The Minoans are the earliest advanced civilization known to man and they made Knossos the largest settlement in Crete with a grouping of settlements just outside of the modern capital at Heraklion. The sprawling palace complex at Knossos is impressive and is associated with the legend of king Minos with it’s over 1300 room villa. The word Minoan comes from the mythical ‘King Minos’ of Knossos who was associated with the Greek Labyrinth and identifies the grounds around Knossos.
Built around 2000 to 1400 BC, the palace complex (anaktora) was known at its time as a luxurious palace and administration center, very advanced during its timeframe. Knossos is the largest of the bronze age archeological sites in Greece with five other administrative palaces scattered around the island. The complex at Knossos served many purposes outside of just being the official residence of the king, it also had many administrative functions for civic and cultural event, religious services and an economic center to conduct business.
Here is a highlight tour Knossos
Early Minoan civilization
The Minoan civilization flourished around Crete and many of the Aegean around the Cyclades from 2600 to 1400 BC. They were traders exchanging handicrafts, ceramics, raw and precious materials and spices like saffron around the Cycladic islands, with the Egyptians to the south, Mycenae to the north and all the way to Canaan (Israel to the east) and Mesopotamia. Highly prized traded goods included ceramics, fine gold and silver and other luxury goods.
Knossos architecture and art
Minoan art and architecture focused on organic and naturalistic designs. Popular images used in Minoan art incorporated the use of spirals, triangles and circles along with studies of animals, fish, flowers, birds along with strong geometric lines and color blocking details. This is typically clear with the large number of found pottery, archeological ruins and small artifacts that have been uncovered at the main palaces and archealogical sites around Crete. Many of the grand rooms in the palace are supported with thick columns painted in solid black or red. Surprisingly, they are made completely of wood instead of stone. These columns are particular to the Minoan style and not Greek columns which are related more to the Mycenaean style of architecture.
The Throne room at Knossos
The most important room in the palace is the throne room with elaborate red frescos and murals with griffins that flank the main throne, which is a symbol of divinity. The throne room identified below has an alabaster seat thought to be a ‘throne’ along with a stone basin which might have been used for purification purposes. There is a mystery of the throne due to its small seat. It is believed to either be made for a female individual like a consort or priestess or it may be reserved primarily as a symbolic seat for a goddess or a priestess that would be present at a function or event.
Reconstructed murals at Knossos
Although the ancient site at Knossos has been not been certified as a Unesco site due to certain restrictions and updates that were done to the site primarily the controversial restoration work of murals which originally were fragments in its original condition. It is still a worthy place to visit and get a better glimpse of Minoan civilization, art and history. There has been restorations made to the site to give a better look at the artwork done on the buildings which give a better representation of the real art made during that timeframe. Even though the graphic murals are not original to the site, found ceramic designs and images were utilized in to decorate the different walls of the interior and exterior rooms throughout the palace. They create an enhanced room and give a better feel for how a particular room could be decorated during its timeframe. A case in point is this stunning recreation of a mythical creature which seems to be Griffin, which were important mythical creatures in Minoan imagery. The strong bold red color and geometric patterns around this room has been found on many of the wall ruins and replicated completely into this room filled with these creatures.
Other fresco motifs include: people, animals, rocks and vegetation, marine life and other natural scenes from the local environment. The relief below is titled ‘ Prince of Lilies’ and represents a priest king with a crown of peacock feathers and a necklace of lilies leading an unknown animal to be sacrificed.
Many of the Minoan ruins on Crete were abandoned or damaged by invading Mycenaeans in the 15th century and left to natural ruin. The complex at Knossos was left intact for a several hundred years until it was also destroyed but not completely like the other Cretan sites which were destroyed.
If you go – the details
1. Open hours are 8am to 8pm April/Oct and Nov/May 8am to 5pm
2. Best times to go to avoid the heat and direct sun would be early morning and late afternoon prior to close
3. Admission: 6 Euros or 10 Euros combined with the Archeological museum
4. Directions: From Heraklion take the road to Nea Alikarnassos
Where to stay in Crete
There are many coastal communities to stay around the island, but you’ll find the majority of inns and hotels around the two larger cities of Chania and Heraklion.
You can also check into Air Bnb accommodations all around the island with both cities central to visiting all the different areas around the island. For reviews and current prices in Chania, Check out these Trip Advisor reviews here for an updated calendar and availability. For Heraklion, check out these reviews here for current availability and prices.
Thanks for checking out this post on a visit to Knossos in Crete. If you enjoyed the post, please share it with any of the social media buttons listed around the post, thank you. Also, please check out my highlight tour of the ancient capital of Chania in Crete.
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Greece is very popular travel destination amongst europeans especially Athen, Rodosz and Korfu. Great images by the way !
Noel, your photos are just wonderful! Really enjoyed reading the info of Knossos.
Hi Anderson, thanks so much for the wonderful comment, hope you visited Knossos and saw this amazing site?
Wow the throne room is so cool! It’s amazing how it’s withstood the test of time and the throne is still pretty intact!
Your photos are so amazing! Over 1300 rooms, that is remarkable. I can imagine how much work it took to maintain such an enormous place.
No one coming to Crete should miss Knossos! The archaeological site is icredible. I have visited twice and every time I am more impressed. I highly recommend visiting the Archaeological museum in Heraklion too.
The kids and I love seeing articles about greece and crete. They are learning about greek mythology at the moment and they really enjoy seeing the ruins of all the great site. Great article, thanks.
Noel, your photos are just wonderful! Really enjoyed reading the info of Knossos. I’m amazed how well-preserved a lot of it is.
Wow I was there last May … such a beautiful place to explore and discover minoan legacy
This post makes me sad that we missed Crete during our time in Greece! Adding Knossos to the list for our next visit. Your pictures are incredible! Thanks for the tips on when to visit!
It´s incredible to think that those building and paintings dates back from 1400 BC. Such an amazing engineering and art designing.
As much as I get to know about the ancient Greeks more I admire them.
Thanks for sharing you tour.
Nat
Hii Noel,
Your travel stories are always inspiring. For me greece has always been in bucket list. Thanks for sharing.
Keep sharing the world.
A lot of great murals still intact… love the dolphin one. This is one of the most colorful ruin sites I’ve seen!
I’ve been going through my pictures of Knossos the last few days to pick a couple for my article on Crete. I have practically the same exact shots as probably four of your photos! 🙂
Yes, it’s not so hard when the site is a little restricted but definitely a colorful and historic place to visit