Archaeological Museum of Kissamos

Archaeological Museum of Kissamos, Crete Island, Greece

The Archaeological Museum of Kissamos was founded in 2005 and is housed in the Venetian – Turkish monument known as Diikitirio (“Headquarters”). Its exhibits provide a longitudinal picture of the region’s history from prehistory to late antiquity, i.e. the early Christian Times. The exhibition is divided into sections based on chronological and local criteria and covers the ground and first floor of the building.

Downstairs, the Minoan findings from the excavations at Nopigia are presented (Geometric period, 9th-8th century BC) and focuses on the historical development of the major cities of western Crete: Polyrrhenia and Falassarna that flourished in the Hellenistic period (4th-1st century BC). It also presents pottery and ceramic findings from smaller local cities and settlements of the region, Hellenistic inscriptions and sculptures from the area of Kissamos, dating mostly to the Roman period (67 BC – 4th century AD).

The first floor is dedicated to the town of Kissamos and the findings from local excavations. Here one can admire mosaic floors with interesting pictorial representations from urban villas of the GrecoromanKisamos, amphorae and coins coming from trade, findings from workshops, everyday objects and findings from tombs of Falassarna and Polirinia, a burial of the second half of the 4th century BC, from the Roman and early Christian cemetery.