The Schiavo bastion and Venetian fortress wall.
By the beginning of the 13th century, Crete was part of the Byzantine Empire. However as a result of the Fourth Crusade the empire has broken up in 1204 and its territories have been divided among the leaders of the campaign. Crete has been initially allocated Boniface I of Montferrat, but he has soon sold the rights to Venetians. In the same year Crete has been conquered by Genoa, but already next year Venetian armies have taken the island away from Genoese. After the war in 1210 the island finally passed to Venice.
Venetians came to Chania in 1252. Initially they settled on Castelli Hill, surrounded by a ring of Byzantine fortifications. Then they built the new fortress walls, enclosing the expanded city with them. The construction was finished in 1356. These were the first walls of La Canea Castle (as the Venetians called it).
However, the walls were low and did not provide adequate protection, so Venetians soon began to enhance them. However, these half-measures did not strengthen the city and in 1536 the Venetian military engineer Michele Sanmicheli arrived in Chania. He began building new walls around the first ones. Construction continued for 32 years and was completed in 1568.
The new fortress wall was almost rectangular, about three kilometers long. In front of the wall was a moat 10 metres deep and 50 metres wide. At the corners of the wall there were four bastions with ramparts.
The Bastion of San Dimitro or Schiavo, where you are now, along with the ramparts of Lando was the southwestern corner of the fortress. It was first mentioned on the plan of the city, which was drawn by Angelo del Oddy in 1601.
During the siege of Chania in August 1645, the Turks broke through the wall near exactly this bastion. And after the city transition to the Turks, the walls were immediately repaired and modernized...
Climbing up the wide cobblestone road from the inside of the old town, you'll find a wide round and flat bastion area with a great view of the old town of Chania. The facade of Trimartiri Cathedral is particularly well seen from there.
