Rhodes Town (Part 2) The Palace of the Grand Masters

Odós Ippotón, the Street of the Knights    

We walked past the 15^th century Knights’ Hospital (they were known as the Knights Hospitaller of St John), which is now the Archaeological Museum, and onto Odós Ippotón, the Street of the Knights. Here the majority of the knights had their lodgings and had also built various Inns (such as the Inn of France, the Inn of Spain and the Inn of Italy). The knights from those countries could meet in these buildings and discuss events in their mother tongue. Emblazoned with the knights’ coats of arms, the restored buildings look fabulous.

Entrance to the Palace of the Grand Masters

But not quite as fabulous as the Palace of the Grand Masters, whose entrance is at the top of the street.

Palace courtyard   

The palace is roughly a square building (80x75 metres but it seems larger), built around a large courtyard. The original 7^th century construction was a citadel for the fortress. Later, the Knights of St John (1309-1522) modified it to convert it into the residence of the Grand Master and the administrative centre for their estate.

Grand is a very fitting word. There are grand staircases, grand rooms with high ceilings and grand decorations everywhere. Amazingly, the palace was almost completely destroyed when a munitions store in the nearby church of St John exploded in 1856, killing 800 people. During 1937-9, it was completely rebuilt by the Italians as a summer residence for King Victor Emmanuel and Mussolini, neither of whom ever used it.

Mosaics from Kós   

Mosaics from Kós    

Clearly no expense was spared. The floors are covered with Italian marble and the masonry and woodwork are very fine. Of particular interest to us was that many of the floors are also decorated with Hellenistic mosaics from Kós. When we had visited Kós we had seen where the mosaics had sat as well as photographs of them; here we were able to see the originals ‘in the flesh’. They are fabulous and there are so many of them!

Mosaics from Kós   

The palace is now a museum with displays about ancient Rhodes, mediaeval Rhodes, the period of the Knights’ rule, and, bizarrely, a display on Lord Nelson. Sadly, no photographs were allowed in the latter display (and photography elsewhere was limited) but as well as learning about Lord Nelson’s life, we also learned how the Knights had dominated the area, including raiding Ottoman shipping, and generally controlled trade on this vital route to the Middle East. Fed up with this, in 1522 Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent took Rhodes after a 6-month siege that pitted 200,000 Ottoman warriors against 650 Knights. The Grand Master and 180 surviving brethren surrendered and were allowed safe conduct to Malta with their civilian staff. Next year we hope to visit Malta and so will, perhaps, be able to continue the story of what happened to the Knights there.

Mosque of Süleyman   

It was not a bad first day of tourist exploration of the town but by late afternoon we had both had our fill. With so much to see we were quite pleased that we had moved up to the marina and now just had a short walk back rather than a long bus ride to Lindos. On arriving back at the marina, we stopped off at Splendido to say hello and were invited on board for a glass of wine. Team Splendido had spent the day doing yacht maintenance and so needed a break. Over drinks we compared notes about the place and were hugely spoilt by Daniel’s almost continuous supply of fabulous nibbles; he just loves to cook and is very good at it! After a quick shower we all decamped to the Greek restaurant across the road for a farewell meal with Jeremy and Sherry who would be leaving Splendido early the next morning.

Rhodes Town, Greece