Visiting Knossos Palace and the city of Heraklion
For this particular part of our trip, we’ve put together a separate post as there is quite a lot to see and quite a few photos we’d like to share from our day trip to Knossos Palace and Heraklion. As mentioned in our main Crete post, this island is stunning and there is something for everyone- whether it’s stunning beaches and crystal blue waters, delicious food, challenging hikes or archaeological sites. For those of you keen on history and culture, we would highly recommend a visit to Knossos Palace and the Archaeological museum of Heraklion to discover more about this fascinating place. We would suggest visiting the museum first, then Knossos Palace itself, as the museum explains and provides a lot of background and information on the palace and the Minoans, putting the entire place into context.
North entrance with the Charging Bull fresco
Knossos Palace
As mentioned in our main Crete page, Knossos is the largest Minoan site in Crete, and incredibly impressive. Knossos used to be the centre of Minoan civilisation, as well as the capital of Minoan Crete, and the seat of king Minos. According to legend, the palace is also connected to various stories such as the Labyrinth and Daidalos and Icaros.
Horns of Consecration
History of the palace
The original palace (First Palace Period) was built around 2,000BC, but was destroyed around 1,700BC most probably by an earthquake.
Then, after around 1,700BC, the palace was rebuilt, but was destroyed again by a fire in around the15th century. The palace would have had many floors, columns, murals and art work- some of which have been reconstructed and can be seen while walking around the site, although the original layout cannot be seen as there were so many reconstructions and what you’ll be looking at is the Second Palace
Whilst it is clear that the palace was grand and sizeable, it is not necessarily clear what the main function was- whether it was a religious or administrative center. There are no fortifications or stores of weapons though, so it is unlikely to have been a military site.
Discovery of the site
Interestingly, until the start of the 20th century, the palace was believed to have been a myth. It was only then that attempts were made to discover the palace. First- Heinrich Schliemann (who excavated Troy)- attempted to dig at the site but was denied permission by the Ottoman authorities. Then, along came Sir Arthur Evens who managed to do the excavations and restorations. There are various debates and controversies around his standards, and some of the palace restorations you can see now are mostly guess work.
Throne room
Visiting the palace
For our visit, we bought our tickets on the day (they were around €15), but there are also days where there is free admission, as well as reduced admission options- see more here, including to buy tickets online. We then stopped by a cafe on site, prior to beginning the visit itself. You can no longer walk around the site freely but have to follow the timber walkways which act as a guide- but these take you around the main sights. We would recommend buying a guide book at entry to help guide you around- we used a Rough Guides book which had detailed information on the site, and a map.
There are a number of monuments/buildings around the site, including a theatre area, private houses, storerooms etc. To see more about the various monuments and the history of the site, see here.
Some of the interesting things to look out for:
- pottery: perhaps not as much pottery as at the Palace of Malia, the storage jars are stunning and intrinsically decorated- they are dotted around the site, and can specifically be found in the storerooms.
- columns: the red Minoan columns you can see are narrow at the base and get wider at the top- contrary to the classical Greek columns. There are a number of these red Minoan columns on the site, the most noticeable of which are in front of the Charging Bull fresco.
- murals (known as frescos): there are a number of these around the palace, all stunning, and bright in colour, depicting animals, people and plants. There is a lot of red around the palace- within the murals and also on the walls as you can see from the photos. Many more frescos can be found in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion- see more on this below.
Storage jars
Dolphin fresco
Blue Monkeys fresco
Prince of the Lillies fresco
Servants carrying vases fresco
We found Knossos Palace to be quite busy- but this is to be expected as this is one of Crete’s most famous tourist attractions. We would suggest visiting in the morning or late afternoon to avoid the crowds, as there are many tour buses that arrive throughout the middle of the day.
Views from Knossos Palace
Heraklion
We spent a good few hours walking walking around and exploring Knossos, and then stopped of at Heraklion prior to heading back to the hotel. We spent a bit of time walking around the city center, admiring the various buildings and architecture and soaking in the sun and atmosphere.
Heraklion is a rather busy city, which sees many tourists visiting due to its proximity to the airport, the numerous resorts located nearby and the nearby archaeological sites. We found the city to be boisterous, and rather modern. There are very few remains of the old city, partly because of the heavy bombing the city encountered during World War II. This city used to be a Roman port, and even now the harbour is still busy with fishing boats and a marina.
Buildings in Heraklion
One part of the city worth checking out is the Eleftheriou Venizelou Square- which has a Venetian fountain in the center called the Morosini Lions fountain. This fountain used to be supplied with water from a nearby mountain, and passed through a 15km aqueduct to provide the residents of the city with clean, drinking water. The fountain is intricately decorated with various characters from Greek mythology. Unfortunately, the fountain has lost its main statue of Poisedon which used to sit at the top, but even without this the fountain is impressive.
We would suggest spending some time in this area as it is very lively, and there are many cafes and restaurants around the square- perfect for grabbing something to eat and people watching.
Morosini Lions Fountain
Griffins fresco
Ladies in Blue fresco
Blue Dolphin fresco
Archaeological Museum of Heraklion
This was the main reason for our visit to the city- although in hindsight it would have made sense to visit the museum before visiting Knossos as there is a lot to see here on the Minoan treasures and history.
The museum was closed for a number of years for renovation and reopened in 2013- and the final result is a stunning, and very impressive collection of art and antiques. The building itself is also impressive- with 27 galleries and an internal courtyard. The exhibits range from the earliest human settlements in Crete, the daily life of Minoans, their religion, Iron Age, Classical and Roman periods and Archaic and Classical sculptures. See here for more information and the history of the building.
Similar to our visit to Knossos, we bought our tickets on the doors (around €12), although they can also be purchased online, and there are free admission days also- see more here.
Sculptures at the Archaeological museum
Model of Knossos Palace
We spent a fair bit of time walking around the museum- there is a model of how Knossos is believed to have looked which is worth checking out, as well as even more murals and frescoes as you can see from our photos.
Storage jars and containers
As well as discovering the Palace of Knossos, Crete has a number of other archaeological sites to explore- from the Palace of Malia to the Palace of Phaistos. We haven’t yet explored all of these, so until we do, do check out this page for more details on all Crete has to offer in this area.
To read more about what else we would recommend you do and see in Crete, visit our main post on this beautiful island here.
0 Comments