Near the ancient Minoan site of Knossos, about two kilometers away, in Agia Eirini Spilia (holy peace) you can find the Foundana aqueduct. It lies approximately 10 kilometers southeast of the capital Heraklion. At the time the Romans built an aqueduct here to supply the city of Knossos (then a Roman colony) with water. Water also ran through more than a kilometer long tunnel to the city. This was around the second century AD. The water comes from a spring in the Kounabiano gorge and was transported to the valley south of Spilia and to Knossos.

During the Venetian rule, the water supply was the main problem of the city of Heraklion (then named "Candia"). Therefore in 1639 the construction / rehabilitation was started of the aqueduct. During the Ottoman domination the aqueduct was not used. It was during the Egyptian rule (1830 1840) that the current aqueduct was built (1839) near the old Venetian aqueduct. The Egyptian soldiers also cleaned the 1180 meter long tunnel.