Archaeological Museum of Heraklion: Violent reactions to the reduced opening hours

It has caused strong reactions both in the commercial world and among tourism professionals reduced opening hours of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion with the problems caused being many and serious.

The administration has decided that the gates of the Museum will open at 8:30 in the morning and close at 15:30 in the afternoon for the days Monday and Wednesday to Friday, while it will operate from 10:00 in the morning until 17:00 in the afternoon only on Tuesday. This program, as stated on the museum’s website, will be valid until April 30.

However, as announced by the President of the Board of Directors of the Museum, Jokeim Gryspolakis, it was decided that after the recruitment of the new antiquities guards, whenever they happen, the opening hours will change again and will be reduced even more by half an hour.

Specifically, on Monday – Tuesday – Friday and Saturday the Museum will operate from 8:00 in the morning until 3:00 p.m., on Wednesday from 1:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and only on Thursday and Sunday it will operate from 8:00 a.m. :00 in the morning until 20.00 at night.

Speaking on Radio Crete and on the show of Manolis Argyrakis, the general secretary of the Association of Tour Guides of Crete – Santorini, Katerina Giakoumaki, stated that the problems caused by the few hours the museum operates are serious as this does not help in planning all the visits. Still, as he said, there are cases of cancellation of visits to the museum which are replaced by visits to other archaeological sites.

“A lot will change in the programming if the opening hours are not extended” said Mrs. Giakoumaki who added that currently the second floor of the Museum remains closed for lack of staff since last November.

According to the assurances he has received, the opening hours will not change at least for the first 15 days of May.

The reactions are widespread and as everyone who is involved with entrepreneurship in the center of Heraklion and tourism says, all this brings a decrease in income both for the Archaeological Museum which is the second most visited in the country and for the businessmen of the city while at the same time the image that comes out is extremely negative.

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