| Flights to Rhodes | Ferry routes to Rhodes and Dodecanese Islands | Hotels of Rhodes island |

The Palace of the Grand Master

The Palace of the Grand Master is the top attraction in Rhodes' Old Town. With almost 160 high- ceilinged rooms, and 10 feet high windows, this is an imposing building that is centered around a majestic inner courtyard. The site was first used as an acropolis (city tower), in the 7th century AD, by the Byzantines and was later expanded and rebuilt by the Knights of St John, in the mid-14th century, to house their leaders and the seat of government.



The Ottomans used it as a prison, as did the Italians, who took over after the Balkan war of 1913. Then, in 1937, Mussolini, apparently dreaming of a new Roman Empire, ordered its restoration to use it as his Aegean residence. The Italians moved Hellenistic and Roman mosaics from Kos to lay the floors, and filled the palace with statues, furniture, and other valuable furnishings. The chapel, on the right hand side of the grand staircase that leads to the first floor, contains a bronze statue of Saint Nicholas
As far as this being Mussolini's Aegean palace, events took over, of course, and his imperial ambitions ended up hanging upside down from a tree in Lombardy in 1943. The Palace ended up as a Greek national treasure when Rhodes, along with the rest of the Dodecanese islands, was joined with Greece, in 1948. Most of the first floor is open to the public, and it is an interesting 20-minute walk around it, as one feels being in the set for a movie with a medieval theme, like, for example, "The Name of the Rose". The place is dotted with giant fireplaces, heavy furniture, stunning mosaic floors, while the arched high ceilings add an aura of medieval mystery. The ground floor houses the museum, that takes up one of the four sides of the edifice.

The museum exhibits arts and crafts, arms, tombstones, books, jewelry, paintings, statues, and other items from all eras of Rhodian history, with a heavy emphasis on the medieval era.

The Palace is open Tuesday to Friday 8 am to 7 pm, Saturday and Sunday 8 am to 3 pm, and Monday 1 pm to 7 pm