Rare Minoan treasures to be displayed in New York

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

ATHENS (AFP) — Around 300 priceless artifacts from Europe's oldest civilisation, the Minoans of ancient Crete, will go on display in New York from March 13, the private Alexander S. Onassis foundation said Wednesday.

Titled "From the Land of the Labyrinth: Minoan Crete, 3000-1100 BC", the six-month exhibition will feature gold jewellery, seals, votive figures, tools, weapons, engravings and frescoes from several Cretan museums, including the prestigious museum of Heraklion in the island's capital.

Most of the artifacts have never been displayed outside Greece, said archaeologist Maria Vlazakis, supervisor of museums in western Crete.

"The first palatial civilisation on European soil flourished on Crete during the third and second millennia BCE," she told a...