DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0027
ARTISTIC TREASURES OF N.W. INSULA
Its artistic
revela-
tions.
Func-
tional im-
portance
of'N.W.
Insula'.
derived from a corner sanctuary, lay the fallen remains of the ' Miniature'
frescoes, illustrating an astonishingly lively development of pictorial design in
the transitional Age that heralds the ' New Era'. On the Northern borders
of this area, beneath and near a later threshing-floor, great heaps of pieces of
painted plaster were uncovered, some of them—like those depicting parts
of an embroidered robe—of exceptional interest. On the other hand, by
the bastions of the adjoining Corridor East, precipitated from the back wall
of the portico above overlooking the 'North Entrance Passage', there
occurred a series of fragments of painted stucco reliefs belonging to an
extensive frieze representing bull-catching scenes and, included among them,
the noble head of what to the Minoans was the King of Beasts. Various
comparisons, as will be shown below, enable us to recover the general
character of this com position* Together with a companion frieze on the
opposite side of the Entrance Passage, it seems in a special way to have
impressed the imagination both of contemporary and later beholders, and
a reminiscence of its designs is traceable on the Vapheio Cups as well as in two
sculptured plaques brought by Lord Elgin from the ' Tomb of Agamemnon '.
The functional importance of this ' Insula ' was also great, owing to the
fact that what is ex hypothesi a pilgrims' entrance from the ' Initiatory Area'
beyond, with its ' lustral basin', led here, as already mentioned, by a winding
ramp and passage way to the N.W. Corner of the Central Court and thus
to the sanctuary region on its Western side. That this sanctuary character
was shared by a large part of this ' North-West Insula' bordering the Court
on the North appears from the data supplied by a series of finds made within
it. This region in fact takes up and illustrates on its own lines the religious
functions fulfilled in a pre-eminent degree by that West of the Court. These
have received detailed consideration in the concluding Sections of the pre-
ceding Volume of this work, but it may be well to recall here the salient
features of the sanctuary quarter on that side to which the ramp passage
primarily led.
Area
West of
Central
Court:
chief cult
centre:
retro-
spective
view.
Retrospective View of Sanctuary Area W. of Court.
The Palace region between the Upper Long Corridor and the Nor-
thern section of the facade bordering the Central Court, as shown in the
restored plan (Fig. 1 a), includes within it a group of structures that sufficiently
mark it as the true cult centre of the restored building.
Its nucleus is the ' Tri-Columnar Hall' which forms the principal objec-
tive of a splendid architectural suite, beginning with the ' West Porch ' and
the ' Corridor of the Procession' and directly approached by the ' South
Its artistic
revela-
tions.
Func-
tional im-
portance
of'N.W.
Insula'.
derived from a corner sanctuary, lay the fallen remains of the ' Miniature'
frescoes, illustrating an astonishingly lively development of pictorial design in
the transitional Age that heralds the ' New Era'. On the Northern borders
of this area, beneath and near a later threshing-floor, great heaps of pieces of
painted plaster were uncovered, some of them—like those depicting parts
of an embroidered robe—of exceptional interest. On the other hand, by
the bastions of the adjoining Corridor East, precipitated from the back wall
of the portico above overlooking the 'North Entrance Passage', there
occurred a series of fragments of painted stucco reliefs belonging to an
extensive frieze representing bull-catching scenes and, included among them,
the noble head of what to the Minoans was the King of Beasts. Various
comparisons, as will be shown below, enable us to recover the general
character of this com position* Together with a companion frieze on the
opposite side of the Entrance Passage, it seems in a special way to have
impressed the imagination both of contemporary and later beholders, and
a reminiscence of its designs is traceable on the Vapheio Cups as well as in two
sculptured plaques brought by Lord Elgin from the ' Tomb of Agamemnon '.
The functional importance of this ' Insula ' was also great, owing to the
fact that what is ex hypothesi a pilgrims' entrance from the ' Initiatory Area'
beyond, with its ' lustral basin', led here, as already mentioned, by a winding
ramp and passage way to the N.W. Corner of the Central Court and thus
to the sanctuary region on its Western side. That this sanctuary character
was shared by a large part of this ' North-West Insula' bordering the Court
on the North appears from the data supplied by a series of finds made within
it. This region in fact takes up and illustrates on its own lines the religious
functions fulfilled in a pre-eminent degree by that West of the Court. These
have received detailed consideration in the concluding Sections of the pre-
ceding Volume of this work, but it may be well to recall here the salient
features of the sanctuary quarter on that side to which the ramp passage
primarily led.
Area
West of
Central
Court:
chief cult
centre:
retro-
spective
view.
Retrospective View of Sanctuary Area W. of Court.
The Palace region between the Upper Long Corridor and the Nor-
thern section of the facade bordering the Central Court, as shown in the
restored plan (Fig. 1 a), includes within it a group of structures that sufficiently
mark it as the true cult centre of the restored building.
Its nucleus is the ' Tri-Columnar Hall' which forms the principal objec-
tive of a splendid architectural suite, beginning with the ' West Porch ' and
the ' Corridor of the Procession' and directly approached by the ' South