Top Historic Sights in Rhodes, Greece
Explore the historic highlights of Rhodes
Archaeological Museum of Rhodes
The Archaeological Museum of Rhodes is housed in the monumental edifice that was the hospital of the Knights of Saint John. Construction of it was begun in 1440 and brought to completion in the time of the Grand Master d"Aubusson (1476-1503). The Museum contains various collections of archaeological artifacts from various parts of Rhodes and the neighbouring islands, including the Statue of the Crouching Aphrodite ( ...
Founded: 1914 |
Location:
Rhodes, Greece
Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes
The Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, also known as the Kastello, is one of the few examples of Gothic architecture in Greece. The site was previously a citadel of the Knights Hospitaller that functioned as a palace, headquarters, and fortress. According to recent study, in the exact spot in which the palace exists today, there was the foundations of the ancient temple of the Sun-god Helios and probabl ...
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Rhodes, Greece
Knights Street
The street of the Knights (Odós Ippotón) is one of the highlights of the Medieval Town of Rhodes. It is a fascinating and obligatory visit for all guided tours, one of the most admired attractions in the Old Town. Following an almost exact east to west direction, the well preserved cobble paved street uses, in part, an ancient straight road that connected the port with the Acropolis of Rhodos. The medieval road is abou ...
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Rhodes, Greece
Suleymaniye Mosque
The Suleymaniye Mosque was a mosque originally built after the Ottoman conquest of Rhodes in 1522 and reconstructed in 1808. It was named by the Sultan Suleiman to commemorate his conquest of Rhodes. This mosque was the first mosque in the town of Rhodes, built soon after Ottomans besieged it and captured it in 1522. In 1808 the current building of mosque was built through the reconstruction of this first mosque. ...
Founded: 1522/1808 |
Location:
Rhodes, Greece
Temple of Aphrodite
Temple of Aphrodite dates back to the 3rd century BCE, and was built to honor Aphrodite, the mythological Greek goddess of love and beauty. The temple is located in Symi Square, close to the Eleftheria Gate. The once majestic structure is now a pile of ruins surrounded by a small fence. Although you cannot walk through the temple grounds, you can get close enough to study some of the old building blocks and fallen column ...
Founded: 3rd century BCE |
Location:
Rhodes, Greece
Kahal Shalom Synagogue
The Kahal Shalom Synagogue in La Juderia, the Jewish quarter of the city of Rhodes, is the oldest synagogue in Greece today. There has been a Jewish presence in Rhodes for 2,300 years. They were, at times, persecuted by Romans, the Knights Hospitaller, and other rulers of the islands. During Ottoman rule, however, the Jews of Rhodes prospered, and many expelled Sephardim settled there, particularly in the city of Rhodes, ...
Founded: 1577 |
Location:
Rhodes, Greece
Medieval City of Rhodes
From 1309 to 1523 Rhodes, the largest island of the Dodecanese, was occupied by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem who had lost their last stronghold in Palestine, in Acre, in 1291. They transformed the island capital into a fortified city able to withstand sieges as terrible as those led by the Sultan of Egypt in 1444 and Mehmet II in 1480. Rhodes finally fell in 1522 after a six-month siege carried out by Suleyman I ...
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Rhodes, Greece
St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral
The St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral in the city of Rhodes, near the gate of St. Athanasius, between the two districts Acandia and St. John. The church is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rhodes. On September 20, 1936 the first stone was laid in the presence of Archbishop Giovanni Castellani and Italian Governor Mario Lago. The works for the construction of the church, designed by architect Armando Be ...
Founded: 1936 |
Location:
Rhodes, Greece
St Fanourios Church
St Fanourios Church was built in the 13th century. It’s cross shaped and the interior is adorned with wonderful frescos. It officiated as a mesgit (small mosque) during the ottoman occupation. There is no known testimony for its name before the ottoman period. The interior was preserved in the 20’s by the Italian Archaeological Service. After the World War II, Greeks took over the church. In 1946 the church was inaugu ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Rhodes, Greece
St. Nicholas Fortress
The Mandraki was the military harbour and was guarded by a tower built between 1464 and 1467 by the Grand Master Zacosta at the end of the natural mole. After the siege of Rhodes in 1480 the Grand Master d"Aubusson added a bastion around the tower transforming it into a guard fortress on the sea. The castle was built at the place of an old Byzantine church dedicated to St. Nicholas, hence the name. Since the 17th ce ...
Founded: 1464 |
Location:
Rhodes, Greece
Acropolis of Rhodes
The Acropolis of Rhodes dates from the Classical Greek period (5th–3rd century BC) and is located approximately 3 kilometers from the centre of the city of Rhodes. The partially reconstructed part of the site consists of the Temple of Apollo (also, as alternatives Athena Polias and Zeus Polieus) below which is a stadium and a small theatre. In 408 BC, towards the end of the Peloponnesian War, three of the is ...
Founded: 408 BCE |
Location:
Rhodes, Greece
City Walls of Rhodes
The fortifications of the town of Rhodes are shaped like a defensive crescent around the medieval town and consist mostly in a modern fortification composed of a huge wall made of an embankment encased in stone, equipped with scarp, bastions, moat, counterscarp and glacis. The portion of fortifications facing the harbour is instead composed of a crenellated wall. On the moles towers and defensive forts are fou ...
Founded: 1309 |
Location:
Rhodes, Greece