West Entrance and Corridor of the Procession

West Entrance and West Court of Knossos Palace

The tour of Knossos starts at the West Entrance to the Palace and circles back to the starting point. On passing through the entrance, the visitor finds himself in the paved West Court, delimited by three ceremonial ways in the shape of a triangle. The courtyard was a sacred space, as we can see from the two low altars.

Kouloures

In front of us is the partially restored west facade of the Palace. On our left are three cylindrical pits, the “kouloures”, as Evans called them. These are repositories for offerings from the ceremonies held in the West Court.

Map of Knossos Palace

West Court: 01

Corridor of the Procession: 02

Corridor of the Procession

Moving on from the West Court of Knossos, on the visitor’s right hand and at a lower level, are remains from the Prepalatial Period (pre-2000 BC) and the even earlier Neolithic settlement.

We pass the West Entrance to the palace with the Porch and the paved Corridor of the Procession leading to the South Propylaeum.

The walls of the Corridor of the Procession were painted with the “Fresco of the Procession”, a partial copy of which can be seen at the South Propylaeum further on.