The Folklore Museum of Chania

Children will love this small Folklore Museum located in a small courtyard next to the Catholic Church in Halidon Street on the way to the harbour. It includes folklore and traditional exhibits that allow the visitor to have a representative picture of the way of Cretan life during the 18th and 19th century.

The museum houses a collection of agricultural tools used for ploughing, sowing, harvesting, threshing and treading grapes as well as depictions of traditional home occupations such as preparations for making the daily meal, or handicrafts such as weaving on the loom or the processing of raw materials used in embroidery and weaving. You’ll also see an example of inside a small rural house.

In addition there are also models of the workplaces of traditional professions, such as a cobbler, a tailor, and a rope and basket maker as well as exhibits of various ornaments, objects of daily use, musical instruments and furniture such as the bridal bed and the sitting room settee. Models show how traditional dress was worn.

Also of great interest is the collection of woven and embroidered wall hangings. The museum workshop revives Cretan embroidery and embroidery ‘paintings’ (wall hangings) are being created by free hand machining and each piece is unique.