The exhibits are arranged in chronological order and are devoted to Minoan civilisation. They are mainly the product of excavations complemented by reconstructions (models and watercolours) of the main palaces. Don't miss the remarkable Kamáres ware..

The oldest city in Greece is set among arid hills in the southeast of the Herakleion plain. With its chequerboard of courtyards, corridors, stairways, upper floors, chambers, royal apartments and shrines, the mythical lair of the terrible Minotaur ..

The royal apartments occupy four floors of rooms built into the hillside above the river. There are light wells to provide the circulation of air and lighting in the rooms. A flight of steps leads to the apartments, which are linked by a network of p..

The sanctuary is in the heart of the Minoan Palace of Knossós. A vestibule, where the British archeologist Evans (1851-1941) placed a porphyry basin, leads into the Throne Room containing a bench and the alabaster throne on which the high Priestess o..

At the far end of the Paleó Limáni, the old Venetian port, are parts of the Arsenal : stores, docks and hangars where galleys were brought out of the water for repairs. The entrance to the harbour is commanded by the Venetian fortress , or Koúles (..

The outbuildings include workshops for craftsmen, such as the one for potters (remains of kilns), and storerooms including one containing the pithoi (terracotta jars). From the central courtyard a passage lined by a portico decorated with animal sc..

The interior of this church contains six remarkable icons by Mihális Damaskinos who worked in Venice and the Ionian Islands from 1574 to 1582 before returning to Crete. These works, which were formerly at the Vrondissí Monastery, combine the trad..

The History Museum in Herakleion contains the only work by El Greco in Crete, View of Mount Sinai and from St Catherine's Monastery (c 1570); a reconstruction of a chapel incorporating murals and frescoes typical of Byzantine art from the mid-14C..