The remains of the vast royal Minoan Palace at Knossos, 5 km south of Iraklio, are the major tourist attraction on Crete.

The remains you see today at Knossos are far from being the earliest on the site, which was first settled in Neolithic times, about 6,000 BC. The first palace here has been dated to 2000 BC. the most recent palace was built after 1700 BC earthquake and survived until 1380 BC, when it too was destroyed, this time by fire.

This palace was built on a vast scale, with some 1,300 rooms, and in its heyday, at the height of the Minoan civilization, it is estimated that there would have been 12,000 people living here, with four times as many in the immediate surroundings.