Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes
Fortified Hospitaller palace in the medieval town of Rhodes, with ancient and Byzantine galleries.
The palace crowns the highest point of the walled town of Rhodes, at the head of the Street of the Knights. The Order of Saint John raised it in the fourteenth century over an earlier Byzantine citadel, using it as the residence of the Grand Master and as the administrative and defensive heart of the order. After the Ottoman conquest of 1522 the building served lesser purposes and fell into decay, and an explosion in the neighbouring church of Saint John wrecked much of it in 1856.
During the Italian administration of the Dodecanese the palace was rebuilt between 1937 and 1940 to designs by the Turin architect Vittorio Mesturino, intended as a residence for the Italian king. Visitors enter through the twin-towered gate to an arcaded courtyard, and the upper floor opens onto state rooms laid with Hellenistic and Roman mosaic floors brought from Kos. Two permanent exhibitions on the ground floor trace Rhodes from its foundation in 408 BC to 1522.
Highlights
- Twin-towered Hospitaller gatehouse at the head of the Street of the Knights
- State rooms paved with Hellenistic and Roman mosaics brought from Kos
- Ground-floor exhibitions on ancient Rhodes and the medieval Byzantine city
- Part of the Medieval City of Rhodes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
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