Tours of the Palace of Knossos

The Palace of Knossos is the largest of the Minoan palaces and the chief archaeological site of Crete. The first building went up around 1900 BC and was rebuilt after its destruction; at its height the complex covered some 14,000 square metres, with over a thousand rooms on several levels, light wells, running water and drainage. It is with this tangle of corridors that the myth of the labyrinth and the Minotaur is linked.

The palace was excavated by Arthur Evans, who began in 1900 and spent thirty years on the work. He did not merely clear the ruins but rebuilt them in concrete: red columns tapering towards the base, ceilings, staircases. Archaeologists argue about that reconstruction to this day — yet it is what conveys the height and volume of the building. The throne room, with its gypsum throne and griffins along the walls, survives in place, while the frescoes of dolphins, the Prince of the Lilies and the bull-leapers are copies: the originals were taken to the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.

Practical notes: the palace is five kilometres from the centre of Heraklion and a city bus runs there. A combined ticket with the museum costs less than two separate ones, and the two make sense on one day. There are few labels on site, and without a guide much of it stays a heap of stone. The circuit takes an hour and a half to two hours, there is almost no shade, and in July and August it is better to come at opening or towards evening.