The View of Sinai
El Greco before Toledo — as a Cretan.
Lourakis — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Andrant83 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dchatzo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · C messier — CC0
The Historical Museum takes the tale where the Archaeological leaves it: Crete from Byzantium to the twentieth century in a neoclassical seafront house — holding what nowhere else on the island does: the only two El Grecos in his native Crete (View of Sinai and the Baptism) — for the world's Domenikos Theotokopoulos was born here before Toledo. Its second treasure is Nikos Kazantzakis' room: desk, library and papers transplanted whole — the visit that completes his grave on the walls — plus the great model of Venetian Candia (1645) teaching the pre-siege city's shape, and the Battle of Crete halls (1941) of paratroopers and resistance arms. It is the essential after-Minoan for understanding the modern island — ninety minutes on the seafront suffice, at a quarter of its big neighbour's crowds.
El Greco before Toledo — as a Cretan.
The Venetian city of 1645, pre-siege, in relief.
Sofokli Venizelou 27, 71202 Heraklion
Lions Square & the Morosini FountainLions Square has been Heraklion's navel since Venice: the Morosini fountain (1624 minutes walk4.4
Church of Saint TitusIt stands on a small square in the middle of Heraklion, and its present shape gi5 minutes walk4.6
Natural History Museum of CreteA University of Crete museum in a former **power station** on the seafront west 5 minutes walk4.5
Saint Minas Cathedral**One of the largest cathedrals in Greece**: a vast domed building with two towe6 minutes walk4.8
Koules Fortress & the Venetian HarbourKoules is Heraklion's sea warden: Venice's square fortress (1523-1540) on the ha8 minutes walk4.7The Archaeological is obligation (the Minoan has no substitute) — the Historical a firm recommendation for El Greco, Kazantzakis and the modern tale in ninety minutes — the third (crafts) for surplus time. The winning equation: Archaeological + Historical = Heraklion understood.