Heraklion Archaeological Museum
Greece's foremost collection of Minoan art, in a modernist building covering 5,500 years of Crete.
The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is among the oldest museums in Greece and holds the world's most complete collection of Minoan antiquities. It stands in the centre of Heraklion on the site of the Venetian monastery of Saint Francis, which an earthquake destroyed in 1856; the monastery ruins remain visible in the museum garden. The present building was designed by the architect Patroklos Karantinos and built between 1935 and 1958, and is regarded as a significant example of Greek modernist architecture, deliberately anti-seismic in its construction.
Displays across two floors trace Cretan prehistory and history over more than 5,500 years, from the Neolithic period to Roman times, drawing on excavations from every part of the island. Among the best-known holdings are the Phaistos Disc, the faience snake goddess figurines, the gold bee pendant from Malia and the wall paintings brought from Knossos. The permanent exhibition reopened in 2014 after an extended programme of building works and redisplay, and a separate hall is used for temporary exhibitions.
Highlights
- The Phaistos Disc, a stamped clay disc bearing undeciphered Minoan signs
- Wall paintings from Knossos, including the Bull-Leaping and Ladies in Blue panels
- Faience snake goddess figurines from the temple repositories at Knossos
- Modernist building by Patroklos Karantinos, with Venetian monastery ruins in the garden
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