A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Palatial neighbors. Comparing Elite Architectural Features in the Palace at Malia and the Court-Centered Building at Sissi
The recent discovery on the Bronze Age site of Sissi of a monumental edifice exhibiting the main features of a Minoan palace, i.e. elaborately built structures coherently surrounding a large central court, only few kilometers away from the Palace at Malia, has left scholars puzzled about its function. The contemporaneity of use of the two palatial buildings during the Late Bronze Age excludes the possibility that power was transferred from one coastal settlement to the other, but this duplication made it doubtful to some that the main edifice at Sissi should even be considered a palace. In this paper, the author wants to take the opportunity of her recent architectural study of the long-excavated Palace at Malia and of her participation to the excavation of the Court-Centered Building at Sissi to explore the architectural features shared by both edifices and most characteristic of elite palatial architecture on Minoan Crete. The presentation will highlight the specific material and technical choices that contribute to define both structures as palatial. Furthermore, the possibility that skilled – and perhaps non-local – builders participated to their construction and thus the spreading of elite architecture on the island will be explored, and the way in which the monumental buildings were incorporated in the history, topography and urban network of each site will be examined. The material features of both edifices will be considered in the broader framework of the Minoan Palaces, in order to address the architectural fundament of the palatial phenomenon.
Palatial neighbors. Comparing Elite Architectural Features in the Palace at Malia and the Court-Centered Building at Sissi
The recent discovery on the Bronze Age site of Sissi of a monumental edifice exhibiting the main features of a Minoan palace, i.e. elaborately built structures coherently surrounding a large central court, only few kilometers away from the Palace at Malia, has left scholars puzzled about its function. The contemporaneity of use of the two palatial buildings during the Late Bronze Age excludes the possibility that power was transferred from one coastal settlement to the other, but this duplication made it doubtful to some that the main edifice at Sissi should even be considered a palace. In this paper, the author wants to take the opportunity of her recent architectural study of the long-excavated Palace at Malia and of her participation to the excavation of the Court-Centered Building at Sissi to explore the architectural features shared by both edifices and most characteristic of elite palatial architecture on Minoan Crete. The presentation will highlight the specific material and technical choices that contribute to define both structures as palatial. Furthermore, the possibility that skilled – and perhaps non-local – builders participated to their construction and thus the spreading of elite architecture on the island will be explored, and the way in which the monumental buildings were incorporated in the history, topography and urban network of each site will be examined. The material features of both edifices will be considered in the broader framework of the Minoan Palaces, in order to address the architectural fundament of the palatial phenomenon.
Palatial neighbors. Comparing Elite Architectural Features in the Palace at Malia and the Court-Centered Building at Sissi
2020-01-01
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
DDC:
720
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