Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes visitor guide — everything you need to know before visiting

At a glance

Address

Ippoton (Street of the Knights), Medieval City, Rhodes 851 00, Dodecanese, Greece

Hours

Open daily in season; summer (approx. Apr–Oct) ~08:00–20:00, winter shorter (~08:30–15:30) with occasional closures; timed hourly entry, last entry −30 min. Confirm seasonally.

Recognition

Centrepiece of the Medieval City of Rhodes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988

Built

Rebuilt by the Knights of St John in the 14th century on an earlier Byzantine citadel; reconstructed in the 1930s

Highlights

Fortified Kastello, grand vaulted halls, ancient mosaic floors from Kos, and two exhibitions on ancient and medieval Rhodes

Getting there

At the head of the Street of the Knights, a short walk up through the pedestrianised Old Town from the harbour

Ticket validity

Timed entry — reserved for the date and hourly slot you choose

The castle of the Knights of St John

The Palace of the Grand Master owes its character to one of the most remarkable episodes in the history of the Aegean. In 1309 the Knights Hospitaller — the military and religious Order of St John, founded to care for pilgrims in the Holy Land — captured Rhodes and made it the seat of their independent island state. For more than two centuries the Order ruled Rhodes and the surrounding Dodecanese, and they turned the town into one of the most powerfully fortified cities of the medieval Mediterranean, ringed by mighty walls, gates and bastions that still stand today. At the highest point of the walled city they rebuilt an earlier Byzantine fortress into the palace of their Grand Master, both the residence of the Order's elected head and the administrative heart and last redoubt of the state.

The Knights held Rhodes until 1522, when after a long siege the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent forced the Order to surrender and depart for Malta. Under Ottoman rule the palace served military purposes, and in 1856 it was largely wrecked by the explosion of a gunpowder store. Its present form dates from the early 20th century, when Rhodes was under Italian rule: between the world wars the Italians rebuilt the palace on its medieval foundations, restoring the halls and installing ancient mosaics and antiquities. What you visit today is therefore both a genuine medieval monument — walls, towers and plan of the Knights — and a grand reconstruction, at the summit of a UNESCO-listed city that preserves the fabric of the crusading age better than almost anywhere in Europe.

The Street of the Knights

The approach to the palace is a monument in its own right. The Street of the Knights, or Ippoton, is the cobbled medieval street that climbs in a straight line from the heart of the Old Town up to the palace gate, and it is widely regarded as one of the best-preserved medieval streets in Europe. Along its flanks stand the inns, or auberges, of the Order's 'Tongues' — the national groupings into which the multinational Knights were divided, such as those of France, Italy, Spain, England, Provence and Auvergne. Each Tongue maintained its own inn on the street, and their carved coats of arms, doorways and facades survive in remarkable condition, giving a vivid sense of the international brotherhood that ruled the island.

Walking up the Street of the Knights toward the palace, with the tall stone houses rising on either side and almost nothing of the modern world in view, is one of the great pleasures of medieval Rhodes, and it costs nothing — the street is a public way, open to all. It sets the scene perfectly for the palace at its head, and many visitors linger over the auberges and their heraldry before reaching the twin-towered gate. Our concierge recommendation is to allow time to walk the street slowly on your way up, ideally early or late in the day when the cobbles are quiet, so the palace arrives as the climax of a walk back into the age of the Knights.

The fortress and its grand halls

Seen from outside, the Palace of the Grand Master is unmistakably a fortress: massive curtain walls, a battlemented outline and a monumental entrance flanked by two great round towers, built to command the highest ground of the walled city and to serve as its final stronghold. Passing through the gate, you enter a broad rectangular courtyard, once ringed by ancient statues, from which the palace's rooms and halls open out. More than 150 rooms are arranged over two floors, and the scale of the building — long vaulted corridors, wide staircases and lofty ceilings — conveys the wealth and authority of the Order at its height.

