Why go
The city’s old name, Candia, makes sense when you trace its Venetian fabric: a harbour fortress, arsenals, walls, fountains and the Loggia. Morosini Fountain at Lions Square and Bembo Fountain on Kornarou Square show that waterworks were also public monuments. This is context for an ordinary centre walk, not a separate attraction.
The full story
The city now called Heraklion was known as Chandax after the Emirate of Crete established a fortified centre here. Venice later called it Candia, a name also used for Crete as a whole. That history is easier to grasp by looking at the city’s surviving parts than by memorising its names. At the harbour, Koules Fortress guarded the entrance and the arsenals served maritime work. The large walls set the edge of the old city. Within them, the Loggia expressed Venetian civic authority, while public fountains brought designed stonework into everyday squares. Morosini Fountain remains the focus of Lions Square; Bembo Fountain incorporates an older sculptural fragment. These structures are not all from one building campaign, and the modern streets have changed around them. Together they reveal a port whose defence, administration and public life were closely connected.