Guide for AMH-Fourni-Margarites-Rethymnon

Choose your destination!

HeraklionNovember 2021

Archaelogical museum of Heraklion

Home

Introduction

Introduction

Back

Exhibition

The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is one of the oldest and most important museums in Greece, and among the most famous museums in Europe. It houses representative artefacts from all periods of Cretan prehistory and history, covering a chronological span of over 5,500 years from the Neolithic period to Roman times. The Heraklion Archaeological Museum prides itself for its unique Minoan collection, which includes the masterpieces of Minoan art. It is rightly considered as the Museum of Minoan Culture par excellence. Located in the town center, it was designed by the architect Patroklos Karantinos and was built between 1935 and 1958 on a site previously occupied by the Venetian monastery of Saint-Francis which was destroyed by earthquake in 1856. The ruins of the monastery are visible in the museum’s garden. The Museum building is an important example of the Greek Modernist style of architecture. The colours and building materials used, along with the multicoloured veined marble, are reminiscent of the painted imitation marble revetments of the Minoan palaces. The two-storey building includes extensive exhibition rooms, an audiovisual media room and laboratories. The Museum also has a vestibule, a gift shop leased from the Archaeological Receipts Fund, and a cafeteria in the garden.

The exhibition

Back

More info

The Heraklion Archaeological Museum was founded in 1908 to house the first collections of Cretan antiquities, which were rapidly enhanced. Its cultural riches cover seven millennia, from the Neolithic period (7000 BC) to Roman times (3rd cent. AD). Following the restoration work of the past few years, completed in May 2014, the exhibition is housed in 27 rooms.

The collections are now displayed according to modern museological practices and design, in chronological and thematic units accompanied by audiovisual material and introductory texts. The exhibition itinerary starts on the ground floor with the Minoan Collection (Rooms I-XII), continues on the first floor with the Minoan Frescoes (Room XIII) and the Historic Period (Rooms XV-XXII), and ends back on the ground floor with the Sculpture Collection (Rooms XXVI-XXVII).

The exhibition (more...)

Back

In the 12 rooms on the ground floor, the exhibits of the glorious Minoan civilisation, the first urban-palatial culture on European soil, are presented in thematic units highlighting the formation of the first communities, the rise of the ruling classes and the consolidation of palatial power and hierarchy, as well as the Minoan scripts which formed the basis of the administrative system. The outward-looking spirit of the Cretan centres and the construction of seagoing ships favoured participation in exchange networks, importing goods and transferring ideas from the late 3rd millennium BC onwards, and securing Crete a dominant position in the Aegean and the East Mediterranean during the 16th and early 15th cent. BC. The rule of the seafaring Minoans in the Aegean, linked to the ancient legends of the demigod King Minos, lord of the labyrinthine Palace of Knossos, is the main focus of the exhibition. Finds associated with religious rituals, sports, public festivals, aspects of private life and burial customs are showcased in dedicated rooms. The celebrated Minoan art is featured through thousands of objects. Among the most spectacular are the famous faience Snake Goddesses, the stone bull's-head rhyton, the Prince of the Lilies and Bull-Leaping Frescoes, the gold Bee Pendant, the Hagia Triada Sarcophagus, the polychrome Kamares Ware vases, the Linear B tablets from Knossos and the enigmatic Phaistos Disc. In the Museum garden are preserved the ruins of the Venetian Monastery of St Francis, attesting to the prosperity of the city of Heraklion during the Venetian period.

The Faistos disc

Back

Phaistos, Early 17th century BC.The inscribed clay Phaistos Disk with stamped pictorial signs in a spiral configuration and arranged into groups. Experts have not yet come to any definitive conclusion regarding the content of the inscription and its relationship to Cretan scripts. The repetition of certain combinations of signs provides the most persuasive evidence that the inscription is an hymn or a text of magic character.

Stone bull's head rhyton

Back

Knossos – Little Palace, 1600-1450 BCStone bull’s head rhyton, left side of head and horns restored. It’s a masterpiece of Minoan art, worked with great precision to render the natural features of the real animal. The snout is outlined with an inlay of white seashell, while the preserved right eye is inlaid with rock crystal, with rim and iris of red jasper. This vessel would have been used for libations, as indicated by the hole in the neck for filling and the corresponding hole in the snout for pouring out the liquid.

