At a glance

Overview of the Permanent Exhibition

The Permanent Exhibition

The permanent exhibition of the Archaeological Museum of Chania is set out in three large galleries on the ground floor and one on the upper floor of the building. On the ground floor, through the presentation of representative objects, the narrative unfolds revealing the long journey through time from the prehistoric settlements to the historical cities of Chania, highlighting their social and administrative organisation, religion, entertainment, war and trade. Aspects of everyday life are also displayed, from occupations, houses, furniture, vessels for daily use and grooming implements, to ritual customs and people’s attitude towards death. These aims are achieved using detailed and easy-to-understand timelines, maps with the sites of all the place-names mentioned, visual and digital media in Greek and English, and, of course, reconstructions providing snapshots of important moments of life in prehistoric and historical times.

Navigation

First Gallery

In the first gallery, visitors learn about the distinctive geography and climate of Crete, and the island’s position between three continents. The exhibition opens with artefacts from the island of Gavdos, the southernmost point of Europe, where human activity is attested from as early as the Palaeolithic period, with hundreds of tools form open-air sites. There follow finds from Neolithic sites in the Chania region, and also from caves, bearing witness to the inhabitants’ outward orientation and their trading relations and exchanges at the turn of the 3rd millennium BC. All the phases of the Palatial period at the western end of Crete are arranged focussing on the Kastelli hill in the city of Chania, which holds a special place in the island’s prehistory as a major Minoan palatial installation. Numerous luxury and everyday vessels are displayed, as the trade in various goods in the 2nd millennium BC, and especially after 1400 BC, developed rapidly thanks to the active pottery workshop of Kydonia (present-day Chania). The importance of the palatial centre of Chania is evident from the remarkable archive of Linear A tablets, roundels and sealings, and Linear B tablets. The religious beliefs of the Minoans, various aspects of their daily lives and their attitudes towards death are all highlighted by the wealth and variety of finds, which include artefacts of different types and materials, produced by local workshops, imported, or imitating imported objects. The reconstruction installations of the adyton/“lustral basin”, the kitchen and the three representative burial types in the cemetery of Kydonia with their rich contents are a pleasant surprise, helping visitors visualise the three basic aspects of the Minoan world: religion, daily life and funerary practices.

Second Gallery

In the second gallery, the transition from prehistory to history is revealed through Early Iron Age remains. Isolated finds also shed light on the founding myths of the cities and the establishment of the great cities in the region of Chania from the 8th century BC onwards. The museum narrative then focusses on the city-states of Kydonia and Aptera. Kydonia stood on the site of the city of Chania and, according to ancient sources, was already one of the most important city-states of Crete. The presentation of Kydonia is centred on its impressive statues and mosaics, while the history of its founding, its topography and its cults are reconstructed with the aid of various finds. Aptera, the second most important city of West Crete, founded on a strategically located hill in the 8th century BC, is presented in a similar fashion. Extensive excavation and restoration work has highlighted major parts of the city’s imposing fortifications, its sanctuaries, houses and public buildings. A unique assemblage of objects from the ritual deposits in a funerary monument of Aptera consists of winged female figures, Cupids and eunuchs, the products of local coroplastic art. The exhibition continues with the Koinon of the Oreioi, the league of six highland cities created in the 3rd century BC at the southwest end of Crete, with the aim of strengthening their defence, economy and trade. Emphasis is placed on the productive activities of all the cities of the historical era, their coinage and the commerce with East and West, which is explored in a special video presentation. Among the most distinctive goods are figurines, clay pots with relief emblems, glass and marble vessels, and vessels imported from Attica and Corinth. The alliances, conflicts and disputes of the Cretan cities are revealed through the evidence of the mass burial of young men in the 3rd century BC in the city of Chania, the lead sling bullets from Aptera, and the treaty with King Magas of Cyrene.

Third Gallery

In the third galley, aspects of everyday life in historical times unfold through a multitude of artefacts, especially the reconstruction and video presentation of the “Miser’s” House, which was destroyed in the great earthquake of 21 July 365 AD. Household goods, the worlds of women and children, and the status of men are eloquently presented through the finds and photorealistic visual aids. Sanctuaries and religious customs, funerary practices and representative examples of sculpture and funerary monuments complete the narrative of the life of the people of West Crete up to the 4th century AD. The exceptional statue of the Emperor Hadrian from the sanctuary of Diktynna was restored to its original form for the first time in the Archaeological Museum of Chania after being damaged in a fire in 1934. The Asklepieion of Lissos, famous across Crete, stands out for its unique group of marble sculptures including statues of Asklepios, Aphrodite and Eros, and particularly the statuettes of small children and pre-pubescent boys (3rd-2nd c. BC).

The Konstantinos, Marika and Kyriakos Mitsotakis Collection

On the upper floor is exhibited a large part of the Konstantinos, Marika and Kyriakos Mitsotakis Collection, with objects ranging from the 4th millennium BC to the 3rd century AD. The Collection includes vases, figurines, seals, jewellery, weapons, tools and other artefacts of various materials, the majority of Cretan provenance. The following stand out: a sealstone depicting a Minotaur (c. 1350 BC); a Minoan bronze bossed bowl of the 16th century BC with a Linear A inscription; a clay boat model containing a honeycomb (3rd-2nd millennium BC); a bronze dagger with an elaborate gold hilt of the 2nd millennium BC; a Protogeometric clay bird askos of the 10th century BC; Boeotian terracotta plank figurines and two giant Cretan pithoi with relief decoration of the 7th century BC; and a gold diadem with a Medusa head (1st-2nd century AD).

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