The Palace of the Grand Master

Walking up the street of the Knights, at the top and to the right is the Grand Master’s Palace which also serves as the Byzantine Museum. Opposite the palace amongst the ruins from different historical periods, one can determine the ruins of the Catholic Church of St. John.

The Grand Masters Palace was built below the Acropolis of Ancient Rhodes where originally the Temple of the Sun God stood. In the same place, in the 7th century, there was also a Byzantine Palace, and then in the 14th century the Knights of St John built the palace as the residence of the Grand Master as an administrative center.

It was destroyed in 1856 by a large explosion of gunpowder that was hidden in the basement of the of St John Church. The Grand Masters Palace was then rebuilt according to the original drawings by the Italians in 1940. In 1988 it hosted the summit of the EEC. It occasionally holds exhibitions and major cultural events.