The museum of the painter Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco) is located opposite the Byzantine Church of Panagia at position Theotokiana, by Fodele. The building that houses the museum is believed to have been the house of the greatest Cretan painter (1541-1614)as he mentioned that he was born 25km northwest of Heraklion and next to a Byzantine Church.
The building operates since 1998 with an exhibition of replicas of works of El Greco. Also there is information about his family and a room has been transformed into a painting workshop.
El Greco was a great painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. Inspired by the Church of Panagia in Fodele, he soon became one of the most famous painters of the Venetian Candia (now’s Heraklion) and the Cretan School of Iconography.
He soon traveled to Venice, where he studied at the school of Titian, adopting elements of his teacher and Tintoretto (Mannerism).
In 1577 he moved to Toledo, Spain, where he met an an amazing career and soon acquired a dominant position among the best painters of all times, globally. His special painting brought him frequently before the Inquisition. He died in Toledo in 1614 without meeting his will to visit his home in Crete, as he often said.
