The village of Mitropoli and the excavations at Mitropoli on the island of Crete

Mitropoli is a small village with about 400 inhabitants located in the south of the Heraklion district, just below the slightly larger village of Agii Deka and the ancient city of Gortyna. The village can be reached via a junction of the route between Agii Deka and the town of Mires. Before you enter the village of Mitropoli you will find excavations and remains of ancient times on both sides of the road in large fields. They are mostly pieces of old walls and many remains of pillars. On the site, remains of a farm dating back to Minoan time and of a great early Christian basilica from the 5th century dedicated to St. Titus were revealed. This basilica is the largest ever found in Crete, and it measured 67 x 33 meters in size. In the year 670 it was destroyed by an earthquake and in 1978 it was accidentally discovered that it was buried under the ground here. On the east side of the road are still remains of two temples: the temple of the Egyptian gods and the temple of Apollo.