Naxos ...more on Naxos Town

... One needs an extra role of film just to take pictures of some interesting houses with various architectural designs located in the streets surrounding the Palace of the Dukes.  A number of them have cheerful courtyards filled with flowers.

           

The palace itself, with its seven towers, was originally built by Marco Sanudo in the 12th century and has been restored in order to house the small Archaeological Museum.  The museum contains finds from the island which date from the 3rd millennium B.C. to the Roman Times, but its main points of interest are covering the Cycladic era and the Mycenean Civilization.  There are a great many Cycladic sculptures inside, plus pottery and a mosaic of Europa. 

 

Not far from the Palace of the Dukes is the 13th century Catholic cathedral called Ipapandi or Candlemas, dedicated to the Virgin Mary.  The cathedral was built by Sanudo and paved with heraldic tombstones.  It was restored in the 16th and 17th centuries by the large Catholic population on the island.

 

Worth a visit are the remains of several dwellings once owned by Venetian Lords and decorated with coats-of-arms.  The walls of the old town have mostly disappeared.  Also in the town, among the many churches one will find, is the Panagia Theoskepastos church, which contains a remarkable 14th century icon of the Crucifixion.  Near the harbor is the little church of St. Anthony the Hermit, built by the Knights of Rhodes during the 15th century.  One can see an interesting iconostasis of the 18th century at the Metropolis of Zoodochos Pygi.  Like many churches in Greece, this one as well was built by using building material from older churches and ancient temples. 

 

The church of Pantanassa once belonged to a Byzantine monastery of the 11th century.  It has recently been restored and contains the miraculous icon of the Virgin, painted in the eighth century.  Other churches of interest in town are the Virgin Chryssopolitissa, which was built near the sea where the miraculous icon of the Virgin was found, and the 17th century church of Agia Kyriaki, which contains icons from the 13th and 16th centuries.