The Minoan civilisation flourished around Crete, leaving beautiful detris as it passed into oblivion. Detritus like figurines and ceramics and jewellery, and palaces with wonderfully detailed mosaics telling great stories and all sorts of other wondrous antiques, and a large number of the discarded items have ended up in this museum’s collection.

Two Cretan archaeologists pushed for the collection to become truly great, from its small beginnings in 1883, to now being one of the, if not the, pre-eminent collection of Minoan pieces. It’s certainly one of the most complete collections on earth.

Everything in the collection comes from this island and it’s all arranged chronologically over 13 rooms. One of the not-to-miss exhibits is the Snake Goddess – or actually the snake goddesses because there are several. These lovely ladies are female figurines, bare breasted and taking the general shape of a wine bottle and holding serpents in each of their hands, are thought to be Minoan fertility symbols though their true functions aren’t known. Some of them are still coloured with the bright quartz paste they were fired with. The first one uncovered was found in the palace at Knossos and is in very good nick – all the details of her charming features and proportions remain.

Another of the key exhibits is the Bull Leaping Fresco. Also discovered amongst the ruins of Knossos this mosaic depicts a bull and acrobats – a female figure hold the bulls horns which a man balances on the bull’s back, while another woman waits behind to catch him.

Beside the Minoan collection there are also pieces from other periods of Cretan history.

Between April and September the collection is open between 8am and 7pm and out of season between October and March it’s open from 8am to 5pm.

Written by  World Reviewer Staff.

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Heraclitus Statue

I intend to write in more detail over this statue, but initially could your quote literature in English covering the discovery and identification, which I understand is tentative?

Thanking you.

 

Question posted 23rd June 2009 by Kenneth McLean.

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