Rethymno

Rethymno

Ρέθυμνο
Rethymno Ρέθυμνο
Settlement
	The old venetian port of Rethymno
Country	Greece
Administrative region	Crete
Area
• Total	126.5 km2 (48.8 sq mi)
Highest elevation	15 m (49 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population (2001)
• Total	41,687
• Density	330/km2 (850/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code	741 00
Area code(s)	28310
Vehicle registration	ΡΕ
Website	www.rethymno.gr

Rethymno (Greek: Ρέθυμνο, IPA: ['reθimno], also Rethimno, Rethymnon, Réthymnon, and Rhíthymnos) is a city of approximately 40,000 people in Greece, the capital of Rethymno Prefecture in the island of Crete. It was built in antiquity (ancient Rhithymna and Arsinoe), even though was never a competitive Minoan center. It was, however, strong enough to mint its own coins and maintain urban growth. One of these coins is today depicted as the crest of the town with two dolphins in a circle.

History

This region as a whole is rich with ancient history, most notably through the Minoan civilisation centred at Kydonia east of Rethymno.^[2] Rethymno itself began a period of growth when the Venetian conquerors of the island decided to put an intermediate commercial station between Heraklion and Chania, acquiring its own bishop and nobility in the process. Today's old town (palia poli) is almost entirely built by Venetians. It is one of the best preserved old towns in Crete.

The town still maintains its old aristocratic appearance, with its buildings dating from the 16th century, arched doorways, stone staircases, Byzantine and Hellenic-Roman remains, small Venetian harbor and narrow streets. The Venetian Loggia today houses the information office of the ministry of culture. The Wine Festival is held there annually at the beginning of July. Another festival is held on 7-8th of November, in memory of the destruction of Arkadi Monastery.

It has a large Venetian castle called the Fortezza, one of the best preserved castles in Crete. Other monuments include the Neratze mosque (the Municipal Odeon arts centre), the Great Gate (megali porta, Porta Guora), the Piazza Rimondi (Rimondi square) and the Venetian Loggia.

As part of the Crete, the town was also captured by Turks in 1600s and ruled more than 3 centuries. Turkish version of Rethymnon is Resmo.

Today its main income is from tourism, many new facilities having been built in the past 20 years. Agriculture is also notable, especially for olive oil and other Mediterranean products. It is also the base of the Philosophical School and the University Library of the University of Crete and the School of Social and Political Sciences having 8000 students on its University Campus per annum at "Galos", where the Academic Institute of Mediterranean Studies is situated. The city has an Archaeological Museum.

Literature

Pandelis Prevelakis wrote Το χρονικό μιας πολιτείας (1937), The Chronicle of a Town, a nostalgic depiction of Rethymno from the Cretan State (1898) to the expulsion of the Cretan Turks (1924).