Ruga Magistra, known today as Martyrs of 25th August Street, was the main thoroughfare running north to south through the city, linking the harbour with the southern gate (Porta Maestra, later known as Portone and Voltone). Along this route, the first urban centre and the administrative heart of the Venetian city developed.

Upon entering the city through the imposing southern gate, visitors would encounter the Piazza dei Signiori — the Lords’ Square — which extended to what is now Kallergon Square. This plaza was flanked by the principal public buildings, modelled after Venice’s Piazza San Marco: the Palace of the Duke of Crete, the ducal church of Saint Mark, the Palace of the General Provveditore, the Palace of the Captain General (Capitan Grande), and the Noblemen’s Club (Loggia).

To the west, the main square connected with a second square formed between the Ducal Palace to the north and the Granary to the south, which gave its name to Piazza delle Biade — the Grain Square, now known as Eleftheriou Venizelou Square. At its centre still stands the ornate fountain, constructed in 1628 by General Provveditore Francesco Morosini.

Along the remainder of Ruga Magistra towards the harbour were the grand residences of nobles, wealthy citizens, and officials. None of these survive today, except for the splendid doorway of a Venetian mansion which, in the 19th century, housed Dr. Ittar on Epimenidou Street — now part of the Basilica of Saint Mark.

The thoroughfare ended at the Mole Gate, leading to the north-western pier, which probably existed since the Byzantine era. On the eastern side of this terminus, a later gate provided access to the western shipyards complex.

The function of Ruga Magistra changed significantly after the fall of Candia to the Ottomans in 1669. Numerous small shops, often makeshift conversions of once grand Venetian mansions, along with minarets replacing tower-like bell towers, and buildings of Ottoman architectural style came to characterise the street. The luxurious Venetian palaces were occupied by Ottoman officials. Even if some Venetian houses on Ruga Magistra survived various alterations until the early 19th century, it is highly doubtful they withstood the destructive force of the two major earthquakes in 1810 and 1856, which devastated almost all the grand public buildings along the same street. Their destruction was completed on 25 August 1898, Saint Titus’s feast day. The bloody events that accompanied the uprising of the Bazbouzouk Turks during the handover ceremony of the Customs House by the Great Powers to Heraklion’s Stylianos Alexiou — the massacre of Christians, the looting, and the terrible fire that destroyed nearly all the buildings on the historic street — left an indelible mark on the island’s path to independence.

In an attempt to erase all memory of the Ottoman past, the city’s main street, renamed Martyrs of 25th August Street, was designed to give visitors arriving from the harbour the impression of a modern city. The deceptive scene of splendid neoclassical buildings constructed on the ashes is vividly captured in the local nickname for the street: “the street of illusion”.