The Historical Museum of Crete, on Sofokli Venizelou, facing the sea, is dedicated to bringing 2,000 years of history to life. The museum was founded in 1952 in a handsome turn of the 20th Century townhouse. It houses important examples of early Christian artifacts, stonework and decorative objects of Roman, Arab, Byzantine, Venetian and Turkish origin. There is a panoramic wooden model of mediaeval Heraklion, or Candia as it was called by the Venetians (after its Arabic name El Khandak) in one room, beautifully detailed, with push-button spotlights picking out the locations of many important sites of worship, defense and government. Some of these buildings are still standing, some are still in use, and the Venetian roads continue to give Heraklion its shape. The museum offers a genuine learning experience to visitors.
You will read about and see evidence of the siege of the city that lasted 21 years (1648-1669) and ended with its capture by Ottoman Turks and the start of a desperate epoch. Almost constant insurrection and strife for 250 years followed until final unification with Greece. More recent exhibits are concerned with the 20th Century, and the 1913 unification is dealt with, under the leadership of Eleftherios Venizelos. Other rooms offer evidence of the island’s most recent warfare and the 10-day Battle of Crete in 1941 is powerfully evoked. Another room, a reconstructed library, dedicated to Crete’s most famous writer, Nikos Kazantzakis, who captured for a moment the soul of Crete. The restaurants outside the museum offer shade and fine foods.
Phaistos, or more correctly the Minoan Palace of Phaistos, is located in the Messara Plain in south-central Crete, 55 kilometres south of Heraklion and a short distance from the archaeological site of Agia Triada, the archaeological site of Gortys and Matala. Phaistos is one of the most important archaeological sites in Crete, with many thousands of visitors annually. Phaistos is “Φαιστός” in Greek and you may find it also written as Phaestos, Faistos or Festos.
The history of the Minoan palace of Phaistos, like that of the other Minoan palaces of Crete, is a turbulent one: The first palace of Phaistos was built in circa 2000 BC. Its mythical founder was Minos himself and its first king was his brother Radamanthys. In 1700 BC a strong earthquake destroyed the palace, which was rebuilt almost immediately. However, Phaistos was no longer the administrative centre of the area, an honour which passed to neighbouring Agia Triada. Phaistos continued to be the religious and cult centre of south Crete.
In 1450 BC there was another great catastrophe, not only in Phaistos but across the whole of Crete. The city of Phaistos recovered from the destruction, minted its own coins and continued to flourish for the next few centuries until the first century BC, when it was destroyed by neighbouring Gortys.
Spinalonga is an island located in the Gulf of Elounda in north-eastern Crete, in Lasithi, next to the town of Plaka. The island is further assigned to the area of Kalydon. It is near the Spinalonga peninsula (“large Spinalonga”) – which often causes confusion as the same name is used for both. The official Greek name of the island today is Kalydon.
According to Venetian documents, the name of the island originated in the Greek expression stin Elounda (meaning “to Elounda”). The Venetians could not understand the expression so they familiarized it using their own language, and called it spina “thorn” longa “long”, an expression that was also maintained by the locals. The Venetians were inspired for this expression by the name of an island near Venice called by the same name and which is known today as the island of Giudecca.
Today, the uninhabited island is a popular tourist attraction in Crete. In addition to the abandoned leper colony and the fortress, Spinalonga is known for its small pebble beaches and shallow waters. The island can easily be accessed from Plaka, Elounda and Agios Nikolaos. Tourist boats depart from all three towns on a daily basis (every 30 minutes from Elounda). Since there is no accommodation on Spinalonga, the tours last only a few hours.
Spinalonga is under consideration to become a World Heritage Site.
Gortys, also known as Gortyn or Gortyna is one of the most important cities in Crete with an unbroken history of 6,000 years and one of the most extensive archaeological sites in Greece. It lies in south central Crete in the fertile Mesara plain, the site of the first human habitation of Crete at the end of the Neolithic period (5th millennium BC). The area has been inhabited since the end of the Neolithic period. Habitation continued in Minoan times, a fact proven by the Minoan country villa found in the Kannia area near Mitropolis village, not far from Gortys.
From the middle of the 1st millennium BC, Gortys replaced Phaistos as the chief power in the Mesara, centred around the fortified acropolis with the temple of Athena Poliouchos (Protector of the City). After the Roman conquest of Crete in 67 BC, Gortys, which was well disposed towards Rome, became capital of Crete, replacing Knossos. Gortys was declared the capital of the Roman province of Crete and Cyrenaica, a position it held until the Arab conquest of Crete in 828 AD.
Gortys reached the peak of its power in the 2nd century AD, while its final period of glory was in the early Christian period (until the 7th century AD). It is believed that Gortys expanded across a wide area and had a large population. It may have been built using stone from the nearby Roman quarry in the village of Ambelouzos, known in Crete as the Labyrinth of Mesara. In 796 AD the city was hit by an earthquake which almost destroyed it. After the Andalusian Arabs conquered Crete in 828 AD, the capital was transferred to Chandax, modern-day Heraklion.
The world famous Heraklion Archaeological Museum was built between 1937 and 1940 on a site that had been occupied during the Venetian Period by an imposing Catholic monastery of St. Francis, which was destroyed by the earthquake of 1856. The Museum houses archaeological finds from all over Crete. Pride of place goes to the treasures of the earliest European civilization, the Minoan, which can here be admired in all its historical continuity.