The snake Godesses

Back

Knossos – Temple Repositories, 1650-1550 BCThe most important cult objects from the Knossos Temple Repositories are the figurines of the “Snake Goddess”. They are named after the snake twining around the body and arms of the larger figure, and the two snakes that the smaller figure holds in her upraised hands. The snakes symbolize the chthonic character of the cult of the goddess, while the feline creature on the head of the smaller figure suggests her dominion over wildlife. The goddesses wear luxurious garments, consisting of a long flounced skirt, an embroidered apron and a close-fitting bodice that exposes the large breasts, symbolic of the fertility of women and, by implication, nature itself.

The hagia triada sarcophagus

Back

Hagia Triada, 1370-1300 BCStone sarcophagus depicting ritual ceremonies with bull sacrifice in honour of the dead, and transcendental scenes associated with afterlife beliefs. The scenes are painted on plaster using the fresco technique. It was found in a rectangular built tomb and probably belonged to the local ruler who, as the scenes demonstrate, was splendidly honoured during the funeral.

The bull leaping fresco

Back

Knossos - Palace, 1500 – 1400 BCA bull-leaping scene, vividly depicting how the spectacular sport was performed. There are three participants, two white-skinned women and a brown-skinned man. One of the female athletes is restraining the bull by the horns to reduce its speed so that the leaper, performing the dangerous backwards somersault, will not be gored. The second female athlete, behind the bull, is waiting with outstretched arms to catch the leaper as he lands. The fresco was found on the east side of the palace of Knossos, together with fragments of others depicting different stages of the same sport.

The prince of the lilies

Back

Knossos, Palace, Neopalatial period (1600-1450 BC)The “Prince of the Lilies”, an emblematic image of Minoan Crete, was part of a large mural composition in high relief. The figure, composed of three non-joining parts, is portrayed life-size, wearing a richly colored kilt with a codpiece and belt and a majestic crown on his head with papyrus-lilies and peacock feathers. According to the excavator of Knossos, Arthur Evans, he was the “Ruler of Knossos” the “Priest-King”, a personification of religious and secular authority. However, other scholars suggest different reconstructions and interpretations, according to which the “Prince” may be an athlete, a boxer, or a commanding ruler, while the crown is attributed to a priestess or a sphinx.

Part of the Lily fresco

Back

Amnissos, Villa, Neopalatial period (1600 - 1500 BC)Part of a large composition from an upper-storey room of the “Villa of the Lilies” at Amnissos. The fresco depicts white lilies against a red ground and red irises against a white ground with long stems blooming symmetrically in front of a stepped fence. The composition, including other plants in flowerbeds, is thought to depict a fenced garden, a place of leisure and pleasure as well as a marker of high social status. It was executed using a combination of both the fresco and the in cavo techniques, the later involving cutting away the fresco surface in places and refilling the grooves with thick pigment.

The "blue bird" fresco

Back

Knossos, “House of frescoes, 1600-1500 BCThe “Blue Bird” fresco depicts a blue bird sitting among plants on a rock in a mountainous landscape. Part of a large landscape fresco that once decorated the spacious room of a house west of the palace of Knossos.

The "ladies in blue" fresco

Back

Knossos, Palace, 1600-1450 BC Part of a composition of richly dressed and lavishly bejeweled female figures depicted against a blue ground. Despite its fragmentary condition, the wall painting transmits the sense of opulence and prosperity of the royal court while reflecting the coquetry of the ladies, who gesture displaying the richness of their jewelry.

Relief fresco with bull's head

Back

Knossos, Palace, West Bastion of the North Entrance Passage, 1600-1450 BCFragment of a plaster relief fresco representing bull-hunting or capturing within a rocky landscape with olive-trees. A masterpiece of minoan naturalism, a work of high artistic quality and expressive power. The artist captured the intensity of the moment, the anguish of the galloping bull, puffing and struggling with half-open mouth and dilated eye to escape from its pursuers or even to counter-attack.

