Une architecture d'exception de l'epoque des premiers palais minoens: le
Quartier Mu a Malia nous offre les vestiges d'un ensemble de batiments,
independants tout en etant juxtaposes, qui ont ete decouverts dans un
etat de conservation remarquable, du au violent incendie qui les a
detruits. Les informations precieuses qu'ils revelent et qui suscitent
l'admiration apportent de nouvelles connaissances non seulement sur les
materiaux employes et leur mise en oeuvre, sur la structure des elements
architecturaux les composant - murs, ouvertures, planchers, escaliers,
colonnes et piliers, corniches, puits de lumiere - mais encore sur la
circulation, l'articulation et la fonction des pieces a l'interieur de
ces unites de construction. Les installations encore en place comme les
plates-formes et banquettes ainsi que le mobilier recueilli participent
a l'identification de la fonction de certains espaces, mais les pieces
les plus importantes se distinguent moins par leur grande taille que par
leur decoration - panneaux en creux, dispositif tripartite de
colonnettes, decor de plinthes - qui temoigne du souci esthetique des
constructeurs minoens et par la des habitants du quartier.
L'etude
architecturale nous a conduits a proposer une restitution relativement
bien assuree des volumes des batiments a partir des plans, du sous-sol,
du rez-de-chaussee et du 1er etage. En revanche la restitution des
niveaux superieurs, 2eme etage ou terrasses, reste plus hypothetique.
Ce sixieme et dernier volume de la publication du Quartier Mu,
consacre a l'architecture, souligne l'importance de cet ensemble
exceptionnel dans l'histoire de l'architecture minoenne, dans
l'evolution de la ville de Malia et dans l'histoire minoenne dans son
ensemble.
Quartier Mu of Malia is an exceptional
architectural ensemble of the time of the First Minoan Palaces.
Excavations brought to light the remains of a group of adjacent but
independent buildings, remarkably well preserved by the violent fire
that caused their destruction. They provide precious information, often
provoking admiration, not only about the materials and building
techniques, or the arrangement of the various architectural components -
walls, openings, floors, staircases, columns, pillars, cornices, light
wells - but also about the layout, communication and function of the
individual rooms inside these units. The remaining built structures,
e.g. platforms or benches, and the mobile finds collected help to
identify the function of some spaces. What seems to distinguish however
the most important rooms is not so much their large dimensions but their
internal decoration - imprinted lines in the stucco that form
rectangular panels, three-columned partitions, mouldings. These elements
attest to the aesthetic preoccupations of the Minoan builders as well as
to those of the Quartier Mu inhabitants.
Based on the results of
their analysis, the authors propose to translate the two-dimensional
building plans into a series of three-dimensional restitutions: those of
the basement, the ground floor and the first floor are quite well
ascertained, those of the upper levels (second floor, roofs) are more
hypothetical.
This sixth and last volume of the publication of
Quartier Mu, dedicated to the architectural study, stresses the
significance of this exceptional group of buildings in the history of
Minoan architecture, the evolution of the town of Malia, and the Minoan
history as a whole.
