Arkadi

The Abbey of Arkadi abstains hardly 10' minutes from Margarites. For the Cretans this monastery it is the holier symbol of their fight for the freedom. In 1866, when it was declared the Cretan Revolution, were assembled here the heads of rebels in order to direct the Revolution. The head of Turkish forces asked from the abbot Gavril Marinaki (where he came from Margarites) to turn away the committee of rebels, differently he would destroy the monastery. In the all refusal of abbot, Passas assembled 15.000 Turkish with 30 cannons and on 7 November 1866 he began against the Abbey of Arkadi. In the monastery existed 964 individuals (from them 259 were warriors, monks and territorial, while the 705 were women and children). The battle that followed was completely unequal and the rebels did not have any hope. Nevertheless they fought bravely, causing big losses in Turks.