Street of the Knights

This is the most beautiful street of the Old Town, with the “inns” or lodgings of the different languages (or “tongues”) of the Knights Hospitaller, where meetings were held and visitors accommodated. In the Inn of the Tongue of France is the French consulate, which often organizes exhibitions. The Inn of the Tongue of Spain, the largest of all, also hosts various events. The first building you encounter at the lower end of the street was constructed by the Italians and now houses the tourist information center.

Our Lady of the Castle

Believed to have been built in the 11th century, this Byzantine-style church was converted by the Knights into a three-aisled Gothic house of worship, and then into a mosque by the Ottomans.

Palace of the Grand Master

Once the magnificent headquarters of the Order of the Knights of St John, its spacious halls are rich with medieval decoration recreated by Italian restorers, including columns, capitals and Hellenistic, Roman and Early Christian mosaic floors, which the Italians themselves brought in from Kos. The ground floor hosts a permanent exhibition of artifacts dating from the early Christian era to the period of Ottoman rule. A truly unique cultural event was organized in the Palace with Renaissance songs by the Mixed Choir of Rhodes and the Berthold Gymnasium choir from Freiburg, Germany.

Decorative Arts Collection of Rhodes

The city’s renovated ethnographic museum is housed in a Hospitaller-era building known as the Arsenal. It contains objects of folk art and everyday use, including colorful pottery, wood carvings and furniture.

The Synagogue

In the 1930s, some 6,500 Jews lived in Rhodes, where they operated six synagogues. Today, the community has dwindled to 20 people, whose one remaining Synagogue (Kahal Shalom), founded in 1577, is the oldest in Greece. Accompanied by Sephardic-Rhodian music, you can tour the building and see artifacts of daily life belonging to the community. For the Jewish holidays of September or on special occasions (weddings, etc), a guest rabbi is in attendance. 

Ottoman monuments

Six mosques stand in the Old Town of Rhodes. Most impressive is the Suleymaniye Mosque, while most distinctive is the Mehmet Aga Mosque, built entirely of wood. The most unique interior decoration you can find, however, is that of the Ibrahim Pasha Mosque, which still opens its doors for prayer three times a day. Also worth a visit is the Hafiz Ahmed Agha Library, with a collection of manuscripts and photographs.

Municipal ART Gallery

A fine collection of modern Greek art, hangs in a gorgeous Italian building on Symi Square. You can admire the works of leading artists including Yannis Tsarouchis, Nikos Engonopoulos and Theophilos, observing how the socio-political changes of the 19th and 20th centuries influenced Greek art.

Byzantine churches

About 30 Byzantine churches exist in the Old Town, but they are not regularly accessible. The only time you can enter them is the last weekend of September, during the Open Doors event organized by the non-profit organization Rhodes International Culture & Heritage Society.

A €10 ticket will grant you access to the Palace, the Archaeological Museum, the Decorative Arts Collection and Our Lady of the Castle Church!