The Archaeological Museum of Rhodes is housed in a building complex that was originally the hospital run by the Knights Hospitallier, the Knights of the Order of Saint John. It at the bottom of the Avenue of the Knights, just down from the Palace of the Grand Master. The museum houses monuments and artifacts from the heyday of the Knights in Rhodes (1310 – 1522AD) but perhaps more interesting is the treasure trove of ancient relics to be found here as well as the buildings and the lovely grounds they are set in.
I enter into the Lower Courtyard through the main southern doorway and am immediately confronted by a Hellenistic tombstone in the form of a lion. It has the head of a bull between its paws. There are also what appear to be stacks of old canon balls, the likes of which would have been used during the Siege of Rhodes by the Ottoman Turks in 1522. The courtyard itself is in the style of a Byzantine Inn with large vaulted porticoes all around under which are placed statues and fragments of funerary monuments amongst a few stone benches where weary sight seers are resting. On the southern side, a grand external staircase leading up to the exhibition rooms on the first floor.
This marble statue of Aphrodite Bathing (2nd – 1st Century BC) is one of the historically significant highlights of the permanent exhibition. It depicts the goddess crouching (in the bath) with her hair in her hands. This version is supposedly a copy of the original 3rd Century BC statue by Greek sculptor Doidalsos. My eye wanders to the arms seemingly strewn around the room. It is air-conditioned in here in stark contrast to the heat outside, but unlike the Louvre or the Vatican, these curios stand unprotected on concrete slabs or in some cases, on the floor just leaning up against the wall. It’s slightly disconcerting. There aren’t too many people around and I make my way through the inside rooms, interested despite starting to feel a bit weary from my wanderings around Rhodes this morning.
After an hour or so in the exhibition rooms I’m feeling saturated with history and culture and can’t take in much more information. I wander back outside to the upper courtyards with a lovely fierce looking lion statue and more statues, fragments and mosaic floors lie around in the open. Another portico off to the side creates a tiny conservatory for a fountain and up another, smaller, staircase is a shady garden area with ponds, stone archways and a loggia with some fantastic mosaics.
The mosaics are ancient Rhodian mosaics, examples of which would have been found on the floors of wealthy houses (circa 3rd Century BC). I spend some time admiring them in the shade, along with the soothing green view of the gardens and then head out to weave along the cobbled paths under the tall trees and around the ponds.
More buildings and exhibitions are tucked away down the back of the gardens. Another two story space with further, though smaller, exhibitions, views through the floors to the ancient foundations of Byzantine era structures and a house, complete with a pebbled landing at the top of the entrance stairway.
One thing is clear, that Rhodesians take the history of their amazing city in their stride. It is happily acknowledged and respected and sits alongside their modern lives in a way in which I find difficult to comprehend. I come from a culture that is relatively new, where there are no ancient relics of this nature to encounter. Western history here is almost entirely linked back to Britain and even the local Aboriginal history is held in the stories of the dream time, rather than in museums.
I don’t think I could ever take history like this in my stride.
Good To Know
You can save a few Euros by combining your entrance ticket with entry to the Palace of the Grand Master.
Would I Return?
Yes. This museum has so much to offer and it needs a fresh mind to take it all in.