Galatas Palace

The "Palace" at Galatas was only discovered and excavated in the early 1990s. Consequently it has not been fully written up yet. The site is located 30 kilometres south of Heraklion, near the villages of Galatás and Arkalochori. From the site there are fine views towards southern Crete. Excavations began in 1992 and in 1997 the archaeologist responsible for the excavations, George Rethemiotakis, announced that a new Minoan Palace had been found in the middle of a Minoan town.

The large, paved central courtyard of the palace runs north-south and measures 16 metres by 32 metres. It was originally surrounded by a four-wing building. Of the four wings the East wing is the best preserved, while the west and south wings are very poorly preserved. The north wing is still waiting to be excavated apart from a small stoa bordering onto the court. The north end of the central court has a face of ashlars and some 50 blocks have masons' marks on them. All the original frescoes have unfortunately been lost.

However, the site is very important as it contains a palace built only in one period. Other palace sites contain remains from several palaces built at different times. The site was originally occupied in EM I/EM II and later in MM IB/MM II. No palace existed here during MM II and the East Wing was constructed in MM IIIA. The West Wing dates from MM IIIB/LM IA and overlays remains from the MM II period. The main phase of the complex dates from MM IIIB-LM IA but it was already in decline before the LM IA destruction. There are no traces of LM IB or LM III material at all.

For the first time in Minoan Crete a hearth was discovered together with a layer of ash. The hearth measures 3 metres by 1.5 metres and was found in a room with four pillars.

The East Wing measures 70 metres by 60 metres and was built between 1700 BCE and 1650 BCE. It was destroyed by fire and rebuilt during the second half of the century. It was finally destroyed around 1500 BCE, probably by earthquakes.

Mr. Rethemiotakis claims that "the use of a monumental hearth in one of the rooms, the preparation of meals in the kitchen and the banquets offered in the room with the hearth and the room with the pillar and the benches or even upstairs, the storing of goods in the store rooms along with the personal appearances of the participants on the balconies toward the town and the central court of the palace, represent a symbolic meeting of the Town and the Palace which is ratified by the banquets". Unfortunately, the site is not yet open to the public, although there are plans to turn it into a major tourist attraction in the future.