Phaistos Tour

Phaistos Northwest Court

Our tour of Phaistos starts by going down the steps to the paved Northwest Court. The Northwest court is higher than the rest of the palace, with an imposing view over the whole archaeological site.

The Northwest Court is part of the first palace of Phaistos (circa 2000 BC), but it continued in use during the following phases of the palace down to the Roman period.

You can see the Processional Causeway running north to south. This was used for ceremonial processions, as the frescoes which decorated the palace show.

East of the causeway are preserved the remains of an important Roman hypostyle building, i.e. a building whose ceiling was supported by columns (c. 1st century BC), with a characteristic central hearth and benches all along the walls. This building was used for meetings on issues concerning the city of Phaistos, so it is now known as the Vouleuterion or Ekklesiasterion (Council or Assembly Hall).