Description of the attraction
The Historical Museum - the archive of Crete in the city of Chania - was founded in 1920 and worked privately. Since 1943, it has been officially ranked among state institutions and works as an archive, among other things. Its collections include 700 thousand historical documents and manuscripts, the first of which date back to 1821, and the newest - literally today. This repository is the second largest and most important museum in Greece, after the General Archives of Athens.
Among the 170 archival collections of the Office there are the following documents: the revolutionary archives, which include the official correspondence of the Cretan revolutions of 1821-1830, 1866-1869, 1877-1878, 1895-1898 and the Teriso movement (1905); private archival collections from various periods of the island's history, with mail from leaders, military officials and administrators; correspondence of Cretan fighters; Ottoman Archives and Repository of the Central Bureau of Translation of Crete; notarial archives of the late 19th century. It also houses the second largest Maritime Museum in Greece, which aims to preserve Crete's maritime traditions.
This museum presents the entire history of the Cretan state, starting with the declaration of the autonomy of the island of Crete (1898-1913).
