The Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes

About the CastleThe palace was built in the early 14th century

by the Knights of Rhodes, who controlled Rhodes and some other Greek islands from 1309 to 1522, to house the Grand Master of the Order.. It had very imposing dimensions (80x75 m.) and defensive fortifications. It was so strong that during the siege of 1522 it suffered little damage. The main entrance is in the south facade, flanked by two imposing towers. The west facade is pierced by a gate, in front of which rises a tall, square tower, probably the work of the Grand Master Pierre d'Aubusson (1476-1503).

Some parts of the palace were damaged by an ammunition explosion in 1856. When the Kingdom of Italy occupied Rhodes in 1912, the Italians made the palace a holiday residence for the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III, and later for Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, whose name can still be seen on a large plaque near the entrance.

On 10 February 1947, the Treaty of Peace with Italy, one of the Paris Peace Treaties, determined that the recently-established Italian Republic would transfer the Dodecanese Islands to Greece. In 1948, Rhodes and the rest of the Dodecanese were transferred as previously agreed. The palace was then converted to a museum, and is today visited by the millions of tourists that come to Rhodes.

The museum exhibits various artistic creations, folk art from antiquity,medieval weapons, medieval tombstones, jewelry, books, paintings, statues and other findings.

Nowadays, the whole building is the largest tourist attraction in the medieval city of Rhodes!

SOURCES

• http://en.wikipedia.org

Vassilis Kolios, Stathis Draganigos