view of rhodes city
About Rhodos
The island of Rhodos (Rhodes) is the third biggest in size Greek island and at the same time the biggest and the capital of all the Dodecanese islands complex. With a population of about 98.000 inhabitants, it is not an ordinary holiday resort but a cosmopolitan place of international reputation endowed with innumerable natural beauties and rightly considered a tourist's paradise. Its innumerable charms and beauties attract high level of tourists every year (more than 1,250,000). Rhodes offers nice sandy beaches, picturesque villages and lots of other attractions. Rhodos (Rhodes) island lies on the SE section of the Aegean sea, at a distance of about 13 kms from the Asia Minor coastline. The island is mainly mountainous with intense vegetation and valleys.
The castle of lindos
The island of Rhodes has a very rich and varied architecture composed by various architectural styles, blended together in complete harmony. Medieval, Venetian, Byzantine, Turkish and traditional architecture form uniqueness. Its superb capital lies outside and within the walls of a very well preserved Venetian castle, built by the Knights of Saint John, which is one of the finest examples of medieval architecture; it is a splendid medieval city, the largest inhabited medieval town in Europe, and its fortifications are considered as the finest example of medieval architecture.
The beauty of its capital, its many interesting sites and its Byzantine churches, along with its natural beauties make Rhodes one of the most popular islands of Greece.
The island is divided into ten municipalities: the Municipality of Rhodes (the capital) and the municipalities of Ialysos, Petaloudes, Kamiros, Kalithea, Attavyros, Afandou, Archangelos, Southern Rhodes and Lindos. The western coast of Rhodes island is more fertile and forested than the eastern one but also has rocky beaches. The inland of Rhodes is hilly and wooded, offering a lush and flowered landscape. On Rhodos island one can find from picturesque villages and places to relax, to towns and touristy restorts with lots of night life.
mosaic detail
Rhodos in history
Strategically placed, the island has had a tumultous past linked to the sea. Rhodes was inhabited alredy in prehistoric times. The island gradually expanded its influence and became the main commercial link in the Mediterranean. In 408 BC the island's three important Doric cities Ialissos, Lindos and Kamiros united to found the city of Rhodes on the island's northeastern edge. This marked a new era in the history of the island. The Sun-worshipping city of Rhodes (Rhodos) became an important political, commercial and religious centre. Its golden era lasted from the 5th to the 3rd century BC.
Municipality building
It was during this period that the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was constructed and straddled the harbour. This impressive giant statue was demolished during an earthquake. During 150 years the island flourished and showed its great navigation and maritime skills, establishing one of the best reputations in these domains. Rhodes extended its rule, minted its own coin, introduced the first maritime law rules, advanced the arts, theatre and sports.
Its School of Rhetoric became famous and attracted many well-known Romans and Greeks. In the 2nd century BC Rhodos became an ally of Rome; this led to a gradual weakening of the island, which from the 4th century AD became a Roman prefecture. St. Paul visited the island and recruited the first Christians in 57 AD; as in 395 AD the Roman Empire split, Rhodos and the other islands of the "Provincia insularum" were included in the Byzantine Empire. New seafarers
view of Rhodos port Entrance
attacked and often looted the city in the following centuries. The Knights of the Order of St. John were estab-lished in Rhodes in 1309 AD. Their stay has endowed the city with a series of majestic buildings protected by a fortified wall. From 1522 onwards the Dodecanese islands form part of the Ottoman Empire until 1912 AD, when they fell under Italian rule. The Treaty of Paris ended foreign occupation, and in March 1948 the islands were united with Greece.
Rhodos sites
the old city in rhodes
- Old medieval town
- Mosque of Suleiman
- The Castellania
- St. Catherine's hospital
- The admiralty palace
- Folk Dance Theatre
- The New Market
- The archbishop's Palace
- The Evangelismos Church
- Town Hall
- Theatre and Government House
- Murad Reis Mosque
- Institute of Marine Biology
- The Acropolis of Ancient Rhodes
- The Ancient Cemetery of Agios Ioannis (Saint John)
- The Archaeological site of Ancient Kameiros
- The Archaeological site and the Acropolis at Lindos
- The site of Ancient Ialysos
- The Island of Symi