Assumption Cathedral, Chania, Roman Catholic cathedral in Chania, Greece
The Assumption Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Chania, built as a three-aisled basilica with neoclassical and Renaissance features. It was designed by architect Vitaliano Poselli and consecrated on 25 April 1879. The bell tower was added in 1882. The church stands on Odos Chalidon, with its entrance in the shopping street.
The first Catholic parish church after the Turkish conquest of 1645 was a small chapel in the Capuchin residence near the old harbour, founded in 1675. In the early 18th century the Capuchins moved their monastery to Odos Chalidon and placed a chapel dedicated to the Assumption on the ground floor. Under Egyptian rule (1830–1841), Father Serafim da Caltanissetta obtained permission to build a single-storey stone church, consecrated in 1844. When the Catholic Diocese of Crete was re-established in 1874 under Pope Pius IX, Bishop Aloisio Cannavo made the church a cathedral; it was demolished and replaced by a three-aisled basilica designed by Vitaliano Poselli, consecrated on 25 April 1879, with the bell tower added in 1882.
The cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Crete, a see originally created in 1213 and restored by Pope Pius IX in 1874. The church is run by the Capuchin Order, whose friars served Chania's Catholics from a chapel near the old harbour in 1675 and later from a monastery on Odos Chalidon.
The cathedral is at Odos Chalidon 46, and the entrance opens directly onto this shopping street. The 1855 gate on Chalidon leads into the church; there is no separate inner courtyard to navigate.
The cathedral's address is Odos Chalidon 46, and its entrance opens onto the shopping street through a gate cut in 1855. The first Catholic chapel after the Turkish conquest of 1645 stood in the Capuchin residence near the old harbour, and the Capuchins later moved to Chalidon Street.
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