Analysis of the surface of the walls and the building techniques and materials, showing the restoration phases and the repair works The construction of the Venetian walls of Chania followed the usual practice of similar fortifications. The revetment of the main wall is of stronger construction, to withstand artillery attack, while the revetment of the inner wall, the counterscarp and the cavalier towers are less carefully built. The walls of Chania are more strongly built than any other contemporary fortifications in Crete. The front face of the walls is built of locally quarried sandstone, carried to the city by ship. The work was paid for partly out of the public purse and partly by local taxation. The labour was supplied by the peasantry, who were subject to statute labour requirements, a situation that provoked serious displeasure and delays. The work was overseen by military engineers from Venice and local officers. The first step was the tracing of the line of the walls on the ground, initially according to the plans drafted by Michele Sanmichieli but with subsequent modifications. This was followed by the excavations for the foundations of the bastions. The rocky ground, which appears to have been sought out persistently, is the principle reason why the monument is in such good condition today. The main face of the fortifications was built of squared sandstone blocks and lime mortar, richly applied to form a thick irregular joint. The scarp revetment is built much more thickly at the base, tapering gradually towards the top, where it is crowned by a semi-round cordon, which serves as the base for the parapet – masonry built and plastered over. Some of the salients of the bastions, one example being the Lando, were built of roughly hewn boulders, placed according to the “pugnato” technique. This method was also used for the construction of the main central gate, the Porta Retimiotta. The eastern gate, the Porta Sabbionara, which is preserved with modifications from the Ottoman era, was less carefully designed. The inner face of the walls was built of rough-hewn stones “swimming” in rich mortar, and displays excellent cohesion. The eastern curtain wall and the inside of the Piatta Forma bastion were reinforced with dense, rectangular inner buttresses (speroni) that were covered over by the earth of terrepleins. The inner wall, which retains the terreplein on the city side, was built of rough stone with plenty of mortar, but it is weaker because of the absence of an escarpment. Much of this wall has as a result been destroyed, especially on the eastern side, while in many places it is no longer upright. The terrepleins were constructed with the earth locally excavated for the defensive ditch. The fortifications are surrounded by a broad dry ditch, designed to prevent the enemy from approaching the walls. On the east and west sides much of the ditch is dug into the same rocky ground upon which the fortifications are raised. The stone from the excavations was used mainly to build non-visible parts of the revetment masonry. The counterscarp that retains the slopes of the ditch facing the walls is also built of common masonry, which in many places, especially on the western side, has collapsed under the thrust of the earth. Although very solidly built, the walls of Chania could not withstand the brief Turkish siege in the summer of 1645. The surface of the Lando bastion has evidently been extensively repaired after heavy cannon fire. At one place on the revetment of the bastion there were even Turkish inscriptions recording the names of the craftsmen. Extensive repairs to the Porta Sabbionara are also evident, drastically reducing its span and reconstructing large parts of the revetment of the adjoining curtain wall. Similar interventions were made to the Porta Retimiotta, which was subsequently torn down. The records by Giuseppe Gerona also mention repairs to the Piatta Forma. The Lando cavalier tower shows signs of extensive interventions, as well as the removal of much of the masonry from one part of the south side: this material was later incorporated into the reconstruction. With the end of Turkish rule, as the fortifications lost their reason for existence, large sections of the walls were pulled down to allow the old and new parts of the city to coalesce. In recent years the 13th Directorate of Byzantine Antiquities has carried out consolidation and restoration works on the fortifications at several points. To wit: A large number of holes in the masonry of the eastern and southern curtain walls were filled with rough stone and lime mortar; the western part of the Piatta Forma bastion was cleared, and the upper sections that had been destroyed in the construction of the Municipal Market were rebuilt; similar restoration work was carried out on part of the southeast curtain wall, which was discovered in the courtyard of the 7th Public School, and on the adjacent Santa Lucia bastion; extensive repairs were made to a large breach in the Sabbionara bastion caused by undermining from the sea; the parapet of the Lando bastion was repaired and consolidated. Work on the San Nicolò cavalier tower included extensive consolidation of the circumferential masonry, restoration of the terreplein over a considerable area, and reconstruction of the embrasures and the paved perimeter path, as well as of the inclined access slope. Smaller interventions were carried out in various other parts of the fortifications. All interventions to the walls of Chania were made solely with the use of traditional construction methods and appropriate materials. Thus, the revetment of the walls was restored using material from the original quarry, and the breaches in the walls were filled with strong masonry. Similar interventions were made to the Venetian breakwater and to the Rivellino del Porto (Firka Fortress). The objective was to recover as much as possible of the fortifications of the city in the best possible manner, so as not to create a false image. At the same time, the costly work of expropriation along the line of the ditches and at other points is continuing satisfactorily. This is an important monument, and it is imperative that its restoration be continued and intensified.