Venetian Khania
 Casa Delfino. © Lucia Nixon |
The principal Venetian *houses of Khania were set back from the main harbour. Some still survive, and have been well restored. The Casa Delfino belonged to the Delfino family, one of whose members was Rector of Khania. This is the best surviving example of a lavish Venetian mansion.
But the whole of the old city inside the Venetian fortifications was full of houses of all types.
The ground plan of the city, like that of Gortyn, remained an organic growth. The steep slopes of the Kastelli hill determined the complex street pattern on the hill, while the curve of the harbour led to the curved street pattern round the harbour.
The culture of Khania was a complex blend of Greek traditions and Venetian influence, as we have already seen in relation to icons as we saw previously in Unit 2 Session 3 Lesson 2. This is true from the late sixteenth century until the ending of Venetian rule in the mid seventeenth century. Venetian influence was mediated in part through the creation of Academies on Italian lines, which served as literary societies, with scholarly members who gave talks on literature and art. Three were founded on Crete, in Khania ca. 1600. The meeting of the two traditions sparked off a very fertile period for Cretan literature, in songs, poems (both short and epic), and plays.
 Renieri Palace area: arch, with Latin inscription dated AD 1608 © Lucia Nixon |
The language of Khania remained Greek for the majority of the population, but the advent of Venice imported two prestige languages (both in a new script), Latin and Venetian Italian. The newcomers spoke Venetian Italian, and wrote their official reports in it, and used Latin for ecclesiastical purposes and for public monuments.
In all this the language issue was similar to that at Gortyn under the Romans.
The material culture of Khania (and its modern county) can be seen best in the holdings of various museums in Khania and elsewhere on Crete that illustrate different aspects of daily life (and which all have Web sites with illustrations). Table ware pottery was imported from Venice and other parts of Italy, while goods from Crete (such as cheese from the White Mountains south of Khania) were widely exported in return.