Improvements in the archaeological site of Phaestus (Phaistos) on Crete will protect the architectural remains from the weather and allow better access to people with disabilities, the Ministry of Culture said on Wednesday.
According to a statement, the Central Archaeological Council approved among others the reports on stabilizing and restoring ancient remains at the site south of Heraklion, replacing the shelters of exposed architectural parts that were built in the ’60s, and supporting the slopes of the Minoan Palace, particularly against flooding.
As Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said, “The Minoan Palace of Phaistos, the second most important palace complex on Crete, is a major archaeological site of high tourist attraction, which is included in the candidacy folder Greece has submitted for a serial registration of Minoan palaces on UNESCO’s World Heritage List of monuments in 2025.”
Mendoni said the program to improve accessibility for people with disabilities is already being run by the ministry through the ‘Crete’ 2021-10127 program and is budgeted at 2.5 million euros.
Phaistos site history
The hill the palace is built on was inhabited continuously from the 4th millennium to the 2nd century BC. The Old Palace was built on the hill between 1900 and 1700 BC.
By the end of the Old Palatial period, it had a surface of nearly 9,000 square meters. It was twice destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt, and the remains of three successive building phases are well preserved and visible in the southwestern section under the shelter (walls up to 6 m meters high).
The New Palace was built at a higher elevation, following its predecessor’s complete destruction around 1700 BC. The new one was inhabited continuously until the middle of the 15th century BC, when it was completely destroyed.
The city around it continued to be inhabited, flourishing in Geometric years (810-700 BC) and in the Hellenistic era (323-67 BC). Around 150 BC, the city of Phaistos itself was completely destroyed.
Excavations began in 1900 by Italian archaeologists Federico Halbherr and Luigi Pernier, the latter of whom discovered the Phaistos disc. The disc is one of the most intriguing archaeological artifacts ever discovered. Found in 1908 in the Minoan palace, it is a circular clay disc, about 15 centimeters (5.9 inches) in diameter, dating back to around 1700 BCE.
The disc is covered on both sides with a spiral of stamped symbols—45 distinct symbols in total, repeated in various combinations. These include depictions of human figures, animals, plants, and abstract shapes. The symbols were pressed into the wet clay using stamps, making it one of the earliest examples of a typewritten script.
The symbols do not correspond to any known writing system, such as Linear A or Linear B, the other scripts used by the Minoans. Despite extensive study, the disc’s language and purpose remain undeciphered.
Related: Phaistos Disk: One of Archaeology’s Greatest Mysteries
