This place contains everything that Crete is rich in. Crete - masterpiece canvases, the model of Candia, ethnic collections and more. What? Come and see ...
As you wander the 22 halls of this vault, look to the past from the "Modernity" hill. Look at the time when Crete was ruled by its enemies. Feel the breath of time. Victories and defeats, steep ascents and abrupt precipitations of historical truth are collected in the vault of Heraklion. Everything the island has to offer has been collected here. Crete - masterpiece canvases, a model of Candia, an ethnic collection and a sea of everything else. What? Come and see...
It's very disappointing to hear someone recommend going to the History Museum of Heraklion during a warm Greek rain or when the honey-sweltering sun tires you out. This could be advised only by "shells", warming their backs on the trestle beds on the beach. But you are an intellectual! So firmly tell your neighbor: "How, you have not yet been to the Museum of History and Folklore of Crete?!" Your anger will be righteous - visit the museum first, then lie around in the Cretan sunshine!
There's no trace of the ancient Greek gods in this repository. But there are real ones, including sacred Byzantine icons. Looking at them you will gain power, standing nearby - you will get elated, leaving - you will feel the burst of energy. And even if you are a militant atheist, you will receive invisible protection from each holy face.
Once you visit the Cretan artifact repository, it's obvious: this is a collection of archaeological, ethnographic and historical treasures of Crete - not just trivial ancient crocks or vintage gizmos.
Looking at the everyday objects - jewelry, clothes, coins, combs or furniture, it is easy to imagine Greeks "gone" - in rich clothes (contrary to the stereotype, not at all light), with luxurious strands or beards, with wonderful shoes and charming jewelry. Such an imaginary encounter with the ancient inhabitants of Crete will give you cause for philosophical reflection - but what are we like today?
The Byzantine period is represented in the Heraklion History Museum by splendid mosaic panels. There aren't too many of them, but they enrich the treasury in a "mature" way. Imagine that each smalt was touched by the hands of a medieval creator. Each tile he picked up, sorted. He dreamed (and it came true) that contemporaries (and descendants, hundreds of years later), admired his handmade beauty. The Master succeeded: and how, "descendant", do you feel awe and awe before this noble art?
Also in the treasury are two paintings by El Greco. They are the only paintings exhibited in the country of the genius. They became the center, if not of the "island universe", then of the Heraklion History Museum.
And over there you can see the marble and bas-reliefs from the Basilica of St. Titus in Gortyna. Gortyna was not the last city of Crete in the Minoan era. It was the first capital of the island (Knossos aside). In the IX century the city was destroyed by enemies, but what is left of the cathedral is magnificent. However, in the Museum you will be allowed to touch the marble fragments. They were made in the 6th and 7th centuries by a disciple of St. Paul - the famous Titus himself!
Look, on the shelves of Heraklion's treasury there is a serious catch of ... underwater archeologists. Here and amphorae, and pitchers, and other ancient utensils. I wonder how it got into the sea? It's hard to tell now...
There are halls, representing the Ottoman period, and others - the times of revolutionary upheavals in XIX c., when Crete became a part of Greece again. And then there is a hall describing the period of Mesopolemus. And World War II, when the enemies destroyed even the Jewish cemetery and the Greek Jews were mercilessly burned to the ground. But the Cretan Historical Museum preserves the memory of each - there are tombstones from the ruined last resting place of the Cretan Jews ...
And if you get a little homesick while on vacation, step into the hall where the collection of coats of arms is on display. Look for the ... double eagle - hello to you from the homeland under the glorious skies of Crete!
In short, experience what and how Crete lived from the early Byzantine rule (330 A.D.) till the last World War (1940). Don't deny yourself the pleasure of visiting the History Museum in Heraklion, the richest in Europe. To be enlightened is very simple - besides sunbathing, give food to your brain... Walking leisurely through the halls, where everything is permeated with the true past, you will have something to think about and even to dream about...
