Rethymno War Museum Branch

Eleven kilometres southeast of Rethymno lies the traditional settlement of Chromonastiri, within which the Rethymno Branch of the War Museum is located. Its collections are housed in a Venetian villa of exceptional historical and architectural interest, dating from the early 17th century, a period when Crete was under the rule of the Serenissima Republic of San Marco, i.e. Venice. The Clodio noble Latin family used to vacation in the building and after the Ottoman forces occupied the island in the middle of the 17th century, the local Ottoman Governor settled there. 1896 marked the formation of the autonomous Cretan State and two years later, in 1898, the historic building stopped being under Ottoman rule. About a century later, in 1985, its last private owner, Alkiviadis Kotzampasis, donated it to the Community of Chromonastiri. In 1997, the building was granted to the Hellenic Army General Staff in order to be restored and to host historical relics of military interest; this happened in 2010, the year that the Museum began operating officially and fully.