page_title: Malia, Crete
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Malia, Crete / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Pfeilerkrypta der Ausgrabungsstätte von Mallia (Μάλια), Gemeinde Chersonisos, Kreta, Griechenland
context_page_description: Malia or Mallia is a coastal town and a former municipality in the northeast corner of the Heraklion regional unit in Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Hersonissos, of which it is a municipal unit. It lies 34 kilometres east of Heraklion, the Cretan capital city. The town was the seat of the municipality of Mália. The municipal unit also includes the villages of Mochos, Krasi, and Stalida, and has a total land area of 60.720 square kilometres. The town is a tourist attraction, primarily for its significant archaeological site and nightlife. The Minoan town ruins lie three km east of the site and cover an area of approximately 1 square kilometre. The original name for the town is not known.
context_section_description: The palace of Malia, dating from the Middle Bronze Age, was destroyed by an earthquake during the Late Bronze Age; Knossos and other sites were also destroyed at that time. The palace was later rebuilt toward the end of the Late Bronze Age. Most of the ruins visible today date from this second period of construction. The palace features a giant central courtyard, 48m x 23m in size. On the south side are two sets of steps leading upwards and a maze of tiny rooms. Also here is a strange carved stone called a kernos stone, which looks like a millstone with a cup attached to the side of it. On the north side of the courtyard were storage rooms with giant earthenware pithos jars, up to two metres tall. These were used for holding grain, olive oil and other liquids; the floor of these rooms has a complex drainage system for carrying away spilled liquids.
  The palace of Malia was discovered in 1915 by Joseph Hadzidakis, a Greek archaeologist. It was fully excavated from 1922 onwards by the French School at Athens in collaboration with Greek scholars. In 1921 the French School of Athens was invited to continue its work, where under the direction of Jean Charbonneaux 1930 Central Court was exposed.
  After the First World War, the excavations were continued under the direction of Fernand Chapouthier and Pierre Demargne and they uncovered the palace, and dug the surrounding residential neighborhood. Only after the 2nd World War in the 50s Micheline and Henri van Effenterre made the excavations at the "Crypt" and "Agora", Andre Dessene and Olivier Pelon on Quartier E, and Jean-Claude PourSat (from 1965) on important "Quartier Mu ". 1981, Pascal and Claude Darcque Bourrain further investigated the NO corner of the palace. The  soundings in the years 1981 and 1982, conducted by Olivier Pelon have brought new insights into the precursors of the palace. Since 1988, the excavations of Alexandre Farnoux and Jan Driessen have been continued.
  The Palace of Malia has a floor area of 7,500 m2 and is oriented as all Minoan palaces to NS. With regard to design and equipment, it is smaller and more modest (rustic) compared to Knossos and Phaestos.
  Several features stand out but immediately catches the eye, which distinguishes the "Palace of Malia" from all the others and identifies it: the 8 kouloures or silos in the SW corner, the oblique building in the north court  and the altar in the Central Court.
  Around this Central Court the district or ensembles are arranged, whose communication was made possible through corridors and routes.
  Each of these quarters has been assigned a specific function, but each of these chamber ensembles should be considered on its own, before it is placed in the overall plan.
  Olivier Pelon differentiated 4 functional areas: representative, residential, cultic-religious and economic (Magazine)
  From the Central Court, the rooms were centrifugally arranged. Thereby the typical projections and recesses of the Minoan Palace façades arise.
  The façade was given a different meaning:
  (>) Undoubtedly, the west façade is the most important in Malia.
  In the center, it consists of carefully hewn cuboid blocks of sandstone, which are built on a base along the entire width. (Ashlar masonry) At edges with limestone blocks. They represent more than anything else the typical characteristics of Minoan façades, a series of pre- and recessed walls.
  (>) The west façade is preceded by a large courtyard, the West Court. (100 m long and 20 m wide). Pelon constitutes a transition zone of settlement and palace, between civil and political, between the profane and the religious areas. Originally, the whole West Court was created as Kalderim, moreover, it is traversed by 1.05 m wide limestone plates
  This way, the "raised walks" are often used as processional paths, dubbed, but generally seem to lead to the main points of the building.
  The West Court is bounded on the north and south of interesting complexes:
  in the north by the much discussed ensemble, "Hypostyle Crypt" an escape to space, which is connected underground with a number of magazine sp
caption: Excavation site of the pillar crypt in the Palace of Malia
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