Palace of Petras, Archaeological site near Sitia, Crete

Palace of Petras is an archaeological site near Sitia on Crete with the remains of a large palatial complex spread across two terraces on a hilltop. The ruins display features of Minoan architecture, including walls and structures distributed across multiple levels.

The site was inhabited from around the 26th century BCE until its destruction in the 15th century BCE, marking the end of occupation at this location. Archaeological excavations beginning in 1985 revealed these layers of settlement and Minoan cultural development.

The palace's name lives on in the hilltop village of Petras beside the site, and the excavation entrance sits at the base of a Venetian tower built in the 16th or early 17th century. The Cretan hieroglyphic archive found in a room above a gateway held clay medallions, bars, nodules and crescents, and Metaxia Tsipopoulou argued it was still in use when the building burned.

The site is open to the public and has been since 2006. The entrance lies at one end of a Venetian tower built in the 16th or early 17th century. The excavation is about 1.5 km southeast of Sitia's town centre and 400 m south of the Bay of Sitia. The central court and staircase were covered with gravel after excavation to protect them.

One building on the site was originally a reception room with a central column but was later repurposed as a workshop for wool processing and dyeing. This transformation shows how the function of spaces changed over time.