On March 13, 2008, more than 280 artifacts from the ancient land of Crete, most of which have never been shown outside of Greece, will be on view at the Onassis Cultural Center (645 5th Ave., New York USA). From the Land of the Labyrinth: Minoan Crete, 3000 – 1100 BC features a wide range of rare objects revealing the history of Crete's Minoan civilization, the first fully-developed culture to establish itself on European soil. On view through September 13, 2008, the exhibition uses ancient artifacts and works of art to reveal aspects of daily life in the Minoan civilization—including social structure, communications, bureaucratic organization, religion and technology—during the second and third millennia BCE.
     The exhibition will chronologically map in 11 thematic sections covering the establishment and great achievements of the Minoan culture. Information gathered from studies of the Early, Middle, and Late Minoan periods—also referred to as the Prepalatial, Protopalatial, Neopalatial and Postpalatial periods—is derived mostly from objects excavated from the island's burial grounds and settlements. It is known that Minoan civilization was named after the legendary King Minos of Knossos, who commissioned the Labyrinth, a mazelike structure made famous in Greek mythology. The exhibition will piece together the culture's past with objects—such as the gold jewelry deposited in the rich tombs of the elite, the inscribed clay tablets that disclose the fundamentals of the Minoan economy, ceremonial vessels found in the palaces and tombs, and votive figures of clay as symbolic offerings to protective deities—on loan exclusively from the archaeological museums in Crete, in collaboration with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.

Source: Artdaily (16 February 2008)