Chania Archaeological Museum is located on Halidon Street in the centre of the old town,and houses the Archaeological Collection of Chania.It has been housed in various public buildings (the Residency, the Boys’ High School, the Hassan Mosque). Since 1963 it has been housed in the Venetian church of St Francis,an important monument of the city

We do not know exactly when the church was built, but written sources refer to it as standing in the great earthquake of 1595 and being the largest in the city. It was later turned into a Turkish mosque dedicated to Yusuf Pasha, the conqueror of Chania. At the turn of the 20th century it became the “Idaion Andron” Cinema. After the Second World War it was used as a supply depot, while in 1963 it became the Archaeological Museum of Chania, a function it has fulfilled ever since.