The Palace of Knossós is one of the most famous and most visited attractions on the greekMediterranean Sea-Island Crete.
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General
The Palace of Knossós is just one of at least four palaces that were once spread across Crete. It is, however, a very special one: namely, the king's palace. King Minos, son of Zeus and the Phoenician princess Europe, after whom the Minoan culture (2800 - 900 BC) is named, left him in the Middle East Crete, about 5 km southeast of today's Iráklion located, build. With a size of about 3 acres (about 7.5 square kilometers), it was twice the size of other Minoan palaces on the island and therefore worthy of a king. A fortification of the complex was not necessary, because the Minoans were superior to all other peoples of their time in every respect and anyway more interested in trade and science.
The place where the ruins of the Palace of Knossós stand today was already used to build settlements. The oldest finds date back to the Neolithic, around 5700 BC. The first palace was built there around 1900 BC. built, but by an earthquake around 1700 BC. destroyed. The palace was rebuilt on the ruins, but around 1450 BC. again destroyed by an earthquake. However, the Minoans apparently lacked the strength to rebuild.
To the palace
The excavation of the 3,000-year-old palace is based on the early work of Minos Kalokairinos and the later, infamous excavation by the British Sir Arthur Evans, who partially carried out the reconstruction without any clues and thus created a building that was more of his imagination than corresponds to the actual history. Nevertheless Evans contributed a lot to the understanding of Cretan and especially Minoan history, so that the Cretans love and hate him at the same time.
It is believed that the Greek legend of the Labyrinth of the Minotaur goes back to the nested arrangement of the rooms of the Palace of Minos.
A remarkable 1,400 rooms, which were grouped around a spacious central courtyard, offered the royal family and the servants space to live, and a separate theater was the cultural focus of the magnificent building. Sophisticated construction techniques and underground constructions provided the king with running water and effective cooling Available, so that food could be kept for a long time and hygiene was of great importance.
getting there
By bus
By car
- From Heraklion well signposted
- If you come by car on the road from Heraklion, you shouldn't go straight to the first parking lot on the left-hand side (even if you are hectically "waved in"). There you easily pay 3 EUR parking fee and have to walk several meters to the entrance. So it is better to drive on and use the official large parking lot right in front of the entrance.
mobility
There is little shade on the excavation site, i.e. you should bring enough drinks with you and plan a visit in the early morning hours. Then the rush of visitors is not so great and the buildings are easier to visit and, above all, to take photos.
Tourist Attractions
Visitors can stroll freely through the huge ruins of the palace and appreciate the impressive size. Only the foundations of most of the rooms have been preserved, e.g. Sometimes also stairs and parts of the upper floors. In some places, colorful wall paintings were reconstructed from found original color pigments, but all of the original paintings that have been preserved are in the museum in Heraklion.
The world famous one is particularly noteworthy Dolphin frescowhich can be seen on a wall in its own room. To take a closer look at it, you have to get very close, which can be problematic, especially when there are large numbers of visitors. Just as interesting and also available as a postcard is a look at the Throne room. Engineers will find the pre-Christian air conditioning interesting: the builders provided the buildings with diverse and widely branched ventilation shafts, so that even in summer a cool breath always wafted through the rooms and the heat of Crete was bearable. Even water pipes made of terracotta can be admired.
 North entrance |  Colonnade Hall |  Dolphin fresco in the Queen's Palace |
 Great staircase |  Southern propylon |  Storage |
activities
shop
kitchen
security
health
The palace complex is quite large, there is hardly any shade and the tours take a long time. Visiting the palace at noon in midsummer with 40 degrees and blazing sun is not necessarily the best idea. In any case, sun protection and headgear and something to drink in your backpack make sense.
Practical advice
- Opening hours: Daily 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
- Entry: 6 € per person (as of 10/2014), there is a combined ticket with the museum in Heraklion for 10 €.
In order to correctly classify the large complex in the historical context and to receive many explanations about the partly only fragmentary remains, it makes sense to join a guided tour, especially since there are no audio guides or the like. This is also possible for individual travelers without any problems - simply report to the guide at the little house opposite the ticket office. As soon as there are enough participants together, it starts (minimum number of participants 8, costs 10 € per person, duration approx. 1.5 hours, German-speaking tour)
trips
literature
- Vassilakis, Antonis: Minoan Crete. From myth to story. Athens 1999. ISBN 960-500-345-7 .
- Vassilakis, Antonis: Knossos. Mythology - History. Guide to the archaeological site.
