Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, Medieval palace in Rhodes Old Town, Greece.
The Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes is a fortified building within the Old Town of Rhodes on the Greek island of the same name. The rectangular structure extends 75 by 80 meters (246 by 262 feet) and includes several square defensive towers along its crenellated walls.
A Byzantine citadel stood here from the late 7th century. After the Knights Hospitaller took Rhodes in 1309, they made it their administrative centre and the Grand Master's palace, repairing and enlarging it in the early 14th century. The 1481 earthquake damaged it, and it was repaired soon after. In 1856 a lightning-triggered gunpowder explosion under the Church of Saint John collapsed most upper floors.
The museum inside displays Hellenistic mosaic floors and Roman sculptures brought from the nearby island of Kos, once part of the same Greek cultural sphere. A marble reproduction of the Laocoön Group reminds visitors that this sculpture was originally carved by Rhodian artists.
The palace stands at the highest point of the medieval city's northwestern side, a short walk from the Street of the Knights. The ground-floor rooms that survived the 1856 explosion now hold the museum collection. Visitors enter through the main gate, where a large plaque near the entrance bears Mussolini's name.
A large plaque near the entrance still bears the name of Benito Mussolini, a remnant of the palace's use as a holiday residence for the Italian dictator after its 1937–1940 reconstruction by architect Vittorio Mesturino.
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