Knossos
Crete's largest Bronze Age palace centre preserves courts, storage magazines, stairways, frescoes, and complex ceremonial architecture.
Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Country
- Greece
- Region
- Crete
- Civilisation
- Minoan
- Period
- 2nd millennium BCE
Through time
The story
Knossos is an archaeological site and ancient urban centre in Crete, Greece. It is located within the southern periphery of Heraklion, about 5 km (3.1 mi) south of the city's historic centre. The site was occupied from the Neolithic period into the first millennium AD and became the largest and best-known centre of the Minoan civilisation.
Knossos is widely considered Europe's oldest city. Settlement on Kephala hill began around 7000 BC, making Knossos one of the earliest known Neolithic settlements on Crete. Its expansion into an urban centre accelerated at the beginning of the second millennium BC. Knossos became a leading centre of the Minoan civilisation, widely regarded as Europe's earliest advanced civilisation. Occupation of the valley continued through the Greek, Roman and early Byzantine periods.
The site is dominated by the monumental Palace of Minos. Like other Minoan palaces, the complex is generally interpreted as an administrative, economic, religious and ceremonial centre. Its role as a royal residence is debated. The first palace was built around 1900 BC on a hill that had already been occupied for several millennia. It was rebuilt and expanded after a major destruction around 1700 BC and remained the central monument of Knossos into the Late Bronze Age.
A major palatial destruction is conventionally dated to about 1350 BC, although the chronology of the palace's final destruction remains debated.
Knossos is closely associated with the Greek myths of Minos, Pasiphaë, Ariadne, Theseus, Daedalus, Icarus and the Minotaur. In later Greek tradition, the complex plan of the palace was remembered as the Labyrinth. In 2025, Knossos was inscribed as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Minoan Palatial Centres, together with Phaistos, Malia, Zakros, Zominthos and Kydonia.
Adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.
What you will see
- Central Court
- Throne Room
- Grand Staircase
Before you go
- Check opening hours and ticket rules shortly before your visit — they change seasonally.
- Plan for the heat. Most ancient sites have little shade; go early or late.
- Respect the barriers. Fragile surfaces are protected for the next visitors.
Discoveries from Knossos
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