first floor. The following year, the building was granted to the Town Hall, with the "Armeria" in order to house some of its services. Ten years will go by until the first stone will be placed officially for the restoration of Loggia. Maximillian Ongaro, who was also the curator of the architectural monuments of Venice, was in charge of the building work. Still though, the works were delayed. At the end of 1934 the "Armeria" was again handed back to the Town Hall to be used for municipal services.

After some years, and following the end of the 2nd World War, the works for the restoration of Loggia and its connection, through an atrium, with the Armeria, started afresh. Today the first floor has been formed into a special hall for ceremonies and the weekly meetings of the Municipal Council and it has been accordingly furnished and decorated. The crowning of all these efforts was the awarding of the prize in 1987 from the international organization "Europa Nostra" for the most successful restoration of a historical building with a modern use in the Greek area.

 

 

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