Kandanos

Kandanos or Kantanos is located on the 58th km of the national road Chania-Palaiochora, in the centre a verdant basin covered in olive trees.
Etymologically, the name “Kandanos” stems from the ancient Greek term “Kantania” that possibly means “town of victory”. Since no major archaeological research has been done yet in the area, the information about Kandanos is scant.
Kandanos seems to have been a particularly thriving area in Roman times. The only excavation carried out in the village (in 1937) brought to light the foundations of a large building that was probably part of the praetorium of the area, as the plinth of the statue bears an inscription dedicated to Emperor Septimius Severus.
The sources of information about the area in Byzantine times are more abundant. For more than a millennium, Kandanos was an episcopate with representatives attending three ecumenical synods. The plethora of Byzantine chapels in Kandanos as well as in the peripheral settlements (Floria, Spina, Trachiniakos, Koufalotos, Kavalariana, Anisaraki, Plemeniana) testifies to the intense religious life of the area highlights Kandanos as a true museum of Byzantine hagiography. Special mention should be made of the church of Saint John the Forerunner (Prodromos) in Trachiniako and of Michael the Archangel in Kavalariana, who were portrayed in hagiographies by Ioannis Pagomenos, a famous painter of the time, as well as of the church of Saint Anna in Anisaraki, which houses a rare iconographic detail of the newborn Virgin Mary being nursed by her mother, Anna.
During the Turkish Domination, the area of Kandanos was mostly occupied by the Turks, since the Greek population had fled to the mountain villages of eastern Selinos. Kandanos was the Turkish commander’s headquarters, whose residency was located on the hill, where the Police Department and Elementary School now stand.
During W.W.II, the people of Kandanos experienced their most tragic and at the same time heroic moments. In May 1941, the German invaders parachuted to Maleme and headed for Palaiochora, where they faced the determined resistance from the occupied populations of Kandanos and the surrounding areas. The battles fought, first in Floria and then in the gorge of Kandanos, caused many casualties among the Germans troops, which also made them lose precious time. Kandanos and the surrounding settlements were totally destroyed as reprisals, and three tablets were erected on each entry of the village as trophies, with inscriptions in German and Greek. One of them read: “Here stood Kandanos, destroyed in retribution for the murder of 25 German soldiers, never to be rebuilt again.” Copies of these inscriptions are exhibited in the main village square.
Today there are about 500 inhabitants in Kandanos, mainly active in agriculture and animal husbandry. Olive oil is the main product of the village. The olive grove of Kandanos covers almost the whole basin and many of its olive trees are perennial, with impressive dimensions and yield. A characteristic example, the monumental olive tree near the church of Saint George in Anisaraki.