348 Georgopoulou
Obviously topographical specificities also played a role in urban design. For
instance, whereas in Candia the terrain is flat, in the case of Canea (Chania) and
Retimo (Rethymnon), where the city walls were built on the neighbouring hill-
top, the main public spaces of the city (e.g. the loggia, the principal fountain of
the city, and the market square) were located outside the acropolis near the port.
At the beginning of the 15th century a large empty space outside the castrum
served as a platea. It had been decided that this area should be left open with-
out any buildings on it.64 As the old plans of Rethymnon indicate, the impres-
sive loggia which now serves as the Archaeological Museum of Rethymnon, still
stands at the spot of the original medieval building, but we possess no specific
documentary information on the earlier architectural history of the structure.65
Finally, symbols were paramount in proclaiming the munificence of Vene-
tian officials or the state in a direct or indirect way. Numerous coats of arms
broadcasted the names of high officials who had sponsored public buildings.
The symbol of the Venetian Republic was a sign of submission and allegiance.
The lion of St Mark carved on the castellum in the port of Candia or a similar
looking griffin on a portal across from the church of St Paraskeve in Negroponte
(Chalkis) obviously identifies an administrative palace (Figure 10.5). Although
the overwhelming presence of lions of Venice and coats of arms of several offi-
cials take prominent position in the 16th century according to a widespread
practice of Italian Renaissance culture, it is not known how extensively they
were used in earlier periods.
Another category of highly symbolic features that promoted colonial rule
was a series of public works, such as fountains and clock towers, which brought
the Mediterranean colonies of Venice into the realm of sophisticated early
modern cities. The highly ornate Rimondi fountain that still dominates the
northern side of the piazza of the lower city of Rethymnon was remodeled in
1625–26 (Figure 10.6), but an older fountain occupied the centre of the piazza
64 Hippolyte Noiret, ed., Documents inédits pour servir à l’histoire de la domination vénitienne
en Crète de 1380 à 1485, (Paris, 1892), p. 252, dated 29 August 1416. A decision of the Senate
forbade the rectors from conceding the area of the platea for the construction of build-
ings, because these buildings would abut the castrum.
65 Jordan Dimakopoulos, “Η Lozza τoυ Ρεθύμvoυ: έvα αξιόλoγo έργo της αρχιτεκτονικής τoυ
Michele Sanmicheli στή Κρήτη” [“The Loggia of Rethymno. An important Piece of the
Architecture of Michele Sanmicheli in Crete”], in Πεπραγμένα Γ ́ Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού
Συνεδρίου [Proceedings of the Third International Cretological Congress], 3 vols. (Athens
1974), 2:64–83. Based on the rusticated masonry, Dimakopoulos proposed that the actual
building belongs to the building campaign of Michele Sanmicheli in 1538–40 or to his
nephew Giangirolamo Sanmicheli (1542–49). The loggia is shown on a map of the city
for the first time in 1559. See also the photographs published by Gerola, Monumenti veneti
(1917), 3:63–68.