DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0369
CONTROL OF DOORS: MARKS OF SWING AND BOLTS 319
this, a little distance to the right, another entrance,—this time constructed for
double doors,—opened into the Western covered section of the greatest of
the actual living-rooms of the Palace, 'the Hall of the Double Axes', so-called
from the axe signs incised on the blocks of its West light-court wall.1
Control of Doors.
These two doorways and another leading to an interior corridor from Control
the East Gallery of the ' Hall of the Colonnades' derive a special interest marksof'
not only from the clear manner in which they show the sockets for the thlF
J J swing
wooden posts and metal pivots and bolts, but from the exceptional preserva- and
tion of the curved scorings on the thresholds, due to the swing of the doors.
With these, in Mr. Theodore Fyfe's drawing, Fig. 213,2 is also grouped the
West Entrance and a good example from the Pillar Room of the Royal Villa.
It will be seen from the scorings that in the case of two-leaved doorways
one door was sometimes narrower than the other, so that a space of only about
a third or half a metre could be left open.
It will be further seen that, as approached from the Grand Staircase,
the control of the passages opening from the ' Hall of the Colonnades ' was
on the inner side of the doors. So, too, the control of the double door
leading from the ' Lower East-West Corridor' into the ' Hall of the Double
Axes' was from the side of the Hall. Both in the Palace and in private
Houses great attention was paid to the side on which the doors were
secured. It was always on the more private side.
The first section of the Lower East-West Corridor, before reaching Massive
the ' Hall of the Double Axes', was lit by a broad window, opening into its Hnteis"
Western light-well. It was found, as already mentioned, half filled in by
sunken blocks that once supported its massive wooden lintel, and the raising
of these to their original level had been a serious task in the early part of
the excavation.3 The wooden lintel itself—consisting, like other neighbouring
examples, of four beams about a foot {c. 30 centimetres) square, laid side by
side—had here supported some 5^ tons of masonry.
In the case of the Grand Staircase, attention has been called to the Great
chemical carbonization of woodwork, which there must have certainly catcmed
operated, allowing time for the infiltration of the supporting material. But matenal-
the masses of calcined limestone and gypsum from the upper stories found
1 See P. of M., i, p. 348, Fig. 250. have only one reveal, often occur at the end of
2 Cf. A. E., Report, Knossos, 1903 {B.S. A., a system.
ix), pp. 14, 15, Fig. 6 and note by Mr. Fyfe. 3 P- of M., i, pp. 352, 353, and compare
Single doors, he points out, where the jambs Figs. 253 a and b.
this, a little distance to the right, another entrance,—this time constructed for
double doors,—opened into the Western covered section of the greatest of
the actual living-rooms of the Palace, 'the Hall of the Double Axes', so-called
from the axe signs incised on the blocks of its West light-court wall.1
Control of Doors.
These two doorways and another leading to an interior corridor from Control
the East Gallery of the ' Hall of the Colonnades' derive a special interest marksof'
not only from the clear manner in which they show the sockets for the thlF
J J swing
wooden posts and metal pivots and bolts, but from the exceptional preserva- and
tion of the curved scorings on the thresholds, due to the swing of the doors.
With these, in Mr. Theodore Fyfe's drawing, Fig. 213,2 is also grouped the
West Entrance and a good example from the Pillar Room of the Royal Villa.
It will be seen from the scorings that in the case of two-leaved doorways
one door was sometimes narrower than the other, so that a space of only about
a third or half a metre could be left open.
It will be further seen that, as approached from the Grand Staircase,
the control of the passages opening from the ' Hall of the Colonnades ' was
on the inner side of the doors. So, too, the control of the double door
leading from the ' Lower East-West Corridor' into the ' Hall of the Double
Axes' was from the side of the Hall. Both in the Palace and in private
Houses great attention was paid to the side on which the doors were
secured. It was always on the more private side.
The first section of the Lower East-West Corridor, before reaching Massive
the ' Hall of the Double Axes', was lit by a broad window, opening into its Hnteis"
Western light-well. It was found, as already mentioned, half filled in by
sunken blocks that once supported its massive wooden lintel, and the raising
of these to their original level had been a serious task in the early part of
the excavation.3 The wooden lintel itself—consisting, like other neighbouring
examples, of four beams about a foot {c. 30 centimetres) square, laid side by
side—had here supported some 5^ tons of masonry.
In the case of the Grand Staircase, attention has been called to the Great
chemical carbonization of woodwork, which there must have certainly catcmed
operated, allowing time for the infiltration of the supporting material. But matenal-
the masses of calcined limestone and gypsum from the upper stories found
1 See P. of M., i, p. 348, Fig. 250. have only one reveal, often occur at the end of
2 Cf. A. E., Report, Knossos, 1903 {B.S. A., a system.
ix), pp. 14, 15, Fig. 6 and note by Mr. Fyfe. 3 P- of M., i, pp. 352, 353, and compare
Single doors, he points out, where the jambs Figs. 253 a and b.