Minoan Architecture

The unique contribution of the Minoan civilization to European architecture is possibly most evident in the great palace structures of the major Minoan centres of Knossos, Phaistos, Malia and Zakros. Perhaps influenced by Egypt and the Near East and evolving through the monumental tombs of the preceding period, these magnificent buildings, constructed from c. 2000 BCE to c. 1500 BCE, were so complex and ahead to such a degree of the architectural standards at that time that, at Knossos at least, they may even have been the original source of the Labyrinth myth, such would have been their effect on the casual visitor. Certainly, the palatial complex common to many sites of Minoan Crete is a unique contribution to the architectural buildings of Bronze Age Europe.