Part of the ceiling in one of Greece’s top archaeological museums has collapsed, damaging a display case of 3,500-year-old pottery, the Culture Ministry admitted yesterday.

The accident, at the popular Archaeological Museum of Iraklion in Crete, the showcase for the extraordinarily rich finds from the island’s Bronze Age Minoan civilization, is understood to have occurred early on Monday, before the building opened to the public.

A ministry announcement yesterday confirmed that a display case containing ceramics had been damaged, but did not expand. This followed a report in yesterday’s To Vima daily, which said two display cases had been hit by falling ceiling pieces that damaged some of the artifacts.

The exhibits in the room included many finds from the Minoan palace of Zakros, in eastern Crete, which was occupied — in two phases — between 1900 and 1450 BC.