The town’s main thoroughfare (Ruga Maistra) in the Venetian times is now known as 25th August St. Then as now, it linked the port to the main town square and was lined with the finest buildings – the Loggia, the Palazzo Ducale and the Palazzo del Capitano.

In order to maintain the appearance of the street, the Venetians passed strict legislation on construction plans and housing facades, which had to be made of finely cut stone of the same dimensions all the way up the building, according to the isodome system.

Under Ottoman rule the richest merchants from both ethnic groups established themselves on the same street, which then became as the Vezir Tsarsi.

As the 19th century drew to a close, on 25th August 1898, this was the site of one of the most tragic moments in the town’s history, which was to signal the end of Turkish dominion over the island. The name still used for the street commemorates that event.

In the early 20th century, resplendent neoclassical buildings were erected along the same street.