By John Freedman
Posted on Contemplating Crete August 2, 2021
I have written previously in this space about the Sabbionara, or Mocenigo bastion on the eastern edge of Chania Old Town. You will find the basic historical information about this location in those posts, especially this one. But this morning I took out my more-or-less new OsmoAction underwater camera to try it out and I got a whole bunch of cool, unusual photos of this wonderful fortress wall that sticks out into the Sea of Crete in the Koum Kapi neighborhood. For those new to the topic let me just repeat a few basic facts. The Sabbionara bastion or rampart was completed by the Venetian occupiers of Chania (then known as Canea) in 1591. The name sabbionara refers to the sands on which the rampart was built, and when the Turks drove out the Venetians in the mid-17th century, they kept the same idea - "on the sands" - for their new name, Koum Kapi. The region beyond the Sabbionara, to the east of Chania Old Town, is still known as Koum Kapi today. The rampart/bastion is sometimes called the Mocenigo bastion in honor of Zuane Mocenigo, the man who was governor general of Crete (Candia) at the time. The walls here have been through much since the 1590s: cannon balls, deconstruction, wind, waves, storms, the burrowing of animals big and small, birds, even insects... They all have left their mark. And yet, what strikes one most of all is how well this structure, originally designed by Michele Sanmicheli, has withstood time. Sure, there are two large swaths near the water line that have been replaced (the smoother section to the left [south] being the more recent. Yes, there are holes in the wall left by large stones tumbling into the sea at some catastrophic moment. Yes, there are cracks running up and down the wall, perhaps caused by one or two of the more violent earthquakes that hit Crete from time to time... or maybe they are just the result of the structure settling over the centuries during periods of high summer heat and relative winter cold. Beneath the water line one sees large sections of missing stones. At some point, one day, one hour, whether caused by a specific weather or geological event, or whether just some mystic moment in time, a large section of the wall will give out. The marvelous Walled Towns website offers a wealth of information about the construction of the walls here that you rarely find elsewhere: "The construction of the Venetian walls of Chania followed the usual practice of similar fortifications. The revetment of the main wall is of stronger construction, to withstand artillery attack, while the revetment of the inner wall, the counterscarp and the cavalier towers are less carefully built. The walls of Chania are more strongly built than any other contemporary fortifications in Crete.
The front face of the walls is built of locally quarried sandstone, carried to the city by ship. The work was paid for partly out of the public purse and partly by local taxation. The labour was supplied by the peasantry, who were subject to statute labour requirements, a situation that provoked serious displeasure and delays." The quarries where these stones were originally cut were located at least at the seashores of what we now call Stavros (on the Akrotiri peninsula to the east) and Agia Apostoloi (located to the west of Chania). Right at water's edge in these two places you can walk in and over the rocky areas that still bear the distinct scars of having oblong stones cut out of them. (Read about the Stavros quarry here.) There may well be other sources for some of these stones that I do not know of. The Walled Towns site describes in much detail the care that was taken in building all the walls around Chania, but adds, "The eastern gate, the Porta Sabbionara, which is preserved with modifications from the Ottoman era, was less carefully designed." High up on the southern end of the Sabbionara we can still see the remnants of the Venetian symbol of the lion encased in a circular frame above five plates that surely once bore important crests or coats of arms. These are long lost to wind and rain, while the lion is only barely intact anymore. The City of Chania began a major renovation of all ancient walls in the city approximately a year ago. This archaeological project has already transformed several sections of the city. So far the only major change to the Sabbionara is that all the beautiful trees creating a park on top of the rampart were cut out in order to conduct digs, and a simple, but beautiful, lighting system was added on the top rim of the wall. The old structure now rises up out of the sea stark and unadorned, much as it would have 400 years ago. When the Sea of Crete is storming, heavy waves crash against the wall and often leap into the air up over the upper reaches. On a day like today, with waters calmly caressing the stones, you can imagine this place lasting forever, no matter what signs of disrepair it may show.
All photos and text © copyright 2021 by John Freedman. If you wish to use either text or photos, I will almost surely grant permission as long as you do the courtesy of asking.
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