A rare and perfectly preserved monument, the only one of its kind in Crete, opens its doors to the public.

It is about the Holy Church of Michael the Archangel (Rotunda) of Episkopi, in the Municipality of Platanias of Chania which succeeded, after cooperation with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Chania and their joint actions, in the placement of a seasonal Archeology employee, so that it can be visited.

The space will remain open every day from 9:30 to 16:30 from Monday to Sunday (except Tuesday), for a period of seven months.

“This is a unique monument that exists in our region. Our goal, in collaboration with archaeology, is to highlight it and give the possibility to those who visit Crete individually and in an organized manner, as well as to the permanent residents, to visit it”, the mayor of Platanias Yiannis Malandrakis emphasizes to APE-MPE.

Religious and cultural route

At the same time, as he points out in APE – MPE, a religious and cultural route is being created in the area by connecting the Rotunda with the monumental olive tree of Vouvo, from which branches are cut for the wreaths of the winners of the Olympic games and is a monument of nature and culture.

The blessing of the fruits of the earth

The blessing of the fruits takes place in the Rotunda on the first Sunday of every August. The holiday was established by the blessed Metropolitan Irenaios Galanakis.

In the Rotunda temple, the producers of the region gather their products in order to be blessed.

Temple of the 6th century

The early Christian church of Michael the Archangel – a baptistery of the 6th century AD, is built on sloping ground outside the settlement of Kato Episkopi Kissamos in the Municipality of Platanias. It is a pericentric, rectangular building, which develops around a large, stepped dome on the outside and mastoid on the inside.

The temple has mosaic floors decorated with scales, vines, ivy leaves, fish and a frame of intersecting semicircles, which can be dated to the second half of the 6th century, when the whole complex was built. Particularly important is the mural decoration which is preserved fragmentarily in four or five layers. Of these, the original one with the representation of the Ascension and saints in breastplates on the dome, the Evangelist Matthew on the narthex, Saint George with a dedicator on the southern pastophorium and an archangel in the quadrant of the niche of the sanctuary, date from the 7th century.