Morosini Fountain

The Morosini Fountain stands in Lions Square in the middle of Heraklion and takes its name from Francesco Morosini, the Venetian governor of Crete who ordered it in the 1620s, completed in 1628. Morosini later became Doge of Venice and is remembered as the commander who led the defence of Candia during the long Ottoman siege and, in the 1680s, conquered the Peloponnese for the Republic. The fountain is one of the few monuments in Heraklion that survives from his time, and it is among the finest examples of Venetian Renaissance work on Crete.

The fountain solved a practical problem. Candia had grown crowded and short of fresh water, so the Venetians built an aqueduct some fifteen kilometres long to bring water from springs on the slopes of Mount Juktas, near Archanes, into the city. The fountain was the point where it came out into public use, and people would queue with jugs to collect water. The works were a major civil engineering project, and the aqueduct continued to supply the city for a very long time.

The structure is a large basin held up by four lions, each spouting water from its mouth. The lions represent the Republic of Venice, whose emblem is the winged lion of Saint Mark. The basin is decorated with reliefs of tritons, nereids and other sea creatures, in a style that mixes classical themes with Renaissance forms, and a statue of Neptune once stood at the centre but is no longer there. Over the centuries, the stonework weathered and suffered damage, and it has been conserved and cleaned.

Today, the square around it is the social centre of the city, lined with cafes and restaurants, and the fountain is a meeting point for friends. Pedestrian streets lead to the Venetian Loggia, the Cathedral of Agios Minas and the Old Harbour, so it is a good place to begin a walk through the historic centre. The best time to see the carving is in the morning, when the light is low and the square is quiet.

It is open at all hours and free to see. Take a few moments to look at the details of the lions and reliefs, since they are easy to miss in the bustle of the square.