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The fascinating history of Old Town dates back in 408 B.C. It passed thru Byzantine period on its own until the Knights of Saint John took over the island (1309).
For the following two centuries life flourished Rhodes and the Knights made such a good job of building and fortifying the city that even 4 centuries of Turkish rule left little trace of Ottomans.
When Knights first arrived, Rhodes Town was practically deserted and the entire population of the island was a mere 10.000. Knights saw that for island to be truly secure needed to be repopulated, and thus provided with a source of defenders who would fight to retain their homes and protect their families and lands.
The first call for colonists went out I May 1313 under the aegis of Foulques De Villaret, and was repeated by different Grand Masters several times in the years that followed.
The island and particularly the town itself, was a fine example of how people of different creeds and cultures can join together for mutual benefit and live harmoniously side-by-side. Relations between Catholic and Orthodox churches were good and there were Armenians, Jews and even a few Turks residing on the island.
Today, The old Town it’s known as one of the biggest medieval town in Europe and, what is unique is its spectacular life between those walls.
Old Town closer look
Dominating the northernmost sector of the city's fourteenth-century fortifications is the Palace of the Grand Masters.
Largely destroyed by an ammunition depot explosion set off by lightning in 1856, it was reconstructed by the Italians as a summer home for Mussolini and Victor Emmanuel III ("King of Italy and Albania, Emperor of Ethiopia"), neither of whom ever visited Rhodes. The exterior, based on medieval engravings and accounts, is passably authentic, but inside, free rein was given to Fascist delusions of grandeur: a marble staircase leads up to rooms paved with Hellenistic mosaics from Kós, and the ponderous period furnishings rival many a northern European palace. The ground floor is home to the splendid Medieval Exhibit and Ancient Rhodes, 2400 Years gallery (same hours and admission ticket), together the best museums in town. The medieval collection highlights the importance of Christian Rhodes as a trade centre, with exotic merchandise placing the island in a trans-Mediterranean context. The Knights are represented with a display on their sugar-refining industry and a gravestone of a Grand Master; precious manuscripts and books precede a wing of post-Byzantine icons, moved here permanently from Panayía Kástrou. Across the courtyard in the north wing, "Ancient Rhodes" overshadows the official archeological museum by explaining the everyday life of the ancients, arranged topically (beauty aids, toys, cookware, worship and so on); highlights include a Hellenistic floor mosaic and a household idol of Hecate, goddess of the occult.
The heavily restored Street of the Knights (Odhós Ippotón) leads due east from the Platía Kleovoúlou in front of the Palace; the "Inns" lining it housed the Knights of St John, according to linguistic and ethnic affiliation, until the Ottoman Turks compelled them to leave for Malta after a six-month siege in which the defenders were outnumbered thirty to one. Today the Inns house various government offices and cultural institutions vaguely appropriate to their past, with occasional exhibitions, but the whole effect of the Italians' renovation is predictably sterile and stagey (indeed, nearby streets were used in the 1987 filming of Pascali's Island ).
At the bottom of the hill, the Knights' Hospital has been refurbished as the Archeological Museum, though the arches and echoing halls of the building somewhat overshadow the appallingly labelled and presented contents - largely painted pottery dating from the sixth and seventh centuries BC. Behind the second-storey sculpture garden, the Hellenistic statue gallery is more accessible; in a rear corner stands the so-called "Marine Venus", beloved of Lawrence Durrell, but lent a rather sinister aspect by her sea-dissolved face - in contrast to the friendlier Aphrodite Bathing . Virtually next door is the Decorative Arts Collection, gleaned from old houses across the Dodecanese; the most compelling artefacts are carved cupboard doors and chest lids painted in naive style with mythological or historical episodes.
Across the way stands the Byzantine Museum, housed in the old cathedral of the Knights, who adapted the Byzantine shrine of Panayía Kástrou for their own needs.
Medieval icons and frescoes lifted from crumbling chapels on Rhodes and Hálki, as well as photos of art still in situ , constitute the exhibits; it's worth a visit since most of the Byzantine churches in the Old Town and outlying villages are kept locked. The highlight of the collection is a complete fresco cycle from the domes of Thárri monastery dating from 1624, removed in 1967 to reveal much older work beneath.
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