On the initiative of enlightened church leaders, a number of scriptoria operated on the island, most of which were housed in monasteries. Outside the larger monasteries, impressive libraries were also to be encountered in the houses of cultivated private individuals such as Georgios Nikoletakis, a doctor living in Chandax in the late 18th and early 19th century. In September 1863, a town library with a reading room for school pupils was established by the Heraklion Demogerontia (Council of Elders).
As part of this resurgence of culture, the same decade witnessed an intensification of interest in archaeological research, led by Minos Kalokairinos. In 1878-1879 he began the excavations at Knossos that were continued two decades later by the British archaeologist Arthur Evans.
