The Historical Museum of Crete offers an overall picture of the history and culture of Crete from the early Christian times to the 20th century, while seasonal exhibitions include subjects of Byzantine or modern art, important personalities of Greece and presentation of historical events. Chania city is home to the Historical Archive of Crete with more than 170 archival collections and the second largest Nautical Museum in Greece, which aims to preserve the great maritime tradition of Crete. The Byzantine Museums of Heraklion, Chania and Rethymnon are also very special venues dedicated mainly to ecclesiastical art.
The war collections and archives intend to commemorate the resistance and struggle of the Cretans against the various occupiers of Crete. The most important of these are the War Museum of Rethymnon at Chromonastiri, the Historical Museum of Vorizia, the Museums of National Resistance at Therisso and Heraklion, the Historical Museum of Keramia, the Museum of Skalidis at Pervolia, the War Museum at Askyfou and the Military Collection of Argyrakis at Episkopi. Additionally, the German Tunnels at Platanias and Makasi Gate at Heraklion Walls are important historical sites.
The Historical Museum of Crete was founded in 1953 by the Society of Cretan Historical Studies. It is housed in a beautiful neoclassical building that was the home of Minos Kalokerinos and a courtesy of the Kalokerinos family Institute.
The Museum of Byzantine Icons and Relics of Archdiocese of Crete is located in the Venetian church of St. Catherine of Sinai, in the center of Heraklion and next to the cathedral of Saint Minas.
The History of Burial is a very special venue in Heraklion city. It is housed in the two-storey ossuary of the old cemetery of Saints Constantine and Helen in Heraklion, which was built in 1890.
At the entrance of the port of Chania is situated the Venetian Fortress Firkas, where on December 1st 1913, the Greek flag has been hoisted, sealing the union of Crete with the motherland Greece.
The Historical Archive of Crete was established in 1920 in Chania and operated informally until 1928, when it was recognized as a public entity. Since 1943, it is a Public Service and operates as an annex to the General State Archives.
The Historical and Folklore Museum of Rethymnon was founded in 1974 and is housed in a Venetian building (17th century) that is a wonderful example of urban residence of the last phase of the Venetian occupation of Crete, in Renaissance.
The museum was founded in 1968 and was officially opened in September 1993. It is housed in a building that is a typical sample of the local architecture and is housed on two floors: the ground floor with a balcony, internal yard, an arched house with auxiliary rooms and a mezzanine.
The position of Meliana by village Amiras hosts one of the many memorials of the German atrocities experienced by the Cretans during the Second World War and a small museum next to it. This commemorated one of the most violent massacres of German Occupation in Greece, the holocaust of Viannos district.