woensdag 11 juni 2014

TRACING OUR ANCESTORS ON THE ISLAND OF CRETE



REVIEW

TRACING OUR ANCESTORS ON THE ISLAND OF CRETE

        THE ARCHAELOGOGICAL MUSEUM OF HERAKLION FULLY RENEWED



 


Leen Moelker
Greece has a great number of museums to show interesting details of its history. People can also enjoy some very important archaeological sites, like Olympia, Delphi, Acropolis at Athena and others. It was a great pleasure to be able to visit recently the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion (Crete). We enjoyed also a walk around the archaeological site at neighbouring KNOSSOS.  Both visits are hardly to forget. I would like to review the museum now before analysing its treasures.

1 History of the museum

The beginning of the museum is dated 1883. Joseph Chatzidakis obtained permission of the Ottomans to establish an ‘archaeological service’. The small collection could be exposed in two rooms of the newly built cathedral Agios Minas in the neighbourhood of the present museum. Around 1900 the collection was moved to a barracks building, with Chatzidakis and Xanthoudidis as Keepers of Antiquities.       
From 1874 the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann had begun his excavations of Mycenae (Peloponnesus) partly to find a Minoan culture. This led him to Crete because he was encouraged by discoveries like a Minoan column, part of the Lion Gate at Mycenae. He asked the English archaeologist Arthur Evans to excavate Knossos, which was assumed to be a hidden palace of the Minoans on Crete. From 1897 Evans tried to obtain the site and from 1899 he started his project. In the meantime the Heraklion museum was ceded to the new established state of Crete under British jurisdiction. In 1913 Crete became a part of the mainland of Greece.
As soon as the excavation began, artefacts came to light. Most finds were in a synchronous position.[1]  The need for a bigger museum was urgent and from 1904 the Keepers built a new one on the remains of the Venetian monastery of Saint Francis near the port. 1908, after building a second room, all available antiquities were moved to this building. 1912 a west-wing was built in a Neo-Classical appearance.
In the meantime Arthur Evans and other archaeologists excavated Knossos, Malia, Phaestos and other sites on Crete and they enriched the collection of the museum enormously. New needs for space occur, and by 1933-1937 a new two storeys museum was erected by architect Karantinos. 1987 a huge renovation program was carried out (air condition, light, new electricity, anti-earthquake construction). Architect Tombazis started in 2002 a new restoration program with new store rooms to the north of the building. Many problems rose but by 2014 the new building was ready.[2]

2 Description of the museum

The building of the museum is situated near the beautiful Elefterias Square, the Saint George  Gate and a huge break-through of the Venetian wall. Its estimated measures are 50 x 30 x 20 m. All important city activities occur on walk distance of the museum.
Approaching the museum people see a yellow coloured construction with red columns. It reminds the original Knossos buildings. An elevator house has been built against the southern side wall. I searched for a name above the front door of the building. Finally I found a humble, small door-plate with the name of the museum. However, two big front plates tell us the museum has got financial support of the European Union. This is not a decoration as such.
Entering the reception hall, first of all you see the ticket unit. It is a rather huge space with a beautiful manufactured grey marble floor. Connected to the ticket hall, a great transition space supported by red columns gives opportunity to go outside into the garden as well as to go inside the museum. Alongside the inner wall a marble bench may serve tired visitors. I would like to compare this hall with a pronaos in buildings like the famous Haghia Sophia at Istanbul and others. From the ‘pronaos’ there’s a door way to a second space which is a service space with staircase, elevators, a small shop, restrooms and the entrance to the exhibition rooms on the ground floor. Grey marble is everywhere.
The exhibition rooms on the ground floor with artefacts from the Neolithic Period and later, are connected by means of an enfilade. They are pretty well enlightened spacious rooms. Each room can be recognized by displays and explanatory texts about what is showed there. Details will follow in this review.
After renovation the two storeys Archaeological Museum of Heraklion measures about 3000 square meters, about 50m x 30m per storey.




                                              Figure 1 Archaeological Museum Heraklion - 2014, May 25 (Photograph: Ada Markusse).
3  Conclusions

I enjoyed my visits to the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion very much. I like the huge, cool space around the entrance and the friendly reception hall. The museum is of average measures and well equipped to receive a lot of visitors simultaneously. Modern restrooms, broad stair cases and easy accessibility make a visit a great pleasure even to people who use a wheelchair (like us). The elevator is constructed within a glass construction at the outside wall. Using it, this was unpleasant hot.
I like very much the great number of displays with information about both the ‘room-period’ and about the artefacts.  If we had questions, we could easily speak in English to any of the employees of the museum.
It was a pity to experience the museum has a poor presentation of its self. The museum shop had no details about the museum plan not free of charge, not at costs. Only a small leaflet with general information about the sources of the museum art was available. Few expensive books about history could not attract my special interests. No gadgets, no posters. Information about Knossos and the Cave of Psychro was available but we bought this already.
The Archaeological Museum at Heraklion can tell us so much more about pre-historic periods compared to its equals in Istanbul e.g. I urgently advise to summarize the quality of the museum in a catalog.
This museum is very much worth visiting. Unlike many other museums in the world it enlightens the human development of a very early stage. This is the strong property of the museum especially in connection with a tour around the site of Knossos. 