Fourni

Home

Fourni is a small green hill next to the picturesque Arhanes village, about 12km south of Heraklion. It is known for the preminoan cemetery of Fourni. On the hill of Fourni there is a small pine grove with wooden benches and tables. Although it is artificial, Fourni is really beautiful and is frequenlty visited by the residents of Heraklion city. The woods in Fourni is ideal for hiking and its numerous paths have made that popular for mountain biking. Moreover, there is a beautiful stone theater, where the views to Archanes and to Dia Island are amazing. A little further from the theater, you’ll find the archaeological site of the pre-Minoan cemetery Fourni (2400AD-2200AD). Fourni is still under excavations, which have revealed several important objects, mainly from graves. The objects found, indicate clearly that Archanes had close relations with the Aegean, Egypt and the Middle East. The most important finding was the unlooted sarcophagus of the "Queen", where jewelry (over 140 pieces) and other items were found. Many of the findings are exhibited in the archaeological museums of Archanes and Heraklion.

Venetian fortification/monuments

Home

Port-Neoria

Walls

St. Minas

Koules

Kazantzakis

Port Neoria

Home

The small port at Chandax played its own special role in the life of the town and of the island as a whole. It acquired a significant role as a centre from which goods and manpower were transported to the East. The Venetians were to elevate it to the status of a major trading centre and one of the main naval stations for their fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin. Thus it was that they carried out major engineering works, taking pains to surround the harbour with walls and fortresses. Neoria were used for the construction and repair of the ships of the Venetian fleet. The Venetian fleet was dominant in the Mediterranean and the Venetians with the new ones they built in each of their ports, ensured that their ships, commercial and military, would always be in good condition and ready to travel quickly and safely from port to port. Between the new ones there was a salt store, while a large water tank with a capacity of 20,000 barrels was built west

Koules fortress

Home

The Koules is the fortress dominating the entrance to the Venetian harbour. It was built, to protect the area enclosed by the mole. Τhe basements and the platforms were built using boulders from the Minoan harbor, from the island of Dia. The fortress consists of two floors. The ground floor was divided into 26 apartments for various uses (food stores, ammunition depots, rainwater tanks, and prisons). All apartments were lit by large skylights, starting from the roof. The fortress was also equipped with a bakery, mill and a small church.The first floor hosted the quartering areas of the garrison, while at the northern corner there was the lighthouse. The three walls of the building (south, north and east) were equipped with three white marbles with the emblem of Venice (the winged lions). The floor was equipped with 18 cannons and there were 300 boxes of gunpowder and 6144 cannonballs of various sizes. In the prizon of Koules many Cretan rebels were imprisoned by the Turks. Today it is opened for cultural events.It hosts a permanent exhibition of the findings of the surveys of the oceanographer Jacques Cousteauin the 1970s, with the most important being those of vessel La Therese of the French Fleet, sunk on 1669, during the Cretan War.

Venetian walls

Home

Admired as one of the most inspired and best-designed examples of fortification in the entire Mediterranean basin, the 16th and 17th century enceinte surrounding Venetian Candia has survived the ravages of time. Triangular in shape, with its base at the sea, the mighty enceinte has a perimeter of about 5.5 kilometres. The hallmark of the defensive layout are the bastions, linked by curtain walls decorated at many points by escutcheons and the lion of St. Mark, symbol of Venetian omnipotence. The gates in the enceinte, which served to link the town to the countryside, still stand as important architectural monuments. To this day, the walls that withstood the Ottoman siege in the mid-17th century mark out the boundary of the old town. One of the distinctive features of the bastion was the piazza bassa (lit. "low square"), constructed in the bastion flank, at the point where the bastion abutted the curtain wall.

