Archaeological Museum of Heraklion

The Archaeological Museum of Heraklion houses the most important and representative finds of the Minoan civilization.
The foundation of the first museum (1904-1912) is owed to the efforts of two Cretan archaeologists, Joseph Chatzidakis and Stephanos Xanthoudides of the Archaeological Service. It housed the valuable finds from Crete until 1937, when the construction of the modern, anti-seismic building was begun. Thanks to the efforts of Prof. Nicolaos Platon, the treasures of the museum survived during World War II, although the building was seriously damaged.
The task of rearranging the exhibition was undertaken by Prof. N. Platon in 1951 and in 1952 the finds were again on display.

In 1964, a new wing was added and the arrangement of the exhibits was completed by the Director S Alexiou. Thus the museum today has in all, twenty rooms containing artefacts from the palaces, houses, tombs and caves of Crete. The exhibition of the Museum is organized in chronological order, ranging from the Neolithic period to the Roman era (4th century AD) and geographically, according to the provenance of the finds.

There are several groups of finds exhibited in separate rooms:
1. All the LM III sarcophagi are displayed in Room XIII, the Minoan frescoes in Rooms XIV-XVI and the sculptures, reliefs, statues and architectural parts, in Rooms XIX-XX.
2. The S Giamalakis collection, which was bought by the Greek State in 1962, is now on display in Room XVII.
3. A collection of inscriptions is exhibited in a fenced, sheltered open space opposite the Museum.
4. The archaeological collection of Archanes.
5. The "Glyptotheke" of Gortyn, is exhibited at the archaeological site of Gortyn

Collection of St Catherine of Sinai

The Agia Aikaterine of Sinai Monastery, which originally was a dependency of the Monastery of the same name on Mount Sinai and today belongs to the Metropolitan church of Agios Minas, was an important cultural and artistic centre of Crete under Venetian occupation, until the capture of Chandax (Herakleion) by the Ottoman Turks in the 17th century (1669).

During the Venetian occupation, the Monastery housed a school, in which it is said, that many important men of letters taught in the 16th century; among them were Ioannis Morezenos, Ioasaph Doreianos, Ieremias Palladas. Students of the same school were the later patriarchs Meletios Pegas, Kyrillos Loukaris and Meletios Vlastos.

The preserved catholicon of the Monastery and the chapel of Agioi Deka today house a collection of representative works of the Cretan Byzantine and post Byzantine art, which functions under the auspices of the Communication and Education Department of the Holy Archbishopric of Crete. Among the exhibits are the icons attributed to the painter Angelos, one of the most famous painters of the 15th century, as well as the six icons by Michael Damaskenos, some of the most important works of the Cretan School during the 16th century. The 13th Commission of Byzantine Antiquities has also included in this collection, detached wall paintings from the church of Michael Archangelos at Preveliana of Monofatsio, from the church of Panagia at Patsos, Amari and from other monuments on the island.

Municipal Museum of the Battle of Crete & the National Resistance

The Museum was created by the Municipality of Heraklion, following the organization of an exhibition of documents of the period 1941-1945, on the occasion of the celebration on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Crete 1941. It is housed in a large room in a building in the centre of the town. Among the Museum's exhibits are thousands of authentic photographs, paintings and drawings of the Battle of Crete and the national resistance, about two hundred books, monographs, essays on the historic events from 1941 to 1945, hundreds of documents and a great many newspaper cuttings. The Museum also includes a variety of objects related to the War (arms, accessories, uniforms, items of everyday use, etc.).
In addition, the museum also operates as a research centre thanks to a team of researchers and scientists who have undertaken to collect archive material from ten countries, to translate War documents of the 1940-1945 period, as well as to write about the Battle of Crete.

Museum of Cretan Ethnology

The Museum of Cretan Ethnology is situated 2 km from the Minoan Palace of Phaestos, in the traditional settlement of Voroi. The exhibition was inaugurated in 1988 and was awarded a prize in 1992 by the Council of Europe. The exhibition, which is based on the museological model of G. H. Riviere, includes objects pertaining to the traditional everyday life in Crete. It is divided into 7 sections under the following headings: Food, Architecture, Weaving, Production, Transport, Customs & Traditions, Social Organization. In the Museum a Research Centre of the Cretan ecosystem is in operation, studying the traditional human activities from the Middle Ages to our day, through the historical and social developments of Crete, the political history of the general area and the geophysical environment of the island.

To date, 14 volumes have been published on subjects referring to the island's architecture, traditional crafts, economy etc.

Historical Museum of Crete

The Museum is housed in a neoclassical building belonging to the Philanthropic Institutions of A & M Kalokairinou. It was designed by L Kantantzoglou and built in 1870, in the site of an older mansion. It was fired upon by the Turks during the events of August 25, 1898 and was reconstructed in 1903 on plans by K Tsantirakis (preserved today), based on the layout of the previous structure.

It has been declared a Historical Building and a Work of Art and protected with a preservation order. The two-storey building is a wonderful specimen of Neoclassical architecture. Its entrance is a marble porch and columns made of porous stone. The windows on the facade of the ground floor and the south part of the east and west walls are crowned by arched lintels and framed by caryatids (Hermae) supporting a pediment. The rest of the windows have plain, rectangular frames. The north side of the building is modelled as a "scarpa" following the Venetian model. A Neoclassical fence encloses the courtyard on the south side of the building. The interior is decorated with friezes depicting scenes from the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Its present form (19 rooms, 2 court yards, library etc.) is a combination of neoclassical and modern architecture. The works of expansion began in 1989 and were completed in 1997.

The Museum was founded in 1953 and includes the following collections of exhibits:

1. Byzantine-Mediaeval collection, Byzantine, Venetian and Turkish sculptures and inscriptions, wall paintings (13th-16th c), sacred vessels and vestments, coins, jewellery and miniature work of the Byzantine and Venetian period. Also the only existing painting in Crete by Domenicos Theotokopoulos (El Greco) entitled "View of Mount Sinai and the Monastery".
2.Historical Collection: Relics of the Cretan revolutions of the 19th century and of the Cretan State (1898-1913). Flags, arms, portraits of heroes of the patriotic struggles, jewellery, engravings, furniture, costumes, maps, mementoes. Also historic documents and a collection of photographs.
3. Folk Art Collection: Hundreds of representative samples of Cretan folk art (woven and embroidered articles, Lace, costumes, jewellery, miniature work, musical instruments etc). Reproduction of the interior of an old Cretan rural house.
4. Nikos Kazantzakis Room: the desk, library, personal mementoes and manuscripts of many of the works of the great writer.
5. Tsouderos Room: the desk, library and personal mementoes of the Prime Minister of the Battle of Crete, engravings, maps, rare editions and a collection of Cretan postage stamps.

Kazantzakis Museum

The Kazantzakis Museum is situated in Varvaroi, approximately 20 km to the south of Heraklion. It was founded to preserve the work and to record the life of the Cretan writer. It includes some of the writer's personal belongings and those of his family, documents, letters, the first Greek editions of his books and translations in 49 languages from 54 counties, photographs, busts, works of art, as well as documents referring to the staging of his theatrical works and of novels adapted for the theatre, posters, programmes, models of stage settings and costumes as they have been presented in performances all over the world. There is also radio and television material as well as a collection of press reviews referring to Kazantzakis that have been published in Greek and foreign newspapers. Finally, there is an audiovisual presentation in five languages, Greek - French - English - German - Dutch, to illustrate the development of this universal writer's life and career.

"Lychnostatis" Open-air Museum

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