On the northwest side of the port of Chania, the Venetians built the Revellino del Porto, a fortification able to prevent any hostile attack to the port. Its construction began in mid-16th century and was completed a few years before the fall of the city to the Turks in 1645.
The interior of the fortress is well equipped with barracks and ammunition storage areas. Also, the place used to function as the headquarters of the military commander of the city. In the middle of the courtyard there is a large vaulted tank which was used to gather the water of the rain. On the north side of Revellino you can see six consecutive arches with one large cannon on each dome. They were designed in this way so that the fire of the cannons would cover the harbor entrance.
During the Turkish occupation, Revellino was mainly used as barracks (Firka = barracks), thus the name Firkas Fortress. The vaulted shooting sites were used as prisons during the Turkish occupation until the years of the civil war. On December 1st, 1913 the flag of the union of Crete with the rest of Greece was raised on one of the corner towers of the fortress.
