It’s been almost a century since the archaeological researcher Sir Arthur Evans first started excavating Knossos, just outside of Herakleion, and began telling the world about the material expressions of what we now call the Minoan Civilization. The fame of the luxurious Minoan palaces, the sacred caves and the royal mansions quickly spread everywhere, and so did many Minoan artifacts that were sought after by various foreign museums and collectors. Nevertheless, nothing will ever match the archaeological wealth of the Museum of Herakleion, covering the full extend of ancient Cretan history.

With twenty halls open to the public, the Museum of Herakleion is the third biggest in the country. The layout of the halls and the arrangement of the exhibits is organized in a way that allows visitors to follow the Minoan Civilization in chronological order, from its first steps to its gradual decline. The tour starts from the halls on the ground floor.

Hall I contains finds covering the chronological period between 5000 and 2000 BC. During that time Crete didn’t have any great palaces yet, but the ‘primitive’ artifacts on show here will help visitors understand the foundations upon which the Minoan Civilization was going to be built. In the show-cases of hall I you will find figurines - some of which were made by artists of cycladic descent that had migrated to Crete - stone vessels, gold jewelry and many different kinds of ceramic pots.

In the next hall (II) one can admire various objects from 2000 to 1700 B.C., when the construction of the spectacular Cretan palaces had first begun. Most of these exhibits come from the palaces of Knossos and Malia, as well as open air sanctuaries built on mountaintops. The colorful Kamares style ceramics are considered to be of great artistic value and still maintain their impressively vivid tints.

The third hall in a row is dedicated to the old palace of Phaistos. Another famous exhibit you’ll find here, besides the amazing ceramics, and one of the most popular in the whole Museum is the renowned disk of Phaistos, impressed with spiral sealstones on both sides. The signs belong to an ideographic and probably syllabic script that has become one of the greatest mysteries in contemporary archaeology. Even the most brilliant of researchers have failed to decipher it.

The archaeological finds of hall IV date back to a period beginning in 1700 and ending in 1450 B.C, when the second palace of Crete was already under construction - following the destruction of the first one. The exhibits on show mostly come from the palaces of Knossos, Phaistos and Malia. This is where visitors can admire the famous rhyton (libation vessel) in the shape of a bull’s head, the two bare-breasted figurines of the snake goddess, the ivory statuette of the bullfighter as well as a unique Minoan table game.

The next hall (V) is dedicated to the last phase of the Knossos palace, just before it was destroyed (around 1400 B.C.). It contains show-cases with ceramic pots, seals and earthenware tablets with engraved writings of Linear A and B. Linear B is an unmixed greek script that was deciphered fifty years ago. Linear A, which corresponds to the ancient language of the Cretans, still remains an unsolved mystery.

At the end of the row, visitors will find themselves in hall VI, which houses objects from the Necropolis of Knossos, Phaistos and Archanes. Given that most of the exhibits here are funeral gifts, they are very well preserved indeed. Another thing you can see in this hall - besides the ceramic objects, the lapidary masterpieces and the miniature sculptures - is a spectacular collection of weapons embellished with golden decorations, copper helmets adorned with wild boar teeth and amazing specimens of Cretan goldsmithery like the famous gold signet rings with the religious representations.

From hall VI one can move on to the adjoining hall VII and follow the opposite direction. We are now standing before a vast collection of finds from palaces, royal mansions and sacred caves from central Crete. Besides the ever-present but nevertheless interesting ceramic exhibits, there are stone vessels with relief representations of human figures, sporting names like the cup of the leader, the harvesters’ vessel e.t.c. As for minor art, you’ll find miniature copper figurines of worshipers and some of the most famous Minoan jewellery ever made - like the golden talisman with the bees - as well as a multitude of charming little ornaments.

VIII is exclusively dedicated to the palace of Zakros, in eastern Crete. The thalassian style vessels of this hall, like the rhytons and the amphorae decorated with octopuses, nautiluses and Tritons, are truly impressive. The next hall (IX) also belongs to the same period and contains exhibits from Palaiokastro, Gournias, Mochlos e.t.c.

With hall X we are entering the domain of a civilization that managed to survive the destruction of the great palaces (1400 – 1100 B.C.), boasting a complete series of figurines - religious or otherwise - and various libation vessels.

The next two halls (XI and XII) cover a period starting in 1100 and ending in 950 B.C., with objects mostly recovered from caves and mountain settlements where the majority of Cretans was then hiding. The earthenware figurines once again present great interest, maintaining many of their minoan characteristics, as do the vessels with the oriental style decorations and the golden jewellery.

The following hall (XIII) is home to a complete collection of earthenware Minoan sarcophagi from different Cretan cemeteries, very enlightening as far as Minoan funerary customs are concerned. They are embellished with decorative script and it is quite possible that some of them were also used as bath tubs.

Moving on to the next three halls (XIV, XV and XVI) we come upon the famous Minoan frescoes, straight from the luxurious palaces and the royal mansions (1600 – 1400 B.C.). Among them, visitors will be able to admire the prince with the lilies, the fresco of the bullfighters and the fresco of the dolphins - just to name the most popular ones. Hall XIV hosts the renowned earthenware sarcophagus of the Holy Triad with representations of sacrificial scenes and offerings, one of the most important artefacts in the whole Museum.

Hall XVII boasts the collection of the departed, but never forgotten, doctor Stylianos Giamalakis from Herakleion. The Giamalakis collection, that devolved to the greek government in 1962, consists of hundreds of objects covering the whole breadth of Cretan history.

The last three halls (XVIII, XIX, XX) contain exhibits from the less famous Crete of the historical times, namely from the Archaic period to the Roman times (700 - 300 A.D.). There are bronze statuettes from the temple of Apollo at Dreros to be seen here, an earthenware bell-shaped statuette of Athena and the only bronze statue of Ierapetra.

This brief description of the local finds is obviously unable to cover all of the archaeological wealth housed in the Museum of Herakleion. Wandering through the different halls you will recognize dozens of famous objects that you never even realized you’ve seen before. But, as is always the case with great museums, it will take you more than one visit to form a general opinion on the glorious Cretan civilization.