Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes

 

Palace of the Grand Master

The Palace of the Grand Master aka The Crusader Castle is a sight to behold.  Pictures do not give a clear view of the sheer immensity of the castle.  From the walk up to the castle on the narrow pebble road to the giant vaulted archway at the entrance you are awe struck.  

Entry way to the palace

Folks tend to refer to the Palace as the Crusader Castle as it built by the Knights of the Order of St. John during the time of the Crusades.  That Order still exists today!  Initially, it was a religious order founded in Jerusalem with a medical mission.  The 'Knights" started out as celibate monks!!  But as fear of a Muslim invasion grew the Order became more militaristic and switched from being peace loving monks to war seeking Knights.  In time they became a multinational elite fighting force but that still did not prevent them from being conquered by the Turks.  They were ultimately kicked off the island so they just went to Malta instead.  Thank goodness the Turks did not tear down the palace!

Road leading up to the palace

The Knights lived in separate regions according to their nationality and were responsible for protecting certain areas of the border wall.  The Grand Master was over all the Knights (and was elected for a lifetime appointment) and he lived in the Palace.  The rest of the townspeople lived within the walled city.  

Entry stairs to the palace

There are around 150 rooms in the Palace (Castle) but only a few are open to the public.  The architecture is stunning as well as the bronze and gold leaf statues scattered about.  

One of several statues - gold leaf

On the day Michael and I visited the palace there were 3 cruise ships in the harbor!  So we were trying to dodge the masses and still enjoy the palace.  

Courtyard to the palace

Sadly, there was not a lot of information regarding the palace.  The placards were mostly in regards to the mosaics on the floor.  Nothing about what the rooms were used for or the architecture or the statues or anything really.  So I am going to have to do some research.  

From the top of the entry stairs

 

 

The juxtaposition of the cruelty of the Crusades and the beauty of the castle have me baffled at the moment.  Its hard to put the two together.  I will post more pics in another post when I have internet again.  Tomorrow we head for Symi as we start our hop across the islands.