Morosini Fountain (Lions)

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Morosini Fountain (Lions)

SIGHTS

Morosini Fountain

The Lions in Heraklion is the square with the Fountain - Krini Morosini, the ornate Venetian fountain with 4 lions, which spout water from their mouths. The Morosini Fountain is located in Eleftheriou Venizelos Square in the center of Heraklion, but for Heraklion residents this name is unknown and they usually refer to it as Lions Square or Lions for short.

SIGHTS

The fountain with the lions is one of the most important monuments bequeathed by the Venetians to Heraklion. When it was built, it offered a solution to the city's water supply problem, and it is reported that it supplied the citizens with 1,000 barrels of water per day.

The Square

Everyone who grew up in Heraklion learned that the square with the Morosini fountain is Lion Square. However, our municipal rulers, in order to make life difficult for us, decided that it should be called Eleftheriou Venizelou Square, honoring the politician of Cretan origin, pioneer in the struggle for the Union of Crete with Greece and Prime Minister of Greece.

Eleftheriou Venizelou Square (Lions Square) is one of the most lively spots in Heraklion, which never quiets down, unfolding its various faces 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This is where those arriving at Heraklion by liner will come at dawn for a bite to eat, waiting for the city to wake up. Later in the day, thousands of passers-by and tourists will cross the square, gaze at the fountain, shop in its shops, sit in a cafe, eat something quick, visit an exhibition in St. Mark's Basilica.

When night falls, the young groups will meet in Lions Square to start their fun in Heraklion. At the square's steakhouses and other junk food shops, the same groups will end up after midnight to calm their stomachs suffering from alcohol by eating something standing up. Winter and summer, hot or cold, traffic never stops in Eleftherias Square.

Historical information preserved to this day states that during the time of the Arab conquest (9th-10th AD), the largest slave market of the Eastern Mediterranean was held in the square.

In the Byzantine period (10th-13th century), the Lion Square hosted the residence of the Byzantine governor of Heraklion.

During the Venetian rule (13th-17th), the Palace of the Venetian Duke (Palazzo Ducale) was built here, where the duke decided on the fate of Heraklion and its people together with his two advisers (consilierii). The ducal palace was multi-storied with terraces and vaulted spaces rented out as shops on the ground floor. It was located in the northern part of the Lions Square, where the steakhouses are today, while occupying an entire building block.

Opposite the ducal palace were the granaries parallel to the Arab-Byzantine wall, which continued from Daidalos Street, embraced Lions Square from its southern side and continued along Handakos Street to the sea.

The granaries of Heraklion were a long, narrow, three-story building with vaulted spaces on the ground floor. The grain bazaar was held in the area of the square in front of the granaries, which is why the Lions' Square during the Venetian rule was called Piazza delle Biande, the Grain Square. Dimitriaki Square in the center of the city was the most important square of Heraklion and is considered to have been modeled after St. Mark's Square in Venice.

After the occupation of the island by the Turks, the vizier and his entourage settled in the ducal palace. In 1856 a strong earthquake leveled a large part of Heraklion and among the other monuments that were lost was the Voltone Gate, the main gate that served to communicate the old city with the burghs (districts outside the walls) and the villages. The Voltone Gate was located next to the Lion Square at the Maidani intersection.