Oxford museum aims to ‘set the record straight’ about the discovery of Knossos Palace in Crete
Now the full history of Knossos, reputed home of the minotaur – the half-man, half-bull monster of legend – is to be displayed for the first time in a major British exhibition. While it will acknowledge Evans’s positive legacy, it belatedly gives full recognition to Minos Kalokairinos, the Cretan businessman and scholar who originally found the famous ruins.
, which opens on 10 February, will feature more than 100 objects on loan from Athens and Crete, all seen for the first time in a century together with Oxford’s unique archive, documenting the uncovering of the palace between 1900–1905. This is a show that only the Ashmolean can mount because, at the time of the excavation, Evans ran the museum, as its “keeper” or director. Now the museum is capitalising on Evans’s enduring good name.
Travellers searched in vain for the Labyrinth – the underground maze of Greek myth – until 1878 when Kalokairinos found ancient remains. But he was unable to excavate at Knossos because the island was under the partial control of the Ottoman empire, and any important finds risked export to Turkey. So, in 1900, it was Evans who won the Cretan authorities’ permission to dig – as long as he waited for independence to be declared.
“It’s a totally genuine link,” said Shapland, “although showing the research behind the game is obviously also a way to draw in a younger audience.”Photograph: Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports /Heraklion Archaeological Museum
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