Crete has a large art legacy that has reached its peak even at the Early Prehistoric age. Architecture, painting, sculpture, music and poetry are included in the evolution of Cretan civilization. Nowadays, Crete still a cultural conveyor, has integrate the art of cinema in its identity. The open –air “Cine Creta Maris" is a modern cultural space, the largest space on a European scale. it is constructed with a form of an ancient theatre with excellent acoustics and amphitheatrical vision. The Cine Creta Maris accommodations lies on Hersonissos, one of the most popular tourist resorts in Crete, located 28km east of Heraklion.
Pottery and other traces of habitation placed the history of Hersonissos on the Minoan times, when the city of "Cherronesos" or "Chersonesos" stood on the site of the present region and the small hill of Kastri above the harbor. In the years after the destruction of the Minoan civilization, Hersonissos continued to be inhabited. In Hellenistic times it became the port of the Dorian city "Lyttos", which had become very powerful. Also a cemetery of 30 tombs also belongs to the same period. The city also flourished during Roman and Byzantine period, acquired its own theatre, aqueduct and public baths. Later on, the fear of pirate raids forced the inhabitants to move far inland and establish the village of Αno Hersonissos. Since the 1960, Hersonissos became a famous tourist resort and the first hotels were built. Tourist development continued over the following decades and today Hersonissos is still growing, welcoming more and more tourists every summer.
