House of the Councils
The House of the Councils is located inside the Fortezza Fortress in the city of Rethymno and, particularly, on the Agias Ioustinis Street. It was called the House of the Councils because one of the two Councils of the Venetian administration resided there, while the second ought to live inside the city in order to keep an eye on it and to secure order.
The two-storey building, which belonged to a Cretan noble Frangiskos Lombardos and was sold by him to the Venetians for 8,000 hyperpyrons (Byzantine coin), consists of a corridor on both sides of which there are four chambers, two on each side. On the second floor there is also a corridor with four chambers and a place surmounted by a small dome that probably functioned as a bath.
Nowadays, the House of the Councils has been fully restored and houses the icon maintenance workshop of the 28th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities.
