History of the Knossos Research Centre

The Knossos Research Centre is located in Evans ’s original estate, which included the site of the Palace and a large tract of land, the so-called Villa Ariadne, (Evans’ famous residence), and an old Turkish-period café (Taverna: nowadays the hostel of the Centre). In February 1922, Evans met with Alan Wace, then Director of the British School at Athens, to discuss transferring ownership to the School. The transfer was completed in 1926. Also in 1926, Evans established an endowment for the site to have a resident supervisor, and thus the post of Knossos Curator was created, with Duncan Mackenzie as the first holder (1926-1929).

John Pendlebury was the second Knossos Curator (1930-1934). He undertook the creation of the Knossos Library, wrote the first palace visitor’s guide and organised some 2000 boxes of pottery sherds which had accumulated from Evans’s excavations over the years, and which were stored in the Palace and Villa Ariadne. Pendlebury served until 1934 when changes to the Curatorship prompted his resignation. The next Curator was Richard Wyatt Hutchinson who was Curator during the Second World War.

Germany invaded Greece in April 1941 and the Greek government moved to Crete from Athens. The King of Greece stayed at the Villa Ariadne before being evacuated to Egypt. An invasion of Crete too was imminent and Hutchinson and his mother were forced to leave Knossos on the night of 30 April, 1941. The long-serving staff of the Villa, Manolakis Akoumianakis and Kostis Chronakis stayed on to look after the Estate. The Battle of Crete began on 20 May 1941, with a German paratrooper invasion focused on the major cities. On 21 May the Germans established a foothold at Maleme airfield and Herakleion fell soon after (29 May). During the battle the people of Knossos village hid their families in the Palace for safety, and the Villa Ariadne and Taverna served as a British military hospital. The Taverna was also a hospital during the German occupation. Pendlebury was wounded and then executed during the first few days of the invasion. Akoumianakis was also killed leading troops trying to re-take the Prophitis Elias ridge above Knossos; the keys to the Villa were later found with his body.

The Villa Ariadne was commandeered as the residence of the commander of the German occupation, and bunkers were built in the back garden. The Director of the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Nicolas Platon, did what he could to guard Knossos during the occupation. The Villa was connected with a dramatic incident in April 1944, when the German general Kreipe was captured by a Greek and British team led by Patrick Leigh Fermor. Herakleion was taken back by the Allies in October 1944 and the Villa Ariadne became the headquarters of the British Area Command. The last German troops in Crete capitulated towards the end of the war, and the treaty of surrender was signed at the Villa Ariadne in May 1945. This was the last act of the Second World War in Europe.

In 1951 the Managing Committee of the School decided to transfer ownership of the entire Evans’s Estate, to the Hellenic State. The School was to retain residency at the Knossos Research Centre. As part of this hand-over, the School was given the right to conduct excavations anywhere in the Evans’s Estate without compensation and to use the Villa Ariadne. Piet de Jong, long associated with Knossos as Evans’ architect and draughtsman, was the last Curator of the Estate and he prepared for the transfer, which took place 1952-1955. The rest of the Evans’s Estate is now managed by the Ephoria of Antiquities of Heraklion.

By 1962 funding had been raised for a new Knossos Stratigraphical Museum to house the finds, mostly pottery, from the Palace and BSA excavations in the vicinity. The most important finds had already been transferred to the Museum in Heraklion (especially in 1939 and 1949), but there were substantial collections still remaining at Knossos, especially those catalogued and dated by Pendlebury relating to the stratigraphy of the site. The foundations for the ‘Strat’ as it is often called were laid on what had been Pendlebury’s tennis court. The building itself was paid for by two generous gifts, from Dame Joan Evans, half-sister of Arthur Evans, and Dr Marc Fitch; it was to be run by the School. Mervyn Popham organized and carried out the huge transfer of the pottery from the Palace, Villa and Taverna storerooms. The sherds from the Palace finally had a home, sixty-six years after Evans had started digging. The Piet de Jong extension was added in 1969, funded by a bequest from the former Curator.

In preparation for a planned extension to the museum, excavations were carried out behind the building in 1978-1982, directed by Peter Warren. The finds were so important that the extension could not be built. They stand along with the Little Palace, the Little Palace North, the Unexplored Mansion and the Roman Villa Dionysus as important remains visible in the Evans Estate.