The Grand
Master’s Palace, the most
imposing edifice in the old town, was the
headquarters of the leader of the Order
of the Knights of Saint John, and at the
same time a strong fortress.
It was built in the
14th century on the ruins of a Byzantine
fort. It consists of two storeys with a
large internal courtyard. It was destroyed
in the period of Turkish rule and rebuilt
in the 1930’s in the magnificent style
we see now.
Today the Palace (or Castello) is a museum,
and its many rooms contain important archaeological
finds from ancient and medieval Rhodes.
Statues from the Hellenistic and Roman
periods, removed from the ancient music
school on Kos, stand in the courtyard.
In the right hand wing
of the ground floor are three halls decorated
with frescoes by the painter Venlia (1940).
The corridor in front of the chapel of
the Annunciation (1940) leads to the ground
floor exhibition salons.
A wide, generous, staircase leads to the
first floor, where visitors can marvel at
the splendid décor.
Many of the separately named first floor
rooms contain floor mosaics, furniture,
statues, vases, icons and other luxurious
artifacts.
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