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| The Minoan Palace of Knossos is a large
archaeological site situated along the road to Archanes, about 5
kilometres from the town centre of Heraklion, and is easily accessible by
bus or taxi. The imposing Palace was built on the hill of Kefala next to
the river Kairatos. he site was first discovered in 1878 by Minos
Kalokairinos, but major work did not start until 1900 when the
British archaeologist, Arthur Evans, started his own excavations, these
continued for the next 35 years. During this time some parts of the palace
were "restored" in such a way as that it is possible to appreciate the
grandeur and complexity of this structure which occupies approximately
20,000 square meters. |
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 It
was Evans who designated the buildings at Knossos to be a palace, he also
named the civilisation that had built it as the Minoans, after the
mythological Greek King Minos. Since then the actual function of the
buildings at Knossos, and of the three other large palaces on Crete have
been questioned and new interpretations advanced. Some now believe that
this, and the three other large palaces of Minoan Crete are temples or
administrative centres or even necropolises. |
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Whatever the buildings true function, there
is no doubt that it was enormous. It contained hundreds of rooms at many
levels grouped around a central courtyard. The palace had storerooms,
bathrooms, private apartments, public rooms, and workshops. Some of the
storerooms contained dozens of huge jars, called pithoi, which were used
to store olive oil. According to some estimates 60,000 gallons of olive
oil could be stored in these, which in itself acts as a testament to the
Minoan's wealth. |
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Over the centuries, a number of palaces have been
built and destroyed on the site where Knossos now stands, and there is
also some evidence that the
location was inhabited during Neolithic times. On the ruins of the
Neolithic settlement was built the first Minoan palace in about 1900 B.C.
This was destroyed around 1700 B.C. and a new palace was built in its
place. This palace
survived the conquest of the island by Mycenaean Greeks, sometime around
the middle of the fifteenth century B.C. All of the other palaces on Crete
were destroyed at this time, but Knossos was preserved to supply the needs of
the newly arrived conquerors. The Minoan civilisation reached its peak and
Knossos was its most important city-state between 1.700 to 1.450 B.C.
During these years the city was destroyed twice by earthquakes, and
had to be rebuilt.
It is estimated that the city of Knossos had 100.000 citizens and it
continued to be an important city-state until the early Byzantine period.
The site was later abandoned and gradually fell into ruin. |
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| One of the more remarkable discoveries
at Knossos was the extensive murals that decorated the plastered walls.
All were found badly damaged and were reconstructed and placed into rooms
by the artist Piet de Jong but this reconstruction like other
reconstructions on the site has been condemned by some. The centrepiece of
the palace is the so called Throne Room. This chamber has a seat built
into the wall, facing a number of benches, also in this room is a tank
which is thought to have been used as an aquarium. |
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