Natural History Museum of Crete, Natural history museum in Heraklion, Greece.
The Natural History Museum of Crete occupies four floors with fossils, preserved Mediterranean specimens, and research collections focused on local nature. The galleries display remains of vanished animals alongside current exhibits that explain how the ecosystem functions.
Founded in 1981, the institution repurposed a former electrical power plant as its home. This conversion of an industrial building into a research center shows how the island shifted focus toward preserving and sharing scientific knowledge about the eastern Mediterranean.
The museum reveals how the natural world of the eastern Mediterranean has shaped human life on this island across centuries. Through its exhibits, visitors see which animals and plants define daily existence here and why they matter to local traditions.
The building sits near the port and is easy to reach on foot; inside, you can move through all four levels at your own pace and spend as much time as you need. Wear comfortable shoes since exploring the different floors involves quite a bit of walking.
A special room in the museum lets visitors experience the force of earthquakes in a controlled setting. This encounter shows why seismology matters so much to an island like Crete, where such events happen regularly.
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