An urn: exhibit in the Archaeological Museum - Iraklio, Iraklio Province, Crete

Archaeological Museum of Arhanes


This small museum displays many important finds from regional excavations, especially from Minoan times. Among the highlights are clay larnakes (coffins) for children, sarcophagi and replicas of musical instruments from Fourni, and a copy of the dagger presumably used for human sacrifice from the Anemospilia temple. The museum is in a side street just north of Arhanes' main square.


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Nearby attractions

1. Fourni

0.75 MILES

On a hill west of town and reached via a steep footpath, Fourni is the most extensive Minoan necropolis in Crete. Burials took place here over a period of…

2. Mt Yiouhtas Peak Sanctuary

1.21 MILES

Driving south from Arhanes, look for the turn-off for Giourtas. The narrow (but drivable) road leads to the top of Mt Yiouhtas. After a bone-rattling 5km,…

3. Anemospilia

1.63 MILES

Anemospilia packs major importance into its small frame. Excavation of this middle-Minoan three-room temple yielded evidence that human sacrifice played…

4. Vathypetro

1.79 MILES

About 5km south of Arhanes, and well signposted, Vathypetro was built around 1600 BC, probably as the villa of a prosperous Minoan noble. Archaeologists…

5. Nikos Kazantzakis Museum

2.87 MILES

In a modern building overlooking the kafeneia-flanked central plaza of author Nikos Kazantzakis' ancestral village, this well-curated museum zeroes in on…

7. Queen’s Megaron

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Archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans believed that this pretty space in the residential eastern wing, with its painted pillars and playful dolphin fresco on the…

8. Queen’s Bathroom & WC

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Next to the queen's bedroom, but barely visible through glass, the ruler's wife's 'bathroom' may have had a clay bathtub and a primitive type of water…

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