Labyrinth of Crete (Labyrinth Cave)

 

Cave Labyrinth is located  3.5 km north of Kastelli village in Messara Plain. It was a huge artificial cave with labyrinthine corridors longer than 2.5km long and several rooms that did not lead anywhere, which served as a quarry for the extraction of stones used for construction of the Minoan palace at Phaestus, the Royal villa of Agia Triada and Gortys, and other smaller towns.

According to experts, the cave may have been natural at first, but it was formed and expanded by humans 2000 years ago. Most layers of rock are made of soft limestone which is easily sculpted. The Germans used it as a storehouse of ammunition and when they left they blew it up so that it would not fall into the hands of the allied forces, so the cave was completely destroyed and its entrances were buried under giant rocks. 

The cave of the labyrinthine tunnels and the dead ends has raised the interest of many researchers, who place the mythical Labyrinth of the Minotaur in that cave, and not at Knossos.

According to the legend, Daedalus built the labyrinth by order of Minos.

On the north side of the same hill there is the Labyrinthaki Cave, which has the same architectural structure and must be of the same era as the Labyrinth. The road to Labyrinthaki  is asphalt and the cave is open to any visitor.