크노소스궁(Palace of Knossos). 헤라클리온(Heraklion. Crete)

크노소스궁(Palace of Knossos). 헤라클리온(Heraklion. Crete).

그리스(Greece)

 

<Arthur Evans>

 

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크노소스 궁(The Palace of Knossos)

The Palace of Knossos is the largest of all the palaces in Crete. It is surrounded by an extensive city. The Palace was built on the low Kephala hill at the confluence of two streams. The choice of location & the subsequent growth of the settlement are connected with its proximity to the sea & the fertile earth of the region.

The site was first settled in the Neolithic period (6700-3200 B.C.). As early as this, there was an extensive settlement.

The first Palace was built around 1900 B.C. (Old Palace Period). From the few parts that are preserved. it appears that the basic plan was formed at that time. It was destroyed around 1700 B.C. & the New Palace was built in its Place (New Palace Period). With the exception of some later additions, Arthur Evans uncovered & restored its ruins.

The Palace is comprised of different buildings that grew up around the Central Court. There were entrances at all the main points, the most formal being the southwest & north. The West Wing includes shrines, official halls & extensive storage areas, & the East Wing, the "Royal Apartments" & workshops. There were storerooms & other areas to the north & south.

The Palace displays a great variety of architectural features: storeys with flat roofs on different levels, indented or protruding facades, embellishments of stone horns & of alternating colours etc. A great variety of materials was used; slabs of green schist for floors, wooden columns, gypsum slabs on walls, floors & elsewhere. Polychrome plaster & wall paintings contributed to room decoration.

The Palace appears to have been the center of political, economic & religious authority. The main excavator, Arthur Evans, attempted to interpret the function of the spaces in the Palace & gave them names that reflected their use according to his opinion. This was based on the finds, mythological tradition, & analogies with ancient civilizations & his own era.

These names are still current (e.g., "Queen's Megaron"〔hall〕, "Piano Nobile" 〔upper floor〕,"Throne Room") even though continuing research has put forward different views as to the function of some areas.

The Palace of Knossos continued in use after 1450 B.C. when the rest of the Cretan palaces were destroyed. Most experts believe that new inhabitants from the Mycenaean Greek Mainland were installed in the Palace, due to the discovery of a Mycenean archive of Linear B script. When the Palace ceased to function remains uncertain. At any rate, after 1380 B.C., a larger part of its former glory had been lost.

 

<Stone libation vessel in the shape of a bull's head>

 

<Drawing of a seal impression depicting a religious scene from the archives of the Palace of Knossos>

 

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History of the excavation & restoration of the palace

Excavation first took place at Knossos in 1878 when an antiquarian businessman from Herakleion. Minos Kalokairinos, uncovered part of the West Wing of the Palace.

Systematic excavations began in March 1900 under Arthur Evans, then Director of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (Fig 1). Two years later, the excavation of the Palace had almost been completed. In the years that followed, supplementary research was carried out, which came to an end in 1930-31. After World War II the British School of Archaeology continued the excavations with important results in the palace & the surrounding Minoan town.

The need for conservation of the Palace was obvious from the first years of excavation. The fragile materials with which it is built have proved particularly susceptible to weathering. During the first phase of their restoration attempts in 1905. Evans & his colleagues confined themselves to protecting the ruins. However, after 1925, Evans tried a radical reconstruction of the monument using concrete on a large scale. Floors & whole architectural units were reconstructed (Fig 2). Wooden beams & wooden Minoan columns were restored & copies set up at different points.

Evans's interventions invited a variety of reactions. It has been observed that the archaeological evidence is sometimes insufficient to support reconstruction. In other cases, the ancient remains are not clearly differentiated from the modern intervention. The reconstructions are largely irreversible. However, many believe that the interventions were necessary for the protection of the monument. Morever, they capture the interest of the visitors & help them appreciate the architecture of the Palace better. Others, nonetheless, think that, to a great extent, the reconstructions impose Evans's ideas as well as the prevailing aesthetics & ideological tendencies of his age on the visitors. But today, Evans's reconstruction of the Palace is an inextricable part of the monement & its history.

After World War II, extensive restoration of the Palace took place under the directors of Herakleion Museum, N. Platon & S. Alexiou. The works, however, were limited to conserving floors & protecting certain areas with roofing. During the nineties a great part of the concrete fabric of the Palace was conserved under the authority of the Directorate for the Restoration of Ancient Monuments & the 23d Ephorate of Antiquities.

From 1996 onwards, the project "Conservation - consolidation - promotion of the Palace & archaeological site of Knossos" began, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture & administered by the "Funds for the Administration of the Credits for the Execution of Archaeological Works".

 

<Fig 1>

 

 

<Fig 2>

 

 

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The excavations at the Palace of Knossos & their protagonists

The discovery of the West Wing of the Palace of Knossos by Minos Kalokairinos in 1878 created intense interest until 1898, when a law on archaeology was drafted by the newly-founded Cretan State. This created the right conditions for systematic excavations by Arthur Evans. His most important colleagues were the archaeologist D. Mackenzie, known for his excavations in Melos, who undertook to keep the excavation journal, & the architect Th. Fyfe of the British School of Archaeology. Other collaborators included the architects C. Doll, F.G. Newton & Piet de Jong, the artists Gillieron pere et fils & the archaeologists D. G. Hogarth, A. Wace, E.J. Forsdyke & J. Pendlebury.

Evans & his staff were originally based in the house of a Turkish bey near the Palace, while the Villa Ariadne was built in 1906 according to Doll's plans.

After the 2nd World War excavations were continued by the British School of Archaeology, while additional research & mainly large scale restoration work was undertaken under the directors of Herakleion Museum N. Platon & S. Alexiou.

 

 <A. Evans with the architect Th. Fyfe &

the archaeologist D. Mackenzle>

 

 <A. Evans, D. Mackenzle & Ch. Doll on the steps of the Villa "Ariadne".>

 

<A. Evans & D. Mackenzle>

- 안내문에서 -

 

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