4  What to see
   Room 1                    Neolithic Period         7000 BC – 3000 BC    Small figurines
                                   Early Bronze Age/      3000 BC – 1900          Clay tablets Linear A/B
                                   Pre-palatial Period     2600 – 1900               Minoan houses (faience                                                                                                       decoration)
Generally the rooms on de ground floor follow the chronology of Prof. Platon as far as there are objects from these periods (explanation follows). Sometimes in a room the attention is drawn to particular objects like larnakes (clay coffins) and pottery, sometimes filled with a human skeleton.
In room 7 we can observe a small glass show case with some contents from the Cave of Psychro.[3] We saw two small pieces of artwork there. A female worshipper of sheet bronze (7 cm) and a bronze model of a two wheel cart drawn by a ram and an ox (20x15 cm) about 1800 BC.
In the Neolithic Period and the Pre-palatial period it was not done to paint images of men. Characteristic for this period were figurines of clay or marble. These figurines were always very small, only a few centimeters in height. The museum here is showing an interesting number of figurines.
On the ground floor next to the ‘pre-historic’ rooms is a beautiful presentation of sculptures from the Hellenic and Roman period. The rights of two sculptures are not settled yet; hence we could not take pictures of it.
On the first floor we finally discovered wall paintings, the Toreador fresco, La Parisienne from Knossos and al that famous artwork from the Neo-palatial Period or Late Minoan Period (1700 – 1350 BC) detached from the Knossos area.

5 Comparisons to some other Greek museums

In Greece most of the archaeological museums has connections with find places and sites dated from antiquity. The Archaeological Museum at Athens has a large department about artefacts from Mycenae. The Mask of Agamemnon (1650 BC) is supposed to be the most appreciated artwork in the museum. I like the Flute player (2450 BC) very much because this small piece of art is a witness of the high leveled art of music in the third millennium.
The Archaeological Museum at Olympia is connected with the near site of old Olympia (700 BC). Its most famous piece of art is Hermes and Dionysos (450 BC); it is presented in its own room.
And many remains of the ancient Delphi area are definitively gathered in the Archaeological Museum of Delphi. Its most popular attraction is The Charioteer (478 BC). 
The Archaeological Museum of Heraklion is showing many artefacts from all over Crete but especially from the site of Knossos. It is hardly to say which art work particularly is the most beautiful attraction. Generally most objects are from the second millennium and for me both the Ring of Minos and the Snake Goddesses (1600 BC), and the Sarcophagus from Haghia Triada are masterpieces. I would like to give more details about these artefacts when I write an analysis of the artworks I observed at Knossos and Heraklion.

6 A chronological order

As stated above the museum follows generally the chronology of Prof. Platon. While we walk around and see what artefacts from what a period there are, knowledge about his time table can usefully be applied. What do I mean with ‘chronological order’? In the archaeological vocabulary there are two main groups to indicate recent historical periods concerning Crete. The first  comes from the scholars circle around Arthur Evans, the most famous ‘digger of Knossos.’ The second is the table of Prof. Platon. The former used the differences in pottery (decoration), seals a. s. o. to conclude to a chronological table. It is emphasized here, Crete and Egypt had a tight relationship in the Bronze and Copper Age – from 3000 BC – which has been confirmed by parallel finds in both Egypt and Crete. This is important because I noticed a similar direction of civilization in both countries e.g. by study the already mentioned Sarcophagus.
The assistant of Sir Arthur Evans, Mr. J. D. S. Pendlebury, wrote a handbook about Knossos. He suggested in 1932 AC the time table as follows.[4]

