Getting off the beaten track in Crete on a road trip to the Greek island’s rebellious heart

Len Williams

I am standing in a narrow, rectangular room in one corner of the Arkadi Monastery in central Crete. The space is open to the elements, but you can see where the vaulted ceiling once began. At the far end of the room, a mural depicts a Greek Orthodox priest holding a cross in one hand, and a candle in the other. Surrounding him are depictions of terrified-looking women and children.

The artwork imagines the final moments of several hundred Cretans who were hiding in the room after the besieged monastery was overrun by Ottoman troops on 9 November 1866. Rather than be taken prisoner, a priest lit gunpowder kegs, blowing off the roof and killing everyone inside.