Kazantzakis grave

Home

Outside the walls of Heraklion, in the tower of Martinengo lies the tomb of Nikos Kazantzakis, the famous Greek writer whose books have been translated in many foreign languages. Nikos Kazantzakis was born in Heraklion in 1883 and died in 1957. Tortured by metaphysical and existential issues from his early youth, Kazantzakis was trying to explain the notion of God and Human. He even entered a monastery for six months when he was young. Greatly inspired by the work of Friedrich Nietzche on atheism, Nikos Kazantzakis developed his own ideas on the existence and conception of God. Throughout his life, he received many critics, particularly from the Church, for the messages of his books. As the Church had excommunicated the writer, he was not allowed to be buried in a cemetery when he died in 1957 out of leukemia. That is why Nikos Kazantzakis was buried, according to his will, outside the walls of his hometown. The tomb is plain and surprisingly it has a wooden cross. Upon the tombstone, there is the phrase: "I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free".

Saint Minas Cathedral

Home

Saint Minas (Agios Minas in Greek) is the patron saint of Heraklion and his feast-day, on 11 November, is a public holiday. Saint Minas was born in Egypt in the mid-3rd century AD to idolatrous parents, but became a Christian in adolescence. When he came of age, he decided to follow a career in the Roman army and served as a cavalry officer in Asia Minor. Saint Minas was declared the patron saint of Heraklion during the Turkish period. He has been depicted as a Roman general on horseback and honoured as the patron saint of Heraklion. Miracles of the saint are also reported in more recent times; he is supposed to have protected his church during the heavy bombing of Heraklion on 23 May 1941. The large bomb which fell on the cathedral but failed to explode is on view outside Saint Minas today. The foundations of the imposing cathedral of Saint Minas, one of the largest in Greece, were laid on 25 March 1862 as a token of gratitude by the citizens for the saint's protection of the city.

Rethimnon perfecture

Home

Margarites

Rethimnon

Fortezza

Margarites village

Home

The village of Margarites is 30 km south east from Rethymnon town in the centre of the island of Crete in Greece. Located in picturesque green rolling hills of the Rethymnon region, the village is well known for its pottery and attracts many visitors. The tradition of pottery goes back many generations in this village and you will be able to find an elder to show you how the pots are hand thrown. The village, which has some extraordinary architecture and lovely narrow winding streets, is well worth exploring.

Rethymnon

Home

It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 30,000 inhabitants. Today's old town was almost entirely built by the Republic of Venice. It is one of the best-preserved old towns in Crete. During their 436-year rule, the Venetians turned Rethymno into one of the most important cities on the island. They set up some splendid public buildings, churches and mansions, and they founded schools and literary societies, bringing a slice of European culture to Crete. Later in 1646, Rethymno passed to the Ottomans. The churches became mosques. Contact with the rest of Europe was severed, but the general appearance of Rethymno did not change dramatically. The city of Rethymno is an ideal tourist destination for visitors who wish to explore the rich cultural heritage and the natural beauties of Crete. The old city of Rethymno still preserves its old urban structure to a great extend, formed during the Venetian period and later reformed during the Turkish occupation. It has been declared a protected historical monument and a traditional settlement.

Photos

Rethymnon

Home

Fortezza

Home

Fortezza fort dominates the hill Palekastro beside the old town of Rethymnon and is one of the biggest fortresses of the Venetian Era. It has been built on the site of the citadel of ancient Rithimna and the Temple of Artemis Rokkea. The grand pentagonal fort was built in the 1573 and has perimeter 1300m long. Along the walls you will find four bastions (St. Luke, St. Elijah, St. Paul, St. Nicholas). The fort is so large that it could host and protect the entire population of the town. Inside the fort there are several barracks, a church, a hospital and some storage rooms. The Main Gate is located between the bastions of St. Nicholas and St. Nicholas, because access to the city from there was easier. The main gate is a large gallery, which allows the easy passage of wagons and weaponry. By the entrance you meet the armory, which is a large two-storey building with arches in the interior, which now hosts cultural events and exhibitions. Walking towards the bastion of St. Elias, you will see one of the many tanks of the castle, used for collecting water from the roofs. There is also the theater “Erofili”, hosting events every summer. Moreover, near the central square of the fort, stands the beautiful mosque of Sultan Ibrahim, which was originally Christian. Close to it, you see the modern church of St. Catherine. Additionally, there are few remains of the governor’s house and many smaller houses. You can even see the house of one of two consultants and the warehouses near the north walls, which are located on a very high altitute.

Photos

Fortezza

Home