Heraklion Archaeological Museum

Heraklion, Greece

The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is one of the greatest museums in Greece and the best in the world for Minoan art, as it contains the most notable and complete collection of artifacts of the Minoan civilization of Crete. The museum began in 1883 as a simple collection of antiquities. A dedicated building was constructed from 1904 to 1912. 

Today Herakleion Archaeological Museum is one of the largest and most important museums in Greece, and among the most important museums in Europe. It houses representative artifacts from all the periods of Cretan prehistory and history, covering a chronological span of over 5,500 years from the Neolithic period to Roman times. The singularly important Minoan collection contains unique examples of Minoan art, many of them true masterpieces. The Heraklion Museum is rightly considered as the museum of Minoan culture par excellence worldwide.

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Founded: 1883
Category: Museums in Greece

Rating

4.7/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Angela Bertrand (4 months ago)
We bought our tickets on their website, choosing from 4-5pm. When we went there around 15:30 to be early, they told us it was closed, we showed them our tickets and still refused. The next day we went early in the morning and showed the lady who denied us the entry the day before if we could use the tickets and she said no, but we had the proof that the museum makes you select the time you’d like to visit (as every single museum in the world), she said it was for “statistics”, to this day, I will never find out what that meant. We had to beg security to let us in and we could finally appreciate this place. They urgently need to fix their website, we were not the only ones affected.
Mateusz Szadziul (5 months ago)
The place is quite big. There are 2 floors. Plenty of exhibits. The customer service is excellent. The museum is in the heart of the city, so parking is somewhat difficult to find. In short, the place is good, but I have seen some better museums in my life.
Nat Myk (5 months ago)
Very old-fashioned museum, 90s style, absolutely not interactive like other modern museums. Museum keepers are very mean to the tourists. They do not allow to pose for the pictures with the exhibits, and if you do, prepare, that the lady approaches you and demands to delete all the pics off your phone. As for the exhibits themselves: too much clay, all put together, no proper chronology. To understand what you see, you have to read the long descriptions in a rather small font. I do not recommend this place. There are better ways to spend 12 €.
Joyce Zhou (5 months ago)
Breathtakingly beautiful exhibition. You'd question what happened to the human race for the past 5000 years, as ancient Greeks arguably make more modern, exquisite and imaginative art works! It's worth highlighting that the official mobile app of the museum is incredibly helpful - out of all the museums I've visited these years, including the British Museum and Athens Archeology Museum, I'd say this museum's app is the most clear, informative and easy to use one. Makes the visit a lot more guided.
alison wright (6 months ago)
We had prepaid combo tickets which were only €5 more than the price for Knossos with 3 days to use them. So glad we did. Lovely artefacts from Minoan sites giving a real insight into their lives which you don’t get from the site alone. Nice cool galleries with seating. A bit crowded.
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