Room in the southern, religious storage area
Nirou Khani is situated next to the beach at Kokkini Khani, east of Heraklion, and just along the coast from the villa at Amnisos. The site was excavated by Ksanthoudidis in 1918-1919 and published in 1922. This two-storey building had 40 rooms on the ground floor. There were two courtyards, one to the east and one to the north of the building.
The building included a sacred area, storage areas with pithoi, a light well, and corridors.
More rooms in the religious area
On the south side of the east court, the remains of a large pair of horns of consecration were found, mounted on an altar, together with pieces of fresco showing sacral knots. Also found were four bronze double axes, forty tripod altars, and other ritual objects, stone lamps, vases, etc.
The number of finds would have been more than enough for a much larger building so either it was an important area for religious ritual, or, as Evans suggested, it was a centre for making votive objects.
Could this have been an important rural religious centre? Or was it part of a larger settlement, with more buildings nearby? The discovery of a small Minoan harbour at Agii Theodhori is inconclusive as too much of the evidence has been destroyed.
The main hall of the building has inlaid doors dividing it into two sections like the Hall of the Double Axe at Knossos.
Room with benches, perhaps part of the
living quarters
The ground floor on the north side of the building was used for domestic storage, with corn bins and pithoi for wine and olive oil. The south wing was the storage area for all the religious items, altars, lamps, etc.
The corn bins
Interestingly, a number of votive cups were found containing pieces of volcanic pumice from the Thera eruption. They had been placed underneath a shrine. Castleden suggests that they may have been put there as a re-foundation or reconsecration deposit after the building had been repaired.
The site is open, free, to the public from Tuesday to Sunday. A short distance to the east, on the shore, the remains of the Minoan harbour can still be seen, in particular two basins cut out of rock, a long mole and traces of some other buildings.
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