Palace of the Grand Master (Museum)

The Palace of the Grand Master is the large fortified building at the upper end of the Street of the Knights, inside the walled Old Town of Rhodes. It was the residence and headquarters of the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, who ruled the island from 1309 until the Ottoman conquest in 1522. Run by the Greek Ministry of Culture as a museum, this medieval fortress with massive round towers and a courtyard, it was damaged badly in 1856 when lightning set off gunpowder stored nearby, and then rebuilt in the 1930s by the Italians who then controlled the Dodecanese, who intended it as a holiday residence for King Victor Emmanuel III and for Mussolini.

That reconstruction explains much of what you see. The exterior follows the medieval lines, while the interior is lavish early twentieth-century work, with marble staircases, vaulted halls and rooms decorated in neo-medieval style. Mosaic floors, taken from ancient Greek and Roman sites on the island of Kos and relocated here during Italian rule, cover many of the rooms. Furniture from the period, often in Italian Renaissance style, fills some halls.

Two permanent exhibitions are normally on show. One covers the history of Rhodes from antiquity through the foundation of the city in 408 BCE to the Ottoman conquest, including the Byzantine centuries, while a second explores the island's ancient culture and the city of Rhodes in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The collections include sculptures, inscriptions and architectural fragments, with the Ancient Rhodes material the best known part, making the building a useful place to build context before walking the rest of the town. Exact exhibition layouts change from season to season, so it is worth checking what is open when you arrive.

The courtyard is a good place to pause, ringed by arcades and used in summer for occasional cultural events. Climbing to the upper floors gives views across the Old Town's rooftops and to the harbour.

The visit usually takes one to two hours. It pairs naturally with the Street of the Knights outside, the Hospital of the Knights now housing the archaeological museum, and the circuit of the walls. Mornings are quieter than midday, when tour groups arrive from the cruise ships in the harbour. Visitors with mobility difficulties should check access beforehand, since the building has many stairs and the entrance is raised.