The grand halls of the upper floor are the showpieces of the visit. Rebuilt in the 1930s in a rich, historicising style, they are spacious, cool and dignified, with heavy timber ceilings, carved fireplaces, and antique furnishings and sculpture set against bare stone. Some rooms are named for their function or decoration, and the sequence of state chambers gives a strong impression of a great medieval and Renaissance residence, even where the detail is a later reconstruction. Because the halls are enclosed and shaded, the palace interior is a welcome escape from the Aegean sun, and its measured, castle-like calm is a striking contrast to the busy medieval streets below. The floors underfoot hold one of the palace's greatest surprises — the ancient mosaics.

The ancient mosaics from Kos

One of the most memorable features of the palace is hidden in plain sight, underfoot. Many of the grand halls are floored with superb ancient mosaics — intricate figured and geometric panels in coloured stone, depicting scenes such as sea creatures, mythological figures, birds, and abstract patterns. These mosaics are not originally from the palace or even from Rhodes: they were lifted from Hellenistic and Roman houses and public buildings on the neighbouring island of Kos and brought over during the Italian reconstruction of the palace in the 1930s, to give the restored halls floors worthy of their grandeur.

The result is a remarkable, if unusual, marriage of medieval architecture and classical art: you walk through the fortress of the crusading Knights across floors that once graced the villas of Roman Kos. The craftsmanship is exceptional, and the mosaics reward slow, careful looking — the fine gradations of colour, the lively animals and the elaborate borders repay attention. Because they are laid across the floors you cross, it is easy to hurry over them, so our concierge recommendation is to look down as often as you look up, and to take your time in the halls where the finest panels survive. Together with the antiquities displayed around them, the mosaics make the palace a showcase of ancient art as much as a medieval castle.

The exhibitions on ancient and medieval Rhodes

Beyond its halls and mosaics, the palace houses two important permanent exhibitions, both included in your ticket, which between them tell the long story of the island. One is devoted to ancient Rhodes, tracing the Greek and Roman history of a place that was among the most powerful and cultured of the ancient Aegean, famed in antiquity for its harbour, its sculpture — including the lost Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world — and its role in Mediterranean trade and learning. Through statues, pottery, inscriptions, jewellery and everyday objects, the exhibition brings the classical island to life and links the palace to the deep past that its mosaics also evoke.

The second exhibition covers medieval and early-Christian Rhodes, the world of the early Church and Byzantium and, above all, of the Knights of St John themselves. Here you can follow the transformation of the island under the Order — the building of the walls and the palace, the life of the multinational brotherhood, and the art, arms and objects of the crusading age — as well as the early-Christian centuries that preceded it. Seeing the two exhibitions in the very building the Knights raised gives the history immediate, tangible force. Our concierge recommendation is to treat the palace as three visits in one — the fortress and its halls, the ancient mosaics of Kos, and these two exhibitions — and to allow enough time to do justice to all three under one roof.

Getting there and visiting

The Palace of the Grand Master stands at the very top of the walled Old Town of Rhodes, at the head of the Street of the Knights, and reaching it is part of the pleasure. The entire medieval city is pedestrianised, so you arrive on foot: from the cruise and ferry harbour of Mandraki and from the new town, you enter through one of the great medieval gates and walk up through the old streets, following the Street of the Knights to the palace at its head. Rhodes itself is reached by air to Rhodes International Airport or by ferry to Rhodes Town from Athens's port of Piraeus and from other Aegean islands, and the Old Town is compact enough to explore entirely on foot. Entry to the palace is now by timed hourly slot, so aim to arrive at the gate within the hour shown on your ticket.

While the palace interior is cool and shaded, the walk up through the Old Town is over rough cobbles and is exposed to the sun, so comfortable, sturdy shoes, a hat and water make the approach easier, especially in the fierce summer heat. Inside, expect stone floors, thresholds and staircases, and note that access for visitors with limited mobility is partial. Allow about one to one and a half hours for the palace, its mosaics and its two exhibitions, and much longer if you want to wander the Street of the Knights, the auberges and the wider walled city, which are free to explore. As the headline monument of Rhodes and a fixture of cruise itineraries, the palace is busiest in the middle of the day when the ships are in; booking the first or last hourly slot gives you the calmest halls. Many visitors pair the palace with a day out to the spectacular acropolis of Lindos, about 50 km down the island's east coast.

Read the full guide: How to Get to the Palace of the Grand Master →

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