The Palace of Knossos, Crete


	The Palace of Knossos, Crete

The palace of Knossos on the island of Crete is the largest of the surviving Minoan palaces. On a vast plain, it was surrounded by villas belonging to officials of the court.

Note the central space in the layout of the palace. This is the court around which the rooms of the palace were organized. There were official and ceremonial rooms as well as separate royal residential rooms and servants' quarters. The palace had three stories around the central court and beautiful stairwells with light and air wells to provide illumination and ventilation.

Unlike palaces in the Near East which had enormous public and ceremonial rooms, this throne room is small and unpretentious. It too is decorated with wall paintings.

The Queen had her own residential quarters with an adjoining porch. The palace had an underlying plumbing system of terra cotta pipes and the Queen had her own bathroom with toilet facilities (the small opening in the center is to her bathroom). The dolphin frescoes again reflect the Minoan love for the sea.

One entire area of the palace was comprised of storerooms for wine, grain, and honey. These storerooms reflect both Minoan prosperity and their ability to plan for the future. The large storage vases were excavated in place.

Unlike many palaces, this one has no defensive walls. Perhaps the Minoans were secure in their world (the sea did provide a natural defense), but there is no archaeological evidence that these peoples were war-like. The processional way provides easy access to the palace.

Art History for Humanities: Copyright © 1997 Bluffton College.
Text and image preparation by Mary Ann Sullivan. Design by Gerald W. Schlabach.

All images marked ^MAS were photographed on location by Mary Ann Sullivan. All other images were scanned from other sources or downloaded from the World Wide Web; they are posted on this password-protected site for educational purposes, at Bluffton College only, under the "fair use" clause of U.S. copyright law.

Page maintained by Gerald W. Schlabach, gws@bluffton.edu. Last updated: 13 October 1998.

	The palace of Knossos on the island of Crete is the largest of the surviving Minoan palaces. On a vast plain, it was surrounded by villas belonging to officials of the court.
	Note the central space in the layout of the palace. This is the court around which the rooms of the palace were organized. There were official and ceremonial rooms as well as separate royal residential rooms and servants' quarters. The palace had three stories around the central court and beautiful stairwells with light and air wells to provide illumination and ventilation.
	Unlike palaces in the Near East which had enormous public and ceremonial rooms, this throne room is small and unpretentious. It too is decorated with wall paintings.
	The Queen had her own residential quarters with an adjoining porch. The palace had an underlying plumbing system of terra cotta pipes and the Queen had her own bathroom with toilet facilities (the small opening in the center is to her bathroom). The dolphin frescoes again reflect the Minoan love for the sea.
	One entire area of the palace was comprised of storerooms for wine, grain, and honey. These storerooms reflect both Minoan prosperity and their ability to plan for the future. The large storage vases were excavated in place.
	Unlike many palaces, this one has no defensive walls. Perhaps the Minoans were secure in their world (the sea did provide a natural defense), but there is no archaeological evidence that these peoples were war-like. The processional way provides easy access to the palace.