The Sitia Archaeological Museum is one of Crete’s most notable museums, housing artifacts from the Sitia district and the larger prefecture of Lassithi. The museum’s collection is split into four divisions, with exhibits dating from 3,500 BC to 500 AD. There are exhibits from the Minoan period, the Palace of Zakros, the Geometrical and Archaic periods, as well as the Roman period.
The eminent Cretan archaeologist Nikos Papadakis founded the Archaeological Museum of Sitia, which first opened its doors in 1984. Apart from display halls, the museum comprises various storehouses, labs, and an archaeological library and is located near the town’s entrance on the route from Sitia to Ierapetra.
The museum’s most noteworthy exhibit is a gold and ivory Kouros (male) statue discovered in the Minoan village of Palekastro in eastern Lassithi. The discoveries from the Minoan Palace of Kato Zakros, which include several big vases with visible signs of the fire that destroyed the palace at the time, are equally fascinating. Boards inscribed in Linear A and household goods from the palace, including as cooking equipment and a mill for grain grinding, were also discovered at Kato Zakros.
Visitors to the Archaeological Museum of Sitia may also witness tombstones from the Geometrical and Archaic periods, sanctuaries’ statuettes, parts from the Roman villa of Makrigialos, and a collection of pottery discovered in a Roman shipwreck and now kept in a saltwater tank.
