Rethymno

Crete, the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, is located about 100 km south of the Peloponnese. Crete was the center of Europe's first advanced civilization, the Minoans, from 3000 to 1400 BC. The Minoan civilization was overrun by the Mycenaean civilization from mainland Greece. Crete was later ruled by Rome, then successively by the Byzantine Empire, the Byzantine Empire again, the Venetian Republic, and the Ottoman Empire. In 1898 Crete, whose people had for some time wanted to join the Greek state, achieved independence from the Ottomans, formally becoming the Cretan State. Crete became part of Greece in December 1913.

In Hellenistic times, ancient Rhithymna was a small town. The name Rhithymna can be found in inscriptions and finds of coins minted in the town from the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. It continued to exist as a small town during the Roman period and the first Byzantine era, but was destroyed during the Arab conquest. Attempts to reconquer the island by the weakened Byzantine Empire were unsuccessful. The later Emperor Nicephorus II succeeded in reintegrating the island into the Byzantine Empire in 960/961.

The second Byzantine era ended after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 by the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade. To finance the war, Crete was sold to the Venetians for 10,000 silver marks. By 1218, the Venetians had conquered the entire island against the resistance of the locals.

Rethymno began a period of growth when the Venetians decided to establish an intermediate commercial station between Heraklion and Chania. Today's old town was almost entirely built by the Republic of Venice. The town was captured by the Ottoman Empire in and they ruled it for almost three centuries. The town gradually took on a Muslim character. In 1647, the main Catholic church of San Nicolo was rededicated as the Sultan Ibrahim Mosque. Other churches were converted into mosques or demolished. Many of the former cultural elite left the city, mostly in the direction of Venice.

During the Battle of Crete (May 1941), the Battle of Rethymno was fought between German paratroopers and combined forces of the Second Australian Imperial Force and the Hellenic Army. The Germans won the battle after creating huge damage.

View over Rethymno. Seen in the centre of the fortezza is the dome of the Ibrahim Han Mosque, once the Venetian Cathedral Saint Nicholas.