Paleokastro of Malevizio

The triangular fortress of Paliokastro, or Paleokastro, stands on a large rock at the sea, eight kilometres west of Heraklion, where the modern highway to Chania passes behind it. Only part of the walls survives today. The site was occupied in antiquity, possibly by the acropolis of Kytaion or the town of Elaia. The Genoese pirate Pescatore built a fort here in 1206, one of fourteen raised to defend his conquest of Crete, and it served as his final stronghold when the Venetians took the island in 1211. Its early importance faded, but the Ottoman threat prompted a Venetian reconstruction between 1573 and 1595, when its cannon fire could cross with that from the walls of St Andrew in Heraklion. The Ottomans took it during the siege of Candia and destroyed it to render it useless. The castle had sloping walls on three uneven levels, with a main gate to a lower square, barracks, an armoury, a cistern, and a small church of Agios Markos, still visible, built from the ruins.

Heritage data from Wikidata, compiled and verified in the Atika atlas.