Precision Restoration
Late Bronze Age (LBA)
Late Minoan I (LM I) Period
Knossos, Crete, Greece

Pieces of this fresco were found in the East Wing’s Residential Quarters of Knossos Palace in a room next to the Hall of the Double Axes which Arthur Evans named the Queen’s Megaron. Other names associated with this section of the palace are the Queen’s Apartment, the Queen’s Hall, and the Dolphin Sanctuary. Evans thought of it as the Queen’s private reception room. Combining dolphins, fish and sea urchins it’s one of Knossos’ most distinctive frescoes. It was restored by the artist Piet de Jong between 1922 and 1930. The original restoration is in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum in Heraklion, Crete. A replica of the fresco is displayed over the door on the north side of the room.