Early Christian Basilica of the Episcopal See of Agia

EARLY CHRISTIAN EPISCOPAL BASILICA OF ΑΓΙΆ Koimisis tis Theotokou — Dormition of the Virgin These are not ordinary ruins. You are standing in a place that served as the centre of Christian life in western Crete for over a thousand years. 5th century AD — a three-aisled basilica stood here, one of the earliest episcopal churches on the island. Timber-roofed, with a transept, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. 827–961 — Arabs occupy Crete. The basilica falls into ruin. c. 970 — after the island's liberation by Byzantine general Nikephoros Phokas, the seat of the Bishop of Kydonia is moved from the coast inland — to Αγιά. The church is rebuilt and becomes the cathedral of the entire western Crete. after 1204 — Venice takes Crete. Orthodox bishops are replaced by Latin ones. The seat eventually returns to Chania. The church slowly falls abandoned. The columns you see — especially the one in red marble — have stood here uninterrupted since the 10th century. They did not come from Crete; they were brought from distant quarries, most likely from Prokonnesos on the Sea of Marmara. They were older than the rebuilding itself — the Byzantine builders pulled them from the ruins of the 5th-century basilica and raised them once more. Italian historian Giuseppe Gerola, who photographed the ruins around 1900, wrote that the monument deserved thorough study — but was too buried under soil to permit it. The north wall he captured in his photograph collapsed during the following hundred years. The red column still stands.