- The Natural History Museum of Crete is building a life-sized mountain exhibit.
- Visitors will explore a gorge, a cave, and climb toward two peaks.
- Local wildlife, like the Cretan kri-kri and vultures, will be part of the display.
- The idea is to bring the mountain to the people who cannot reach it.
Only in Crete can you take a stroll along the promenade of Heraklion, then step indoors and suddenly find yourself climbing a gorge. The Natural History Museum of Crete has announced that a bona fide Cretan mountain is being installed right inside its walls. And before you ask, yes: with cave, gorge, and rocky peaks included.
“Can a mountain be moved next to the sea? The answer is yes,” the Museum teased in a recent Facebook post. For once, social media is not exaggerating.
Hiking in Slippers? Possible
Soon, visitors will be able to walk through a gorge, duck into a cave, and even meet some honorary residents of the Cretan highlands: the iconic kri-kri wild goat (Capra aegagrus cretica) and a few circling vultures on the summits. It is like doing the Samaria Gorge, minus the sore calves and with air-conditioning included.
For school groups, tourists, or anyone not ready to haul themselves up Psiloritis, this exhibit is the perfect shortcut: a taste of the mountains, five minutes from downtown Heraklion.
Why Move a Mountain?
Crete’s mountains are not exactly easy-going. They are steep, rugged, and sometimes intimidating. Many visitors never make it past the beach. The Museum’s logic is simple: if you cannot go to the mountain, let the mountain come to you.
It is also a clever way of reminding people that the island is not only about sand and tavernas. Behind every postcard beach lies a backbone of limestone peaks, full of caves, gorges, and wildlife that make Crete unique.
A Wink at Local Reality
Of course, only in Crete could you have the situation where one day you are sipping a freddo on the harbor, and the next you are telling your friends you “climbed a mountain” without leaving the city center. Expect a few jokes from locals about tourists in flip-flops “conquering” summits.
But jokes aside, this installation is both fun and educational. It gives everyone, from small children to elderly visitors, a safe way to experience the island’s wilderness.
Work is already underway, and the Museum promises the exhibit will open “very soon.” When it does, Heraklion will officially be the only city where you can swim in the morning, eat bougatsa for lunch, and spend the afternoon exploring a gorge—all without leaving the seafront.
Now that is what we call efficient sightseeing.
