HOUSE OF ELEFTHERIOS VENIZELOS | Chania | Crete | Golden Greece
HOUSE OF ELEFTHERIOS VENIZELOS | Chania | Crete | Golden Greece
HOUSE OF ELEFTHERIOS VENIZELOS | Chania | Crete | Golden Greece
HOUSE OF ELEFTHERIOS VENIZELOS | Chania | Crete | Golden Greece
HOUSE OF ELEFTHERIOS VENIZELOS | Chania | Crete | Golden Greece
HOUSE OF ELEFTHERIOS VENIZELOS | Chania | Crete | Golden Greece
HOUSE OF ELEFTHERIOS VENIZELOS | Chania | Crete | Golden Greece

Chania

HOUSE OF ELEFTHERIOS VENIZELOS

(tel. 28210 95250)

The plot of the house (about 2,200 square meters), was bought by Eleftherios' father, Kyriakos, in 1876. A small two-story building pre-existed on the southeast side of the plot, which was preserved even after the construction of the new residence, which began in 1877 and ended in 1880. Eleftherios, who was born in Mournies, the fifth child out of a total of six in the family, was at that time a student in Athens. His father, a crockery merchant (glassware, etc.), took care to fill the house gardens with various trees and a small vineyard was planted to the east. The building, a typical villa-type two-story mansion of Halepa, like other pre-existing neighboring buildings (L. Lyguni buildings), had utility rooms on the ground floor and bedrooms, as well as the large reception hall on the first floor. In addition to the internal wooden staircase, the floors communicated with another external one with two legs, which led directly to the reception hall. This was lit by four large semicircular windows and in the middle the opening of the entrance. Kyriakos did not have time to enjoy his house, he died in 1883. Eleftherios lived there, especially after 1887 when he returned from Athens as a qualified lawyer. In 1889 he was elected as a Member of Parliament for the first time, while in December 1891 he married Maria Katelouzou, the woman he loved the most and settled on the first floor, while his mother and siblings stayed on the ground floor. His children, Kyriakos (1892) and Sophocles (1894), were also born there. Maria died of puerperal fever after the birth of Sophocles, and this death forever marked Lefteris, who, to show his mourning, he left the characteristic moustache, which since then accompanied his physiognomy, until his death. For the subsequent course of El. Venizelos and his evolution into a protagonist of local first and Pan-Hellenic and later Balkan history, is not of this page. Simply, let's mention that after he was dismissed by the prince (1901) he was imprisoned for a while and later preached the revolution of Therisos while living in the village of the same name.

Editor: Fotini Anastasopoulou