Those Minoans really knew how to keep their cool...

One of Crete's most fascinating museums is also totally chill in terms of crowds and temperature,

- Michael Hodges

Across the Mediterranean, we wait in line and we wilt. From the Prado to the Parthenon, the fierce, occasionally deadly, heatwaves that have settled on southern Europe this summer have made queuing for museums, galleries and archaeological sites a grim and sweaty business - especially in Greece.

In June, Athens was so hot that Greek authorities closed the Acropolis. In the same month, visitors hoping to see the Minoan treasures in northern Crete’s Heraklion Archeological Museum, and then visit the Minoan palace complex at Knossos where many of those treasures come from, experienced outside temperatures of 44.5C.

Some in that sweltering throng might have wondered if they would survive; most will have wished for a less stressful alternative. Well, now there is one and it might just be the coolest museum in Europe – in every sense.

An hour south of Knossos, the exterior of the new Archaeological Museum of the Messara is a long brick wall that appears to float in the stony Cretan landscape. Pass through the hidden opening and the heat subsides as you enter 2,900 square metres of spacious climate-controlled calm within.