Agios Nikolaos in Chania: A Cathedral, Mosque, and Greek Orthodox Church
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Greece
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Ottoman, Venetian
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Basilica
On this page7 sections
History
Agios Nikolaos in Chania is a Greek Orthodox church in Greece, built around 1320 by the Dominican brotherhood of Candia as a Roman Catholic cathedral in the Byzantine basilica tradition. Dedicated today to Saint Nicholas, a Christian saint associated with the protection of sailors and venerated in both Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, the building was linked to the Dominican religious institute until 1645.
From Dominican cathedral to Ottoman mosque
In 1645, after Crete came under Ottoman rule, the cathedral was converted into a mosque. It became known as Hünkar Mosque, meaning “Emperor’s Mosque,” in honor of Ottoman Sultan Ibrahim. The surrounding Splanzia area developed as Chania’s Muslim quarter, and the mosque was regarded as the city’s most important Islamic place of worship.
A tradition connected with the building tells of a Turkish dervish, a member of an Islamic religious order devoted to ascetic or mystical practice, who was the first to enter Chania. According to the story, he climbed the bell tower and used a sacred sword to mark the four points of the horizon while calling the faithful to prayer. The sword remained at the mosque throughout Ottoman rule and until Crete was annexed by the Kingdom of Greece in 1912. It was taken away when Crete’s Muslim population departed during the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey.
Return to Orthodox use
The building was reconsecrated as a Greek Orthodox church in 1918 and has been administered by the Archdiocese of Crete since that year. The archdiocese is the Orthodox ecclesiastical jurisdiction responsible for Christian communities on the island. The church therefore preserves evidence of successive religious uses, from Catholic cathedral to Ottoman mosque and then to Orthodox church.
Remains
Layout and architectural features
Agios Nikolaos stands in Splanzia Square in Chania and is organized as a basilica, a church type arranged around a long central space often flanked by aisles. Its surviving form includes elements associated with its Catholic foundation, Ottoman conversion, and later Orthodox use. The building is described as the only one in Greece possessing both a bell tower and a minaret.
Church and courtyard
The original bell tower stood to the northeast of the church. It did not survive and was later rebuilt. West of the church is an enclosed courtyard, or atrium, which served as a cemetery for nobles during both the Venetian and Ottoman periods.
Minaret
The mosque conversion added a mihrab, a niche indicating the direction of Mecca, and a minbar, the raised pulpit used for the sermon. A cylindrical minaret was built against the southern side of the building near its western end. A minaret is a tower traditionally associated with the call to prayer. Its western side was connected to a pre-existing two-storey monastery building, which was later demolished.
The minaret follows the classical Ottoman style and originally had two balconies. It now stands approximately 36 metres high. Its former conical roof is no longer preserved, and with that roof the tower would have exceeded 40 metres.
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