Just 3 km east of the village of Malia lies the Minoan Palace of Malia, where houses and the cemetery have been excavated. The site was inhabited in the Neolithic and early Minoan period (6000- 2000 BC), but very little trace remains.
The Palace of Malia covered an area of 7,500 sq. m. It’s the third- largest of the Minoan Palaces and is considered the most “provincial” from the architectural point of view. According to tradition the third son of Zeus and Europa, Sarpedon, ruled here.
The first Palace was built in 1900 BC and destroyed in 1700 BC when a new Palace was built. Following the fate of the other palaces in Crete it was also destroyed in 1450 BC. The present ruins ore mainly those of the new palace. The Palace had two floors and its entrance is from the western paved Court, through a procession passage. It is a building with a central court, loggia, theater, sanctuaries. Royal quarters, workshops and magazines. If you visit, you could walk north of the western court where a recently discovered crypt. The large underground room, whose ceiling was supported by columns, is considered as a council chamber for the political deliberations of the local lords, separate from the dwelling quarters and the official buildings.