In the heart of the city center of Heraklion, opposite the church of Agios Minas, is the Museum of traditional music, instruments, research & documentation with the characteristic title 'Thirathen'.
The Museum was founded in 2012 with its headquarters in the historic village of Krousonas, in the Municipality of Malevizi. In December 2023, it opened its doors to the public, in its new space in the center of the city of Heraklion.
In a renovated neoclassical building, at the point where the pulse of the heart of the city of Heraklion impregnates the traditional instruments and forever give birth to unsurpassed melodies, the visitor is in store for a journey through the charm of the music of the Mediterranean. The purposes of the museum are:The acquaintance of the local community, but also of its visitors from all over the world, with Greek traditional music, and familiarity with the traditional instruments of Greece and Mediterranean.The preservation and continuation of Greek traditional music through the Seminars and Conferences it holds Musicological research and the study of Greek traditional music as a research & documentation center.

The collection of musical instruments was carried out with the funding from AKOMM and they are classified according to the "Hornbostel–Sachs" system based on the sounds produced by the corresponding pulsating movements of the materials in aerophones, chordophones, membranophones and idiophones. The museum cooperates with the educational institutions of Greece in order to implement school visits to the museum site of an educational nature accompanied by various activities, such as musical and kinetic games, guided tours, screenings. Visitors to the museum have the pleasure of experiencing an interactive tour of its space as the exhibits 'come alive' in front of them and with the possibility of the digital tour available, the visitor can obtain important information about the musical instruments exhibited in the museum, and retrieve photographic and audio-visual archival material.*(Thirathen education = The classical education of Byzantium which had a cultural and cultural character.)

Address : Pl. Rhga Feraiou, Iraklio 712 01
Tel.: 2810 711196
E-mail: info@thirathen.com
Website: www.thirathen.com