Chania Selino Fortress

Location: Paleochora

Located on the hill of Fortentza near Paleochora, at an altitude of 500 meters, the Fortress of Selino (Castel Selino) dates back to the Venetian Period and more specifically, the 13th century.

It was initially built around 1280 by a Venetian duke, although it had to be reconstructed after its destruction by revolutionists in 1332. A large part of it was restored in 1595 and the fortress also survived the Ottoman occupation period, until it was destroyed in 1539 by Barbarossa. Then, it was rebuilt by Benetto Dolfin in 1596. It was ultimately abandoned in 1653.
The most recent construction works in this area took place in 1867 by the Turks and its facilities were also used during the Second World War.
A few small-scale restoration projects were implemented only after 1970, although the fortress had already been a listed monument since the 1940's.

The building complex of the castle consists of its exterior walls, towers that were constructed for defensive purposes, remnants of 2-level buildings, water tanks and a church with murals. Various archeological findings were recovered in the area of the fortress and most of them have been transferred. Mainly ruins survived and can currently be seen in the castle.

A fun fact about the Fortress has to do with its name; Selino means celery in Greek and it is believed that it was named like that due to extensive celery farming in the region surrounding the castle.