Knossos Minoan Palace in Heraklion (Crete)
N 35° 17.872 E 025° 09.790
35S E 332986 N 3907623
Do you want to see place where in old myths was Labyrinth with the Minotaur...? Visit Knossos Minoan Palace at suburbs of Crete capital Heraklion and you will see wonders of 4000 years old civilisation...
Waymark Code: WM6DT3
Location: Greece
Date Posted: 05/18/2009
Views: 39
Knossos Palace is the legendary site of Theseus fighting the Minotaur, Ariadne and her ball of string, Daedalus the architect and doomed Icarus of the wax wings: how many of us dream Minoan dreams and never realize it?.
The Aegean culture known as Minoan is the Bronze Age civilization that flourished on the island of Crete during the second and third millennia B.C. The city of Knossos was one of its main cities--and it contained its largest palace after the shattering earthquake that marks the beginning of the New Palace period in Greek archaeology, ca. 1700 BC.
Construction on the palace at Knossos, according to legend the palace of King Minos, was begun perhaps as early as 2000 B.C., and by 1900 BC, it was fairly close to its final form--a large single building with a central courtyard. Around 1700 BC, one theory goes, a tremendous earthquake shook the Aegean Sea, devastating Crete as well as the Mycenaean cities on the Greek mainland. Knossos' palace was destroyed; but the Minoan civilization rebuilt almost immediately on top of the ruins of the past, and indeed the culture reached its pinnacle only after the devastation.
During the Second Palace period, 1700-1450 BC, the Palace of Minos covered nearly 22,000 square meters (about 5.4 acres) and contained storage rooms, living quarters, religious areas, and banquet rooms. What appears to be a jumble of rooms connected by narrow passageways probably gave rise to the myth of the Labyrinth; the structure itself was built of a complex of dressed masonry and clay-packed rubble, and then half-timbered. Columns were many and varied in the Minoan tradition, and the walls were highly decorated with frescoes.
The Palace at Knossos was first extensively excavated by Sir Arthur Evans, in the earliest years of the 20th century. One of the pioneers of the field of archaeology, Evans had a marvelous imagination and a tremendous creative fire, and he used his skills to create what you can go and see today at Knossos in northern Crete. Too much by today's standards, I fear: as you might guess by the photograph, Evans painted temple is a little gaudier than was probably the case. But visiting Knossos is still a great way to absorb the ancient Minoan culture.