Before Christ:
To 3500                      Neolithic Period
3500 -  2600               Early Minoan I                                   Introduction of copper
2600 – 2400                Early Minoan II                      Houses of sundried bricks – surface in                                                                                   red plaster, wooden supports.
2400 – 2200               Early Minoan III                     Monumental works, hypogaeum[5]
2200 – 2100               Middle Minoan I A                 Drainage systems invented and applied
2100 – 2000               Middle Minoan I B
2000 – 1900               Middle Minoan II A                Building of Koulouras (deep walled pits)
1900 – 1800               Middle Minoan II B                Great age of polychromy in pottery. Town                                                           Mosaic.[6]  This period a catastrophe                                                            occurred. Linear A script.
1800 – 1700               Middle Minoan III A               Addition of light wells and downward                                                                                   taping of cypress wooden columns
1700 – 1550               Middle Minoan III B               Fine squared masonry. Almond stone                                                          paving. Terrible earthquake 1550 BC.
1550 – 1500               Late Minoan I A                     Earthquakes again.
1500 – 1450               Late Minoan I B                     Grand restoration programs
1450 – 1400               Late Minoan II                        Minoan Culture continues
1400 – 1250               Late Minoan III A                   Declining of the Minoans. Arrival of the
                                                                                  Greeks/Mycenaeans on Crete. Linear B                                                                                   script.
1250 – 1100               Late Minoan III B                   Destruction of Knossos by Mycenaeans.
                                                                                  End of the Royal Minoans.
1100 – 800                 Dark Ages                               Dorians capturing Peloponnese Spartans. 
                                               ===================
A second time table is presented by  Prof. Dr. N. Platon, based upon nature catastrophes and Minoan palace structures over different times. Scholars connect finds to these periods.[7]
6000 – 2600 BC          Neolithic Period                    
2600 – 1900 BC          Pre-Palatial Period                 Introduction of Bronze. Tholos                                                                                    Graves. Coloured ceramic                                                                                                                    in Vassiliki style. Seal stones, Art-Jewelry.
1900 – 1700 BC          Proto-Palatial Period              Huge settlements around a palace.                                                                                                            Fine potteries (Kamares), palace                                                                                   architecture.   
                                                                                  Beaked jugs.
1700 – 1350 BC          Neo-Palatial Period           Huge palaces (1500 rooms) labyrinth[8] like                                                                              with smaller palaces in neighbourhood,                                                                              Government by a king/priest, feudal,                                                                                            theocratic. Art is nature-oriented: Sea style (octopus), flower style (lily), decorative style (spiral, symbols), palatial style (motifs derived from architecture), wall paintings with landscapes and taurokathapsis (bull fights)[9], ritual diner, griffins, and wild cats. Use of alba and marble in rhythons with holy animals like bulls. Jewelry art with cultic image like Ring of Minos. Seal stones have almond-look. Religion: Mother-Goddess as Snake-women (underworld), Potnia Thiron with lions (earth), and the goddess of heaven with birds and stars, next to fertile bulls. No temples, only palaces with consecrated spaces, caves. Tholos graves.
Hieroglyphics and Linear A script as language.
1450 BC Eruption of Thira Vulcan on Santorini destroys everything after which the Greeks settled on Crete and Linear B script (especially in administration) became a standard.
1350 – 1100 BC          Post-Palatial Period                The Greeks (Mycaeneans) governed                                                                                   Crete. Simple palaces instead of                                                                                   labyrinths on Minoan remains.                                                                                           Also grave gifts and wall paintings have                                                                                   simple structures. Dorians capturing                                                                                   Crete.
1100 – 1000 BC          Sub-Minoan Period    =          Proto Geometric period. Use of iron                                                                                                             wide spread on Crete, introduced by                                                                                   immigrants. Also  cremation of the dead body                                                                                   is new; introduction of larnake = ash urn.

Although less subdivided this is also a useful table content.

7 Last conclusion
The Archaeological Museum of Heraklion has a lot of artefacts which underline the early history of Men. Scholars are continually discussing about some important points of view. One question is if the Minoan culture dominated the Mycenaean culture or not. And the question, on the contrary, has only the Mycenaean culture ever ruled the world, including the Minoans.[10] Until now such questions are unsolved.
I like it to focus on the very beginning of our human civilization, and in that way it was a great pleasure to discover the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.

 Middelburg/Heraklion, 2014 May 13-27

  

                                              


[1] The notion ‘synchronous’ means the artefacts are in their original place or position. Sometimes artefacts are found after they were moved from their original position, e.g. after shipwreck. Then they are in a ‘diachronic’ position.
[3] This cave is situated on the side of a mountain above Lasithi at 1025 m. In MMII (1800 BC the cave was already a cult place. Finds are concerning votive offerings and are present at Heraklion and Ashmolean Museum Oxford.  Notice Mr. Arthur Evans was director of this Oxford museum!
[4] J. D. S. Pendlebury, A handbook to the Palace of Minos at Knossos, (London 1954) 11-12.
[5] Hypogaeum: Digged underground space to bury people or to use it as a sacred space. Only possible in areas of soft rock. The Romans used to connect hypogea as underground structures and created so called catacombs.
[6] Town Mosaics ( 5x5 cm) which are found in Knossos, now exposed in Heraklion, show the domestic architecture of houses from that period.
[7] Soso Logiadou – Platonos red., KNOSSOS, het paleis van koning Minos. De Minoïsche beschaving. Mythologie –archeologie – geschiedenis – vondsten – musea (Athene z. j. ) 11.
[8] Labyrinth: Originally a Lydian word ‘labrys’ which mean ‘double-edged axe.’ The double-edged axe is a symbol of power and is connected to the enormous labyrinth (=palace of the double axes) like palace of Knossos.
[9] A famous example is the fresco taken from the east wing of the palace of Knossos, Toreador fresco (1500 BC), 112 x 62, 3 cm, Archaeological Museum Heraklion.
[10] Leonard R. Palmer, Mycenaeans and Minoans, Aegean Prehistory in the light of Linear B tablets
(London 1965) 181,182.