Historical Museum

The Historical and Folklore Museum of Heraklion Crete is housed in an elegant neoclassical building on the coastal road of Heraklion Town. This building dates back to 1903 and was donated to the Society of Cretan Studies in 1952 by Andreas Kalokairinos, a prominent local, in order to be turned into a museum.

In the 22 rooms of the museum that cover 1,500 sq.m., there are exhibits that present the historical course of Crete from the early Christian times (330 A.D.) till the Second World War (1940). Visitors can see a miniature of Heraklion Town as it was in the 17th century, at its peak. There is also a rich coin collection, a collection of ceramics and sculptures, wonderful paintings of El Greco, photos that depict Crete along time and a collection with personal items of Nikos Kazantzakis.