Gonia

Gonia is a village in the prefecture of Rethymno, located on the national road Rethymno-Chania, approximately 12 km southwest of the city of Rethymno.

Built on a hill with a panoramic view, at an altitude of 220 meters, Gonia was constructed during the Venetian rule, around 1350, by local Cretans, who came from the surrounding villages and settled in a corner (=gonia) of a little valley, named Little Gonia (to distinguish it from Great Gonia or Asi Gonia).

During the years of the Ottoman rule, the village was burnt down three times by the Turks in 1770, 1821 and 1866, due to the participation of its residents in various revolutions.

The parish church of the Gonia village is Agios Ioannis Theologos. This church with its carved iconostasis, standing in the middle of the village, was renovated in 1887. According to a local tradition, in order for the Turks not to burn the icons of the church, the Parish Committee hid them in a crypt of the chapel of Peter and Paul. One image was found a few years ago. It was maintained and now can be seen on the iconostasis of the church.

Other significant churches are the church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary at site Traoutsi, where a big feast of the village is being held every year, the church of Agios Antonios, the chapel of Agios Charalampos, the church of the Birth of the Virgin, the cave church of Agios Petros and Pavlos and many more.

As of the 1990s, the development of the village has begun, since quite a few residents from other places had settled here. Since then, various businesses have been operating in the Gonia village, such as taverns, mini market, cheese making unit and some small local businesses.