You may leave Plateia Eleftherias by looking to the left of the cinema, called Astoria, to a shopping street called Daidalou, named after Daidalos, the teacher of Ikaros who flew too close to the sun in his efforts to leave Crete. It is a chic shopping street that borders, on the right, an interesting old section known as Korai, the place for smart Herakliotes to go at night, with some very interesting café’s and bars and a night-time party atmosphere. At the far end of Daidalou, you return Heraklion’s famous Lion Square.
The centre of Minoan civilisation and capital of Minoan Crete lay 5km south of Heraklion. Knossos flourished for approximately two thousand years. It had large palace buildings, extensive workshop installations and luxurious rock-cut cave and tholos tombs. As a major centre of trade and the economy, Knossos maintained ties with the majority of cities in the Eastern Mediterranean. Wealth accumulation and the advancement of an urban lifestyle were the hallmarks of this zenith, which began circa 2000 BC and was typified by magnificent monumental buildings and a complex social structure.
The Minoan palace is the main site of interest at Knossos, an important city in antiquity, which was inhabited continuously from the Neolithic period until the 5th c. AD. The palace was built on the Kephala hill and had easy access to the sea and the Cretan interior. According to tradition, it was the seat of the wise king Minos. The Palace of Knossos is connected with thrilling legends, such as the myth of the Labyrinth, with the Minotaur, and the story of Daidalos and Ikaros. The first excavation of the site was conducted in 1878 by Minos Kalokerinos of Herakleion. This was followed by the long-term excavations 1900-1913 and 1922-1930) of the Englishman Sir Arthur Evans, who uncovered virtually the entire palace.
The earliest traces of inhabitation in the area of the palace go back to the Neolithic period (7000-3000) BC). The site continued to be occupied in the Pre-palatial period (3000-1900 BC), at the end of which the area was leveled for the erection of a large palace. This first palace was destroyed, probably by an earthquake, about 1700 BC. A second, larger palace was built on the ruins of the old one. This was partially destroyed about 1450BC, after which the Mycenaeans established themselves at Knossos.The palace was finally destroyed about 1350 BC by a major conflagration. The site it covered was occupied again from the Late Mycenaean period until Roman times. Extensive reconstruction of the Palace of Knossos was carried out by the excavator, Sir Arthur Evans.
It was a multi-storey building covering an area of 20.000 square meters. Impressive features of it are the variety of building materials used, and the painted plaster, marble revetment and wall-paintings adorning the rooms and passages. The advanced level of technology attained by the Minoans is also demonstrated by some original architectural and structural features, such as the light -wells and polythyra, the use of beams to reinforce the masonry, and the complex drainage and water-supply systems. The palace is set around a large Central Court, an area used for public meetings. A second courtyard, the West Court, acted both as the official approach to the palace and a ceremonial area.
The west wing was occupied by the official rooms for administrative and religious activities, including the Tripartite Shrine, the Sacred Repositories and the Pillar Crypts. The Throne Room is out standing amongst them, with its lustral basin and the gypsum throne flanked by benches. The most important areas in the south wing are the South Propylon, the Corridor of the Procession and the South Entrance, with the fresco of the Prince of the Lilies. The east wing contained the residential quarters and large reception rooms, the most important being the Hall of the Double Axes and the Queen”s Hall. These rooms are approached by the imposing Grand Staircase.
From the North Entrance, a road led to the harbour of Knossos. The North Entrance is flanked by elevated stoas, the one at the west being decorated with the Bull Hunt fresco. A large, stone-paved processional way, the Royal Road, led from the Small Palace and the city to the Norh-west conrner of the palace, where there was an open-air theatral area. Around the palace extended the Minoan settlement, with the cemeteries on the hills. Important buildings from this same period include: the South House, the House of ther Chancel Screen, the Small Palace, the Caravanserai, the Royal Villa and the Temple-Tomb. The Villa Dionysos with its floor mosaics (2nd c/. AD) is an important building of the Roman period. The numerous finds from the palace, all of exceptionally high quality art, pottery, vessels, figurines, the archive of Linear B tablets, and the original wall-paintings, are all housed in Herakleion Museum.
The creation of a large and modern sea Aquarium in Crete was a challenge as well as a vision not only for the local research society but Cretan society as a whole. The impressive response from the hundreds of thousand annual visitors to CretAquarium justifies the painful attempts that were made by the former Institute of Marine Biology of Crete as well as the current single body for marine research in the country -the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research.
CretΑquarium is an expert in presenting species and ecosystems of the Mediterranean, a sea of unique biodiversity that gave birth to ancient civilizations and welcomes millions of visitors every year from all over the world. Offering 60 tanks of different sizes, containing a total amount of 1,700,000 litres of sea water, it is home to 2000 sea animals, 200 different species found in the Mediterranean basin, and together with the appropriate scenery, it successfully represents the Cretan and Mediterranean sea beds. Additionally CretAquarium designs and implements educational programmes and other innovative services, treats injured animals and is constantly enriched with new marine species.
The expertise possessed by the Aquarium on the presentation of the Mediterranean species and ecosystems is backed up by the long experience of the Centre in Mediterranean marine research. The Mediterranean Sea preserves an impressive biodiversity, gave birth to ancient civilizations and welcomes millions of visitors each year.
Each visitor has the opportunity to see the sea inhabitants of the Mediterranean, to learn, be charmed by them and contribute towards its sustainable future. At CretAquarium, the attractions become knowledge and experiences raise questions.