ot far from Khania, the administrative
center of Crete, rises the Hill of Prophet Elijah
(Profitis Ilias). A beautiful view of
Khania (ill. 1, 3) opens up from a terrace adorned
with a statue representing Liberty, a gift from the
American people (ill. 2). Not far from the terrace,
between the statue and the 16th-century church of the
Prophet Elijah renovated in 1899 at the expense of the
tsar Nicholas II of Russia (ill. 7-9), lay the simple,
unadorned tombs
of Eleutherios Venizelos and his son, Sofoklis (ill.
4, 6). Eleutherios Venizelos (1864-1936) was a
dominant figure in Cretan and Greek political
life. A proponent of the idea of Greece spanning
five seas and two continents (Megalh
Idea), he is still admired as one of the greatest
patriots and statesmen Greece has ever had. On the wall that
surrounds the tombs of the father and son, a fragment
of a patriotic poem by Kostis Palamas declares:
"If any adornments befit the tomb/ place
an upright pillar candle on top of it/ with a flame
which, like Greece, cannot be extinguished" (ill.
5).
ot far from Khania, the administrative
center of Crete, rises the Hill of Prophet Elijah
(Profitis Ilias). A beautiful view of
Khania (ill. 1, 3) opens up from a terrace adorned
with a statue representing Liberty, a gift from the
American people (ill. 2). Not far from the terrace,
between the statue and the 16th-century church of the
Prophet Elijah renovated in 1899 at the expense of the
tsar Nicholas II of Russia (ill. 7-9), lay the simple,
unadorned tombs
of Eleutherios Venizelos and his son, Sofoklis (ill.
4, 6). Eleutherios Venizelos (1864-1936) was a
dominant figure in Cretan and Greek political
life. A proponent of the idea of Greece spanning
five seas and two continents (Megalh
Idea), he is still admired as one of the greatest
patriots and statesmen Greece has ever had. On the wall that
surrounds the tombs of the father and son, a fragment
of a patriotic poem by Kostis Palamas declares:
"If any adornments befit the tomb/ place
an upright pillar candle on top of it/ with a flame
which, like Greece, cannot be extinguished" (ill.
5).