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4 July 2026 · Artur KiwaCrete history Byzantium monasteries John Xenos Christianity Middle Ages
The Stranger. Eight Foundations That Left Their Mark on Crete
The story of a saint who did not build churches and did not perform miracles. He built communities that survived for a thousand years.
21 June 2026 · Artur KiwaCrete history Venetians
A Wall Full of Names. The Monastery of Saints Peter and Paul at Cape Spatha
For nearly a hundred years, sailors, merchants and officials carved their names into the plaster of this church. Sixty-six inscriptions between 1514 and 1608. A document of movement, not of piety.
5 June 2026 · Artur KiwaCrete history Venetians Cretan School Byzantium
When Constantinople Fell, Crete Rose
On 29 May 1453, Constantinople fell. For many, it marked the end of the Byzantine world. For Crete, it became the beginning of an extraordinary age of artistic, intellectual and spiritual flourishing.
31 May 2026 · Artur KiwaCrete history Minoans cats
The Cats Stayed. A Short History of an Island Someone Else Always Thought Was Theirs
On Crete, civilizations came and went. The Minoans, Mycenaeans, Romans, Venetians and Ottomans left behind palaces, walls, scripts, wars and taxes. The cats watched it all from sun-warmed walls — and stayed.
30 May 2026 · Artur KiwaCrete history iconography Venetians
An Island at the Crossroads of Death. Crete in the Time of Plague
In the summer of 1347, a ship from Constantinople sailed into the port of Chandax. It brought something no one was waiting for: a plague that would cut through medieval Crete, its cities, villages, ports, wills, and religious imagination.