The Cathedral of Chania, better known as the Cathedral of the Three Martyrs, is one of the most important temples of the island of Crete. The Cathedral is located in the historic centre of Chania, East street Haledon, on Mitropoleos square (the square of Athenagoras), close to the Venetian harbour.

In the period of the Venetian occupation on the site of the Cathedral of the Three Martyrs was located another temple – the Church of the virgin, which was supposedly built in the 14th century. Once in 1645 the Turks seized the city of Chania, the Church was converted into a soap factory. The main relic of the temple is the icon of the virgin Mary has long been kept in the warehouse.

In the 19th century, the factory belonged to the family of Mustafa naili Pasha Giritli (Governor of Crete and later the Grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire). According to local legend, one of the employees at the factory had a vision in which the virgin Mary appeared to him and asked him to pick up the icon and save it. The man did not dare to disobey, and thus the icon left the walls of the temple. Some time later, the son of Mustafa Pasha fell into the well behind the Church, and a devout Muslim, being in despair, turned to prayer to the virgin Mary asking him to save the child. In exchange Mustafa vowed to return to the Christians their Church. The child was miraculously saved, and the factory together with the land were transferred to the Christian community of Chania for the construction of a new Church. The construction of the Cathedral of the Three Martyrs was completed in the early 1860s,. The icon of the virgin was returned to the temple. With the financial support of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II at the end of the 19th century in the Cathedral had been repaired and cast a new bell.

Today the Cathedral of the Three Martyrs is a three-nave Basilica in neo-classical style with a tall bell tower on the Northwest side of the temple. In the design of the facade sculptural pseudo-columns, cornices and archways. The Cathedral's interior is decorated with works of famous Greek artists. On the Cathedral square there is a monument to Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras.