Naval Museum

The Naval, or Maritime, Museum, opened over 30 years ago, is located at the entrance of Hania's outer harbour on the site of the Firka Fortress, built originally by the Venetians as a guard house, naval garrison and prison for those condemned to death, and later taken over by the Turks for much the same purpose. The museum is well worth a visit for people of all ages, if you would like a brief visual introduction to Crete's history from the Bronze Age to the 2nd World War. The Maritime Museum has an informative model of how the town looked in Venetian times, as well as a moving exhibition on the Battle of Crete in 1941.

It was on the harbour front, adjacent to the Musuem, that the Greek Flag was raised on 1 December 1913 by King Constantine and the Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos, to commemorate 'Enosis', the Union of Crete with Greece.