DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.810#0312
CIRCUITOUS CHARACTER OF STATE APPROACH 685
beyond and the stepped approach to the Palace from that side. The
evening land breeze that throughout the summer months breathes direct
on this line of the building would have made this long open gallery a
specially pleasant place of resort.
The main objects of this State Entrance passage are clearly apparent. State
It afforded a ceremonial route of approach in the first instance to the South to s.
Propylaeum and its stately stepped porch above, leading to the piano nobile l^ca
of the West Palace section. But it also continued beyond on the same line and to
to the landing of a main staircase which brought the Southern Porch of the North
Palace into connexion with the South-North Corridor described below.1 Corridor
leading
Near the point where the Corridor would have abutted on this staircase to Central
landing, there has happily been preserved in situ a gypsum block on its pavement
North wall with a pavement ledge showing the level of the floor here, ledse of
which would have been 5 centimetres higher. This level proved to have section of
exactly corresponded with that of the West Porch. Pro"
The South-North Corridor, to which the landing in question led, on the Corridor
same level, afforded the principal avenue of approach to the Central Court tion.
on that side. Its importance was marked by the discovery on its Eastern
border, near the point where it would have opened on the Court, of the
painted bas-relief (see Frontispiece),2 depicting what there is every reason to
believe was a Minoan Priest-King, wearing a lily crown with peacock plumes.
The circuitous character of the entrance system represented by the Circui-
course of the ' Corridor of the Procession' and its prolongation contrasts character
with what seems to have been the direct entry East of the older plan, with of State
its axial arrangement. It must be remembered, however, that from the
earliest days of the existing building the angular course of the Stepped
Portico, towards what seems to have been then a principal entrance at the
North-West angle, had supplied the Palace with a magnificent State approach
in that direction from the bridge-head of the ' Great South Road '. Apart
from this, however, a winding entrance, such as was demanded for defensive
reasons in the case of primitive Acropolis sites, like that of Tiryns for
instance, might well have supplied the idea of this indirect method of
approach to the core of the building. It seems clear, indeed, that the
architect had availed himself of such models to prolong the imposing effect
of this entrance Corridor, the decoration of which, as it has been preserved to
us, reflected its principal function as an avenue of processional pageants.
1 See below, § 64. - See p. 774 seqq.
beyond and the stepped approach to the Palace from that side. The
evening land breeze that throughout the summer months breathes direct
on this line of the building would have made this long open gallery a
specially pleasant place of resort.
The main objects of this State Entrance passage are clearly apparent. State
It afforded a ceremonial route of approach in the first instance to the South to s.
Propylaeum and its stately stepped porch above, leading to the piano nobile l^ca
of the West Palace section. But it also continued beyond on the same line and to
to the landing of a main staircase which brought the Southern Porch of the North
Palace into connexion with the South-North Corridor described below.1 Corridor
leading
Near the point where the Corridor would have abutted on this staircase to Central
landing, there has happily been preserved in situ a gypsum block on its pavement
North wall with a pavement ledge showing the level of the floor here, ledse of
which would have been 5 centimetres higher. This level proved to have section of
exactly corresponded with that of the West Porch. Pro"
The South-North Corridor, to which the landing in question led, on the Corridor
same level, afforded the principal avenue of approach to the Central Court tion.
on that side. Its importance was marked by the discovery on its Eastern
border, near the point where it would have opened on the Court, of the
painted bas-relief (see Frontispiece),2 depicting what there is every reason to
believe was a Minoan Priest-King, wearing a lily crown with peacock plumes.
The circuitous character of the entrance system represented by the Circui-
course of the ' Corridor of the Procession' and its prolongation contrasts character
with what seems to have been the direct entry East of the older plan, with of State
its axial arrangement. It must be remembered, however, that from the
earliest days of the existing building the angular course of the Stepped
Portico, towards what seems to have been then a principal entrance at the
North-West angle, had supplied the Palace with a magnificent State approach
in that direction from the bridge-head of the ' Great South Road '. Apart
from this, however, a winding entrance, such as was demanded for defensive
reasons in the case of primitive Acropolis sites, like that of Tiryns for
instance, might well have supplied the idea of this indirect method of
approach to the core of the building. It seems clear, indeed, that the
architect had availed himself of such models to prolong the imposing effect
of this entrance Corridor, the decoration of which, as it has been preserved to
us, reflected its principal function as an avenue of processional pageants.
1 See below, § 64. - See p. 774 seqq.