What is the Heraklion museum?
The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is in Heraklion on the island Crete. It is seen as one of the largest and most important museums in Greece and the best in the world for Minoan art. It contains the most notable and complete collection of artefacts of the Minoan civilization of Crete.
The museum houses artifacts from all the periods of Cretan prehistory and history, covering a period of over 5,500 years stretching from the Neolithic period to Roman times. The Minoan collection contains unique examples of Minoan art, many of them true masterpieces. The Heraklion Museum is worldwide considered as the museum of Minoan culture par excellence.
The Museum building is also an important example of the Greek Modernist style of architecture. The colours and building materials used, along with the multicoloured veined marble, are like the painted imitation marble revetments of the Minoan palaces.
History
The museum began in 1883 as a simple collection of antiquities under the initiative of the local Association of Friends of Education, headed by Joseph Chatzidakis. The collection was housed inside two rooms in the courtyard of the cathedral of Saint Minas.
By 1900 the museum received several private donations, as well as new acquisitions and finds from excavations on the island. After large-scale excavations began on the island in 1900, the archaeological collection housed the first important finds.
The first display room was built during 1904 – 1907 over the remains of the famous Venetian monastery of Saint Francis at the urging of two Cretan archaeologists, Joseph Chatzidakis and Stephanos Xanthoudidis.
The antiquities’ collection was moved there after the addition of a second room in 1908. Four years later a west wing was added designed by architect Wilhelm Dorpfeld and Panagis Kavvadias. The museum nearly collapsed after three destructive earthquakes in 1926, 1930, and 1935.
Spyridon Marinatos, who was the director of the museum at that time, worked hard in raising funds and persuading the locals and the government that a new solid building was needed to house the precious Minoan items.
The construction of the current museum, situated in the middle of the town, began in 1937 with plans drawn up by architect Patroklos Karantinos. The building is an example of modernist architecture and awarded a Bauhaus commendation. Karantinos applied principles of modern architecture to the needs of a museum by providing ample lighting from skylights above and along the top of the walls.
Although the museum was damaged during World War II, the collection survived due to the exertions of Professor Nikolaos Platon. The museum opened its door again to the public in 1952.
In 1962 the museum bought the collection of the Cretan doctor Stylianos Giamalakis and in 1964 a new wing was added to the building. Most of the museum was closed for renovation for a period from 2006 and the latest project of renovation was completed in 2014. The new exhibition philosophy was organized according to modern standards and combines a chronological axon with an enriched thematic narration.
The two-storeyed building has large exhibition spaces, laboratories, a drawing room, a library, offices and a special department, the so-called Scientific Collection, where numerous finds are stored and studied. There is a museum shop and a café in the garden.
The museum organizes temporary exhibitions in Greece and abroad, collaborates with scientific and scholarly institutions, and houses a variety of cultural events.
Interest for today
The collections of the Heraklion Archaeological Museum include unique works of Cretan art, found in excavations across the central and eastern part of the island. It covers a period of roughly 7000 years, from the Neolithic (7000 BC) to the Roman period (3rd century AD).
The displays illustrate the development of Minoan civilization, the history of archaeological research and of the great discoveries on Crete during the early twentieth century, and the prevalent theories on Aegean Prehistory.
Most objects date to prehistoric times and the Minoan period. They include pottery, seals, metal objects, carved stone objects, small sculpture, and wall-paintings, which were discovered in mansions, palaces, settlements, sanctuaries, funerary monuments, and caves.
Today the exhibition occupies a total of twenty-seven rooms. Several themes, such as Minoan wall-paintings are presented separately from the overall chronological order. The objects give a complete image of Cretan civilization, as it developed in different regions and important centres.
Social, economic, ideological, with a strong focus on religious and ceremonial practices, bureaucratic administration, and daily life form the core of the displays.
Exhibits are divided in the different rooms as follows:
- Rooms 1 – XII: Minoan Collection
- Room XIII: Minoan Frescoes
- Rooms XV – XXII: Historic period
- Rooms XXIII: The private collection of S. Gianmalakis and N. Th. Metaxas that reflects the influence in the next rooms –
- Rooms XIV, XXV: Influence of the Minoan past of Crete in ancient and modern times.
- Rooms XXVI – XXVII: Sculpture collection
Hours of Business
- Winter: 1 November to 30 November weekdays (except for Tuesdays) from 08:00 – 18:00
Tuesday: 10:00 – 18:00.
1 December to 31 March 2020 on Monday, Wednesday to Sunday from 09:00 – 16:00
Tuesday: 10:00 – 17:00.
- Summer: 1 April – 31 October on Monday and Wednesday to Sunday from 08:00 – 20:00
Tuesday from 10:00 – 20:00.
Holidays
- 1 January: closed
- 6 January: 08:30 – 15:00
- Shrove Monday: 08:30 – 15:00
- 25 March: closed
- Good Friday: 12:00 – 17:00
- Holy Saturday: 08:00 – 15:00
- 1 May: closed
- Easter Sunday: closed
- Easter Monday: closed
- Holy Spirit Day: 08:00 – 20:00
- 15 August: 08:00 – 15:00
- 28 October: 08:00 – 15:00
- 25 December: closed
- 26 December: closed
Tickets
- Full: €12, Reduced: €6
Tickets can be bought either at the museum’s ticket booth with a credit or debit card, or online through the only official website: https://etickets.tap.gr/
Tickets are valid for the Heraklion Archaeological Museum and Knossos.
Free admission days
- 6 March (in memory of Melina Mercouri)
- 18 April (International Monuments Day)
- 18 May (International Museums Day)
- The last weekend of September annually (European Heritage Days)
- 28 October
- Every first Sunday from 1 November to 31 March
Contact information
- Address: 2 Xanthoudidou Street, Τ.Κ. 71202, Herakleion (Prefecture of Iraklio)
- Coordinates: 35°20′19.48″N, 25°8′12.88″E
- Telephone: 2810 279000, 2810 279002, 2810 279087
- Fax: 2810 279001
- Email: amh@culture.gr
Persons with disabilities and one escort are entitled to free admission, on presentation of an ID card or passport and a Unified Social Security Fund certificate of disability for Greek citizens, or an equivalent certificate from the relevant body for non-Greek citizens.
How To Get There?
The museum is in the centre of the town Heraklion and it is an easy to walk to most of the town’s attractions. There are bus stops which connect the town with the other towns and villages in Crete. There is a car park near the museum where you can park for a fee if you intend to drive.
