The tomb of the great Cretan writer Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) is located at the highest point of the Walls of Heraklion, at the Martinengo Bastion, offering panoramic views of Heraklion’s stark yet historically rich concrete cityscape. His works—The Last Temptation of Christ, Christ Recrucified, and Captain Michalis—were labeled “anti-Christian” and “blasphemous,” bringing the Church close to excommunicating him in 1955. The excommunication never happened, but the Church of Greece requested a ban on the circulation of his books.
Nikos Kazantzakis died of leukemia on October 26, 1957, in Germany. When his body arrived in Athens on November 4, the Archbishop of Athens, Theoklitos, did not allow it to lie in state in an Athenian church. Consequently, the body remained in the mortuary until its return to his homeland, Crete.
On November 5, the body was placed in public view at the Church of Saint Minas. The following morning, a funeral service was held by the Metropolitan of Crete, Eugenios, in the presence of the Minister of Education, Gerokostopoulos, while outside the church, fanatics burned newspapers and shouted. The body was then transported to Kazantzakis’ final resting place at the Martinengo Bastion, accompanied by a massive crowd.
The tomb itself is simple, marked by a wooden cross and a plaque engraved with his famous words:
"I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free."
