ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

The first museum of Hania was inaugurated in 1899, almost a year after the liberation of Crete from the Ottoman Empire. According to the new constitution, the antiquities and, in general, the historical heritage, came under the protection of the "Hegemonic Council of the Cretan City", in other words, the government of the island at that time. Thus, the first ancient collections were housed in the building that previously housed the Court of Hania. A year later, Mr. Tsivourakis, the first donor of antiquities, enriched the pre-existing collection. After the union of Crete with Greece and, more precisely, in 1934, following the fire that damaged the Court, the antiquities were transferred to the basement of the building that housed the first college of the city. During the German occupation, from 1940 to 1942, the antiquities were placed in the municipal market of the city, then in 1942, the collections were gathered in the mosque of Kiutsuk Hassan, located on the Venetian port. In 1946, after the liberation of Crete, the balance sheet is sad: a third of these antiquities and cultural treasures, of inestimable value, has vanished.

From 1950 to 1962, the Katholikon of the Venetian monastery dedicated to St. Francis was renovated to accommodate the museum of Hania until 2020. In the meantime, in 1996, the land previously owned by the Russian Consulate was granted to the Greek Ministry of Culture. It is therefore on this land that begins, in 2013, the construction of the new museum of the city, inaugurated in 2022. Thus, for the first time in its history, the city finally has a place specially designed to house and display its valuable collections from the vast majority of Western Crete.

The new archaeological museum is located in the Chalepa district, the second most important district after the Venetian district. It was built on a plot of 11,526 square meters and occupies an area of 6,000 square meters. At an altitude of 98 m above sea level, it offers visitors a panoramic view of a large part of the city and, above all, of the coast and the sea. The composition - two distinct volumes that seem to emerge from the earth - refers to all the treasures that, before finding their place in the museum, also emerged from the earth! The permanent collections are divided into three rooms on the first floor and one on the second floor.

In the first room, the historical retrospective begins with the discoveries that testify to the presence of Man in Hania and goes up to 1100 BC. The visitor can then begin to get an idea of life in prehistoric times thanks to the objects on display, the photos and the meticulously elaborated reconstructions. The ensemble offers a glimpse into the beautiful world of western Crete and the important role played in antiquity by the palace of Kydonia. Among the objects: the earthenware scarab (1400-1375 BC) representing the deltos (bulletin) of Pharaoh Amenhotep III (P 6182) discovered in Kastelli. The tablet (KH5) in linear A (1459 BC) bearing a text in four verses and where ideograms concerning figs, wine and wheat can be distinguished, also from Kastelli. An amphora (KH Z 43) used in trade with an inscription in linear B dating from 1300-1250 B.C. We can distinguish syllabograms such as ze-ta-ro which most probably convey the name of the producer, while the "wa" perhaps means that this object belonged to the king of Kastelli.

The second room presents the finds of a period that extends from 1100 BC to the end of the third century BC, a period in which palaces were replaced by city-states. Among these cities, that of Kydonia, Aptera and the Federation of the Oreans (mountain people). The visitors discover aspects of the productive activities, the alliances, the trade between the East and the West, the coinage. Among the objects on display: the fragment of a female figure (Π 607), imported from Alexandria in Egypt, wearing jewelry and a crown composed of leaves and fruits, dating from the 4th century BC, the gold necklace (M 710) dating from the 13th-12th centuries BC composed of rosettes and coming from the Apokoronas region.

In the third room, the visitor discovers different aspects of daily life in the historical period through crafts and the reconstruction of a house destroyed by the earthquake of 365 AD. The exhibition is also enriched by sculptures and finds from the temple dedicated to Asclepius which was located in Issos. These objects bear witness to the cult and funeral customs of the time. The role that Asclepius played in Western Crete and the destruction of the house known as "Filargyros" (Greek for miser) are presented during the visit. A blue perfume bottle (Γ 84) made of glass in the shape of a bird (late 4th-early 3rd century BC) is admired.

On the second floor, the collection of Konstantinos and Marika Mitsotakis includes 1,049 ancient objects (4th millennium-3rd century BC). It consists of vases, figurines, seals, jewelry and other valuable objects. Among the antiquities, the group of Minoan seals stands out, especially the seal depicting a minotaur (Σ 195) dating from about 1350 BC.