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.
