Precision Restoration
Late Bronze Age (LBA)
Late Minoan I (LM I) Period
Late Cycladic I (LC I) Period
Painted sometime before ~1613 BC
West House, Room 5, South Wall
Akrotiri, Santorini (Thera), Greece

This is the first precision restoration of a scene from the Miniature Frieze “Flotilla” Fresco found in the West House on the South Wall of Room 5. It depicts a detailed view of the ringed islands of Thera just before the great Bronze Age eruption of the Santorini marine volcano. It was derived from multiple original sources but especially from the superb publication “The Wall-Paintings of Thera” by Christos Doumas. While it represents a minimalist effort to accurately display the artist’s original intention some areas of the fresco were so damaged that some degree of subjective interpretation was required to complete it. It clearly shows an inner island ringed by water in the middle of the caldera with a palace complex or town dominating the scene.