​The study for the construction of the Museum, in order to house the most important archaeological wealth of the city of Rethymnon and the wider region, with a budget of €2,922,256.15, is already being prepared within the framework of the Cultural Development Program Agreement, which has been signed between the Ministry of Culture, of the Region of Crete and the Municipality of Rethymno.

Already, the first phase of the museological study of the New Archaeological Museum in Rethymno received a positive opinion from the Council of Museums, the Ministry of Culture.

As the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni stated, “The establishment and operation of the New Archaeological Museum is the perennial request of the local community, but also of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Rethymno. Rethymnon is the only capital of the Regional Units of Crete, which does not have a modern Archaeological Museum. Our goal is to showcase the great and important archaeological wealth of the Rethymno Regional Unit, which will connect, in their real dimension, the past with the future of the place. The new Museum, due to its location in a privileged part of the city, will upgrade the urban fabric of Rethymno, while at the same time it will be a treasure of knowledge and education, as well as a development tool for the city and the wider region. With the approval of the first phase of the museological study, in parallel with the preparation of the necessary studies for the construction of the building, the procedures for promoting the construction of the new Museum are proceeding.

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The temporary exhibition in Saint Francis is a solution of necessity, when the operation of the old Museum of the city was interrupted. I thank the Regional Governor of Crete Stavros Arnautakis and the Mayor of Rethymno Giorgos Marinakis for the excellent cooperation. We share the same vision: For Rethymno to acquire a museum worthy of its history.”

The New Archaeological Museum of Rethymno is to be built on an area of ​​5,912.14 square meters, at a key point, in the western coastal part of the city of Rethymno, part of the public estate “Kundouraki Camp”. The plot was granted, in 2010, by the Municipality of Rethymno to the Ministry of Culture. The architectural program and the preliminary museological study were already approved by relevant decisions in 2011 and 2013, respectively. In 2017, the modification of the municipality’s zoning plan was completed, in which the building site of the Museum is determined, as well as the building conditions and restrictions in the area. At the end of 2021, the financing of the study of the New Archaeological Museum of Rethymno was included in the Regional Operational Program “Crete 2014-2020” and an international competition was held for the preparation of an architectural study.

Based on the architectural program, the spaces in the New Archaeological Museum are divided into exhibition spaces of 1,300 sq.m., training areas and an auditorium, 180 sq.m. in total, maintenance workshops of 410 sq.m., warehouses of 1,500 sq.m., administration offices, technical facilities areas, public service areas. The total area of ​​the Museum amounts to 4,200 sq.m.

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The current phase of the museological study includes the organization of the permanent exhibition in seven exhibition “areas – cells” with an indicative list of exhibits:

– Area A – The Chronicle of a State or otherwise The City as a Cultural Property

– Area B – The Place as a Cultural Landscape (Looks at Space and Time)

– Area C – Man creates

– Area D – Man seeks spirituality

– Area E – The past as gaming and communication

– Area F – The past as stock

– Area G – Stories in Flow

Regarding the interpretive framing of the exhibits, the proposal for the Museum’s exhibition includes, in addition to visual media and props, a series of digital media that highlight the importance of the city’s palimpsest, as a monumental ensemble.