Archaeological Museum of Rhodes, Archaeological museum in Rhodes Medieval City, Greece

The Archaeological Museum of Rhodes occupies the former hospital of the Knights of Saint John, an L-shaped two-storey stone building begun in 1440 and finished under Grand Master Pierre d'Aubusson between 1476 and 1503. Its weathered facade has a row of rounded arches on square piers above taller recessed arches, with a carved animal figure on a pedestal in the courtyard. The museum opened in 1914 and holds finds from Rhodes and the Dodecanese, among them the Crouching Aphrodite of the 1st century BC and a Fikellura-type pyxis of the mid-6th century BC.

The building was constructed between 1440 and 1503 under Grand Master d'Aubusson as a hospital for the Knights Hospitaller and represents late medieval architecture. After the knights were expelled, it served various purposes over centuries before becoming a museum.

The collections display artworks spanning different eras of island life, including the Crouching Aphrodite from the 1st century BC and a Hellenistic pebble mosaic with Bellerophon riding Pegasus. These pieces reveal the artistic skills of ancient inhabitants and their relationship to Greek mythology.

The museum is easy to locate as it sits in Rhodes Medieval City in a distinctive historic building. Visitors should arrive early in the morning, especially during the busy summer months, to avoid long queues and explore the collections at leisure.

The museum's Head of Helios, which resembles Lysippos's portrait of Alexander the Great, appeared on the cover of Macintosh Plus's 2011 album Floral Shoppe. That cover art later made the sculpture a reference point for the Vaporwave movement.