On the Greek island of Crete, 23 kilometres south east of Rethimnon on a small plateau at the foot of the Psiloritis Mountains, is the Arkádi Monastery, a building that contains a moving history of the island’s struggle for liberty against the Turks.

The remote monastery was built in 1587 at the time of the ‘Cretian Renaissance’ and in November, 1866, nine hundred and sixty-four Cretians secured themselves within its walls in protest against the continued Turkish occupation of the island.

Fifteen thousand Turkish solders assailed the monastery and an unequal fight began. One of the monastery’s brave defender’s set a fuse to the monastery’s ammunition store which resulted in a massive explosion killing both attackers and defenders alike.

Although the Arkádi Monastery doesn’t contain any spectacular works of art, it possesses its own unique atmosphere and one that recalls a courageous struggle for the liberty of Crete.