The old town, built around the Venetian port, is in itself a separate area where Venetian buildings and Turkish features compose a special architectural whole. It is the historic centre of Chania where the Venetian walls mark the boundary sport ween the old and the modern version of the town and their numerous ramparts. The old town has a conservation status. It consists of five neighbourhoods that are linked to each other and embrace the Venetian port. The old town was designed by Michelle Sanmichelli, who in 1538 changed the town's exterior walls by giving them a rectangular shape, with bastions or ramparts at the four corners, eight additional ramparts at key points and moats, apparently as a result of the attack by Barbarossa the pirate in 1537.
The protection of the town of Chania was completed by building castles on the adjacent small islands of Thodoros, Souda and Gramvoussa, which constitute forefronts in the event of an attack from the sea. The lighthouse is at the end of the jetty that protects the port on the northern side. The lighthouse was built by the Venetians in 1570 and repaired by the Egyptians in 1830 when it was given its current form.
The neighbourhood of Splanzia (or Plaza), which corresponds to the old Turkish neighbourhood, is east of the Old Town. This is where the church of Agii Anargiri, the only Orthodox Church with a license to operate during the Venetian and later Turkish era, and Sindrivani Square are situated. Excavations in this square brought to light a Turkish hamam and a Venetian reservoir that could cover the town's needs in water for six months.