The Holy Door Discovered in the Minoan Palace of Arkanes – History

Excavations at the Minoan palace of Arkanes in Crete have unearthed a sacred door, the first such example found in a Minoan palace. It is located on the south side of the main entrance of the palace and contains four altars and two arms of a stone platform, one of which has a pyramidal base and the west arm has a partially preserved base.

The architectural system of the Holy Door at the entrance to the palace, including the altar and the arms of the stone structure, which formed a platform and two other altars – the large oval altar and the stepped altar – which had been revealed earlier in the excavation period was Most interesting. […]

Also interesting is a stone pedestal with four altars under the huge stone to the south of the entrance. The discovery that the base had fallen from an upper floor, along with the charred wooden remains and four unique bronze implements/hooks, led to the assumption that they were connected to the wooden base upon which they rested. This element indicates the sacred character of the upper level of the rooms on the east side of the courtyard.

The remains of a Minoan palace were first discovered in 1964 in the upper village of modern Arcanis. Famous for its Labyrinth and Minotaur, the Palace of Knossos was the largest of all Minoan palaces and was located just five miles north of Arkanes. The Palace of Akanes was built around 1900 BC, probably as a satellite of Knossos, with the purpose of overseeing the fertile arable lands and managing the town’s main religious shrines. Excavations since the discovery have revealed the remains of a three-story building with a main entrance, theater and sanctuary. Hundreds of objects were found there, many of them religious (altars, ritual vessels, statues), underscoring the religious significance of the palace.

The embankment of huge collapsed stones contains evidence of a fire that destroyed parts of the palace and dates back to the Mycenaean period (c. 1750-1050 BC). Around 1450, the Mycenaeans from mainland Greece took over the ancient Minoan civilization of Crete BC they restored and reused Minoan monumental buildings, including his palace. The few and fragmented artifacts unearthed from this occupation layer are enough to prove how destructive this event was.