Archaeological Museum of Rhodes: A breath of history

The museum doesn’t just showcase a wealth of finds from the excavations during the Italian occupation dating from the Geometric, Classical and Hellenistic periods, but also it is accommodated in the great hospital of the Knights Hospitaller, an architectural jewel constructed between 1440 and 1489.

Its construction began in 1440 under Grand Master Jean de Lastic, but was completed 49 years later by Grand Master Pierre d’Aubusson. It is a Gothic-style building with Renaissance elements. A pointed, arched doorway forms the entrance to the Museum, covered with late-Gothic ribbed vaulting. The building’s robust Gothic origins, combined with the intricate mosaics, the impressive courtyard and the shaded gardens hidden behind the grand entrance, make it easy to forget that it once was a state-of-the-art hospital. After all, the basic mission of the Knights Hospitaller, before becoming a conquering military force, was to provide free medical and medicinal care to soldiers during the Crusades.

One of the most impressive exhibits of the museum is the huge head of the Sun, the god of Rhodes, a representative example of Rhodian Baroque, and the delicately elegant statuette of the Bathing Aphrodite.

Mycenaean jewelry, vessels and small objects from Ialysos and Kamiros, dating from the Geometric to the Classical period (9th – 4th century BC), alongside sculptures of the Classical and Hellenistic periods and Rhodian coins complete the picture. The exhibition aims at highlighting and deepening the understanding of the ancient history of Rhodes.

Also on display are mosaic floors from the Early Christian basilica of Arkasa on Karpathos, while in the large upstairs hall visitors can admire the Knights’ relief funerary stelae, chivalric emblems and the Roman sarcophagus Grand Master Cornillan was buried in.