The historical collection includes coins, weapons- guns, Cretan knives, pistols. Also revolutionary flags, maps of Crete, objects from the Ottomans presence on the island, from the era of Autonomy, the Russian presence in Rethymno until the union with the rest of Greece in 1913. It also includes objects from the 1st World War, the Macedonian Strugle and the Battle of Crete and the German occupation.
Autonomy
The arrival of Prince George as High Commissioner, in December 1898, marked the beginning of the period of Cretan Autonomy, under the high suzerainty of the Sublime Porte and the protection of European States.
The four Great Powers placed the island under their high protection by districts: the Italians in Chania, the Russians in Rethymnon, the British in Herakleion and the French in Lasithi. The Russian pro- tection in Rethymnon was associated with a period of social and economic recon- struction. In 1909, the foreign powers finally withdrew from Crete and the long- awaited Union with Greece was accomplished on 11 December 1913.
