Palace of the Grand Master

Why go

At the head of the Street of the Knights, the palace gives the Medieval Town a clear focal point. The building served the Hospitallers as a seat of power; inside, mosaics brought from Kos and displays on the city’s history add detail beyond its fortified exterior.

What to look for

• The restored palace shows how Italian-era work shaped today’s interiors.
• Mosaic floors from Kos decorate rooms within the fortress.
• Permanent exhibitions trace episodes of Rhodes’s history.

The full story

The Hospitallers adapted an earlier fortified site into the administrative centre of their rule on Rhodes. After the Ottoman conquest, the palace continued to serve military and official purposes. An ammunition explosion in 1856 badly damaged parts of it. The rooms visitors enter now also reflect a substantial restoration carried out during Italian rule in the twentieth century. Keep that layered history in mind as you move from the imposing medieval exterior to the interior displays: the building is both a monument to the Knights and a later interpretation of their palace. The site began as a Byzantine citadel before the Hospitallers reshaped it. Earthquake damage in the fifteenth century also required repairs. Those changes mean its present form cannot be read as an untouched medieval interior. The mosaics from Kos are another clue: they enrich the display, but they did not originate as the original floor decoration of these rooms.

Useful to know

• Approach from the Street of the Knights to connect the palace with the surrounding medieval quarter.
• Check the operator’s timetable if a particular exhibition matters; display hours can differ from building hours.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.