Archaeological Museum

Hania's Archaeological Museum is housed in the superb 16th-century Venetian Church of San Francisco that became a mosque under the Turks, a movie theatre in 1913 and a munitions depot for the Germans during WWII. The museum houses a well-displayed collection of finds from western Crete dating from the Neolithic to the Roman eras. Artefacts from 3400 BC to 1200 BC, to the left as you enter the museum, include tablets with Linear A script.

There is some exquisite pottery from the Geometric era (1200-800 BC) and a case of bull figurines. Among the Hellenistic and Roman exhibits, the statue of Diana is particularly impressive. There is a marble fountain in the pretty courtyard decorated with lions' heads from the Venetian period, while the Turkish fountain is a relic from the building's days as a mosque.