Siege of Candia

The year 2019 marked 400 years since the birth of Francesco Morosini (1619-94), who was elected doge of Venice in 1688, and Maria Georgopoulou, director of the Gennadius Library, and Alexis Malliaris, archivist at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, have curated an exhibition that showcases several important events in his military and administrative career.

The fall of the Venetian port of Candia - the modern-day city of Iraklio - to the Ottomans in September 1669 was an event of such geopolitical and cultural significance that its impact was felt well beyond Crete, stretching across the Western world and to the east.

Most people in Greece associate the name Candia with the Cretan wine brand. Fewer know of the 21-year Siege of Candia in the 1600s that resulted in Crete passing from Venetian control into the hands of the Ottomans or that Candia was the name of present-day Iraklio.