Heraklion Thirathen Museum

Location: Town
Don't miss: Museums guide (free admission dates and other useful info)

Thirathen Museum in Heraklion: A unique art museum that caters to music lovers, the Thirathen Museum of Traditional Instruments in Heraklion is a fantastic experience for everyone! This museum was created in order to present treasures of Greek and international traditional music with the utmost respect to its roots, as well as showcase the music’s strong ties with Cretan culture!

The museum hosts tours for adults and young visitors, where they will be able to witness a plethora of vintage string instruments, including old lutes, sitars, lyres, mandolins, guitars, kanuns, and beautiful balalaikas! Alongside these artifacts, one will spot plenty of accordions, flutes, tambourines, wooden clackers, goblet drums of Turkish origin, and a fantastic banjo-mandolin, amongst other instruments, whereas they all feature gorgeous, handmade designs! Plus, Thirathen houses a handful of traditional dresses on-site!

In addition, the museum’s guests will have the chance to attend instrument-making classes or witness the hosts play traditional tunes and sing live! Moreover, Thyrathen has a couple of vocal groups that perform on the regular, a fully-fledged set of lessons with your instrument of choice, and a stellar documentary regarding the lute and its deep connection with the island of Crete!

Thirathen Museum of Traditional Instruments is open Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 14:00 and on the weekends upon earlier request.

Official website: www.thirathen.com