The highlight of this dusty old museum are the displays of fossilised tusks and bones from the dwarf Cretan elephant and pygmy hippopotamus. Both were endemic to the Rethymno region before becoming extinct around 12,000 years ago. The museum is in the restored 17th-century Temple of Mastaba (aka Veli Pasha Mosque), with nine domes and the city’s oldest minaret.
The complex, a branch of Athens’ Goulandris Natural History Museum, often has touring exhibits from the capital and abroad.