Similar in layout to those at Mycenae and Tiryns, the palace at Pylos differed in being unfortified. Built of stone with a mudbrick upper storey on a wooden framework, the palace was finely plastered and painted with frescoes. Stucco on the floor was divided into decorative squares.
The palace was entered from an external porch through a small courtyard into the megaron (main hall) in which the central feature was the great hearth. Bedrooms and other domestic quarters opened off the first floor gallery, while at ground level passages led to many rooms. Some were administrative, including an archive room containing the remarkable tablets accidentally baked in the destruction of the palace.
Several rooms stored pithoi (large jars) of wine and olive oil and an adjacent pantry held more than 6,400 domestic vessels: bowls, goblets and cups. Among the most interesting finds was a bathroom, complete with painted bath.
A wooden aqueduct supplied the palace with water from a nearby spring: this was distributed through the palace in terracotta pipes. Part of the palace was given over to industrial activities, including the production of perfumed oils.
