Venizelio Conservatory (Odeio)

Venizelio Conservatory is located at Nikiforos Fokas street, at a very close distance from the East Moat. Both of the buildings are under the property of the Association for the Dissemination of Fine Arts in Crete. Its construction began in 1931 and ended in 1933. Elena, the wife of Eleftherios Venizelos, is the person who brought the designs of the construction from France and beard the expenses.

Venizelio Conservatory is housed in a classy, neoclassical building that costed 2,000,000 drachmas (the currency of Greece at the time). The manufacturer of Venizelio Conservatory was Constantine Ligidakis. The building includes an auditorium with a stage and a balcony (that has 300 seats of total capacity), that is widely known for the high quality of its acoustics.

The war and the German occupation caused major damages to the building and to the movable property of Venizelio Conservatory. The concert hall was completely destroyed by bombing and all the instruments of the orchestra, as well as several pianos, were burned. In addition to the above, conquerors removed everything, including furniture, seats in the concert hall, etc. in order to convert Venizelio Conservatory into a storage room for timber.

Venizelio Conservatory reopened after May 1945, with the departure of the conquerors.

Today, the Choir of Chania, as well as the Municipal Regional Theatre of Crete, are hosted on the premises of Venizelio Conservatory.