The old town of Rhodes

MEDIEVAL TOWN OF RHODES

When we hear the words Medieval Town or Castle Town, immediately images of derelicts come to our minds. While when we arrive there in person we need to close our eyes in order to “smell” the old essence and to be able to give “life” to the ghosts that play hide and seek on the ramparts and the embrasures. All the mentioned above happen in other places and not in Rhodes, the island of knights...

Here stands a lively Medieval Town, within the walls of the Town more than 6.000 people breathe, live and work, without including the thousands of visitors every year. A medieval memorial of Western European style with many elements of the Italian revival technique that appear at the end of the 15th century as well as elements of local architecture – of the very least that remain in Europe, an integral part of the world wide cultural inheritance that is protected by UNESCO.

Walking down the stone paved streets the only thing that may keep you in the present time is the other visitors that are walking next to you or in front of you. If you daydream for a while you will certainly think about why they are not wearing shinny panoplies and why you can’t hear the hoofs of the horses thumping.

The Town of Rhodes was founded in 408B.C. at “PANOS AKRA , at the north side of the island and planed by the best town planning system of all eras, the Ippodamio. The Old Town is surrounded by very well maintained medieval defensive walls of the 14th and 15th century length of approximately five kilometres and width of approximately 12meters, with ramparts and small towers as well as a trench, width of approximately 30 meters, with bridges at the gates. It has 11 Gates of which the Gate Da Bouaz and the Gate Thalassini or Gate of the port are distinctive. The rest are: the Gate of the museum, the Gate of Arnaldou, The Gate Tarsana, The Gate of Freedom, The Gate of Saint Athanasiou, The Gate of Akandias, The Gate of Panagias, The Gate of Saint Ekaterini and the Gate of Saint Ioanni or Koskinou. The later is also named as Kokkini Porta (Red Door), as the tradition says at that Gate many Christians were slaughtered during the fall of the Constantinople in 1522 by the Turks.

The Old Town was built by the knights of the battalion of Saint Ioanni (John) or simply Ioannites knights, who reached Rhodes in the 13th century, after they were expelled from the Agii Topi (Holy Land) when Jerusalem had been captured by Salatin. The Ioannites after managing to extract the approval of the Pope they captured Rhodes, while earlier they had made a small passage by Cyprus, were the King had offered them Lemeso. The Ioannites of Rhodes were organized in seven different “languages” those of French, Germany, Provence, Oberni, Italy, Spain and England and their emblem was the “cross of Amalfi” that later was named the “Cross of Malta” when the Ioannites took refuge on that island of the Mediterranean, after the conquest of Rhodes by the Ottoman, in the 16th century.

The impressive castle of the knights of Saint Ioanni (John) or knights of Rhodes is now located at the Northwest side of the Castle of the Old Medieval Town, called Kollakio or Chateu , during the years of Ippokratias (1309 – 1522). The Kollakio included the accommodation of the “Languages” namely the accommodation of the different nations or nationalities, the hospital, the houses of the knights, the church of Saint Ioanni (John) and the palace of the Grand Master. It was separated by the much larger south part the Hora or Bourgo by an internal wall while the two parts were united by a Gate. The local population namely the Greeks, the Jews and the Latin lived and worked within the “Hora”.

Your tours down the narrow streets of the Old Town will bring you in front of the Street of the Knights that is built on a road of the ancient town. It is the central street of the Old Town, width of 6 meters, were you will see most of the medieval buildings. The accommodations of the different nationalities of the battalion or the “LANGUAGES” are located here, with the most impressive one of all the French Accommodation, the frontage of which decorates the coat of arms of the Grand Master.

In 1522 after many attempts that failed eventually the Town of Rhodes was captured by the Ottomans and the period of Turkish conquest begins (1522-1912). We wouldn’t call this period one of the best for the Town yet the opposite. The forts and most of the medieval buildings have been retained but the alterations in the usages are important. The palace of the Grand Master is converted to a prison, the Hospital of the knights to head quarters while at the same time many mosques were being built with impressive minarets and baths. The Greeks were no longer allowed to live within the walls of the Town. Those who owned shops or worked there had to leave by sunset.

In 1912 a new period begins for Rhodes, when it is captured by Italians. The period of Italian capture (1912-1948) is a period of growth and transformation of the Town. The Italians construct tasteful buildings, distinguish the archaeological sights, mould the free spaces, include new usages in the renovated medieval buildings and declare a total area of 150stremmata (150.000square meters) as a monumental zone of green around the walls of the Town, around the forts and the trench, while they rebuild the Palace of the Grand Master that was destroyed by an explosion of a powder – keg that was located in the basement of a neighbouring church in 1856. The undertaking of the restoration that began in 1937 and was completed in 1940 was based on the original plans of the knights and although there were many alterations it does not cease to be a sensational monument.

Other significant sights of the Old Town, that apart from the medieval monuments, offers hospitality to a whole mosaic of ancient byzantine ottoman and Italian monuments is the Temple of Aphrodite, the hospital of the knights, were the Archaeological museum is housed, the Byzantine museum The storage room of arms, the museum of decorative art The mosque of Suleiman and the palace of Kastellania. The Old Town is not only provided for romantic walks it is as we mentioned a lively town that is full – always with respect to the tradition as any construction is forbidden – shopping centres, restaurants, taverns while the nightlife is notorious.

More photographs of the old town of Rhodes

SIGHTS OF RHODES - THE OLD TOWN