What to See at Knossos

The West Court and the entrances

You begin in the West Court, a broad paved space crossed by raised stone causeways once used for processions, with the theatral area nearby. From here the palace's western façade and storerooms rise — your first sense of the scale of a complex that once stood several storeys high and held many hundreds of rooms.

Knossos was the heart of the Minoans, Europe's first advanced civilisation; a first palace stood here from around 1900 BC, rebuilt grander after an earthquake.

The Throne Room and central court

Off the great central court lies the Throne Room, with its carved gypsum throne — often called the oldest in Europe — flanked by benches and walls of painted griffins beside a sunken lustral basin. It is the most atmospheric space at Knossos. The griffin frescoes, like the others on site, are faithful reproductions; the originals are in Heraklion.

The Grand Staircase and royal apartments

On the east side, the Grand Staircase drops through several storeys to the royal apartments — the Hall of the Double Axes, or 'King's Megaron', and the Queen's Megaron with its famous dolphin fresco and a sophisticated drainage system. Light wells, columns and water management built into a multi-level palace show just how advanced Minoan engineering was, more than three thousand years ago.

The storerooms and the bull

Along the west wing run the magazines, lined with enormous storage jars — pithoi — that held the palace's oil, grain and wine, a reminder that Knossos was the economic engine of Minoan Crete. Look, too, for the bull motifs and the reconstructed Charging Bull relief near the North Entrance: the bull was central to Minoan ritual and to the later myth of the Minotaur.