Restoration WtJrks (1985-2000)

To Melina Mctcouti and her vision for Rhodes

Medieval Tow-n of Rhodes Res/oralioll Works (1!J85-2000J

© Ministry of Culture 2001

Foundation for the Financial Adminisrarion and Realization of Archaeological Worb

SCLENT!FICEDlTOR:

Elias KoUias

PUBLICATION AND ARTIST1C EOHOR:

RODOS IMAGE - Nikos Kasseris, publisher

DESIGN - PAGINATION:

Charoula Fantaoutsaki

EDmNG AND TRANSLATION:

Eugenia Leotsakos Petridis

TECHNICAL CONSULfANT AND PROOF-READING:

Anna-Maria Kasdagli

PHOTOGRAPHS:

Nikos Kasseris, Photographic Archives of the Archaeological Service and Office of the Planning Contract between the Ministry of Culture - TA.P.A. - Municipality of Rhodes

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS 1985-2001:

Nikos Kasseris

ILLUSTRATIONS:

Archives of the 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Office of the. Programmatic Contract between the Ministry of Culture-l~A.PA- Municipality of Rhodes and T.D.P.EAE. Office 'Medieval Town of Rhodes Monuments'

IMAGE PROCESSING OF DIGITAL MAP:

George T sirigas

COVER - ELECTRONIC PAGINATION:

Vasso Sarikosta

COLOUR SEPARATION:

TOXO

PRINTING:

A. Petroulakis SA

BINDING:

Moutsis Bros.

This edition was funded by the 3ed Community Support Framework for the Ministry of Culture

ISBN 960 214-809-8

All rights reserved, No pact of thi.s hook may be reproduced or transmitted in any f'orm Or by any means, electronic Of mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without the written Consent of its contributors and publisher.

WORKS SUPERVISION COMMITTEE FOR THE MONUMENTS OF THE MEDIEVAL TOWN OF RHODES

Medievae To""", of Rhodes

Restora:/;;o'fl Works (1985-2000)

Katerina Manoussou - Della Architect

MINISTRY OF CULTURE

FOUNDATION FOR THE FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION AND REALIZATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL WORKS

RHODES 2001

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INTODUCTION 10

(Elias E. Kollias)

A HISTORICAL EVOLUTION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE MEDIEVAL TOWN Of RHODES 18

Byzantine Period (7th c. - 1309) 20

The Hospitaller Period (1309-1522) 22

Ottoman Rule (1523-1912) 30

I ralian Rule and its Aftermath (1912-1947) 35

Greek Administration, First Period (1947-1985) 47

Greek Administration. Second Period. Organized Intervention (1985-2000) 65

B. THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE MONUMENTAL AREA.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION, LANDSCAPING OF AtlCHAEOLOGICAt SITES, RESTORATION

OF MONUMENTS AND IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF THE URBAN PLANNING FABRIC 110

Hospitaller 'Collachium'. Northern Sector of the Walled Town 112

Upper Jewish Quarter. Eastern Sector of the Walled Town 136

The Medieval Fortifications 150

Monuments Scattered in the Medieval Settlement 176

C. INTERVENTION ON THE RESIDENTIAL AREA.

IMPROVEMENT OF LIVING STANDARDS, INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICES 196

Housing and Neighbourhood 198

Interventions on the Urban Scale 208

Organization and Utilization of Space. New Uses for Monuments 220

D. PUBLICATIONS AND RESEARCH 238

Publications 239

Research Programmes 240

E. BIBLIOGRAPHY 242

F. ABBREVIATIONS 249

G. CONTRIBUTORS 250

H. LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND DRAWINGS 254 _7 __

Introduction

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he medieval town of Rhodes, one of the most beautiful and best preserved towns of the Middle Ages, <i1r b.egan to take. shape in the last quar. ter of the 7th ~entur.y, ov~r the remains of th~ splendid J:!ellenistic \!,l, City. The lethal dan get of the great Arab naval incursions J1l the eastern Mediterranean forced the Rhodians to build the Early Byzantine 'fortress' in what is now the northeastern part of the medieval town. In brief, it may be said that the Early Byzantine fortress was protected to the south, west and north by a wall, advance wall and moat. To the east it was flanked by the ancient Great Harbour. The full extent of the Grand Masters' Palace, to the height of the first floor, is contemporary with the Early Byzantine fortifications. It obviously played the Tole of a citadel, serving as the last line of defense, a final refuge.

At about the end of the 11th or early 12th century the fortifications were expanded to include the suburbs. Thus, the town, as far as defense was concerned, acquired the usual form of almost all medieval towns. It was divided into three defense zones: the citadel (now Palace of the Grand Master), the 'castle' (known under the Hospitallers as the Collachium) and the Chora.

In the late l l.th century, with the beginning of the Crusades, the strategic position of Rhodes was enhanced. It is possible that the Byzantine Empire wished to strengthen the island by fortifying the whole town. The scant and vague information of the known historical sources and the little evidence brought to light so far by archaeological research do not permit us to form any clear picture of the structure and urban plan of the Byzantine town.

During the period of the Knights Hospitaller (1309-1522), with the expansion to the east in the 14th century and to the west and south in the 15th, the town lost its elongated rectangular plan of the Middle Byzantine period; by embracing the cotnmercial harbour it inclined towards a circular ground plan. Its present form and size date from the second quarter of the 15th century,

There was one principal harbour, the Emporio (Commercial or Great Harbour), secured by the Hospitallers with walls, towers and a chain across its entrance. In the northwest harbour, the Small Harbour of the ancient Rhodians, known after the Middle Ages as Mandraki, lay the shipyards, active without a break until a few decades ago. To the southeast lay the auxiliary Bay of Akandia,

Around the walled town stretched the famous gardens of Rhodes. Travellers of the 15th cenmry admired the garden of the Grand Master, which was somewhere dose to his palace. Replete with fruit trees and exotic animals and decorated with ancient statues, which the Grand Masters had collected from various locations, it was a place of recreation in the Renaissance manner.

At the northwest end of Mandraki, approximately where the tekkc (religious establishment) of Murad Reis now stands, rose the Catholic church of St. Anthony with the graveyard of the ordinary Knights. Interspersed within the gardens were small churches and the country homes of the prosperous Rhodians, Greeks, Franks and Jews.

The Byzantine tripartite division of the town was preserved in the Hospitaller period. An internal wall, the south wall of the Early Byzantine Fortress, running east-west, separated the town into two unequal parts. The smaller, northern section was called Collschium, Kastro, Ch as tel, Chateau, Cas ttu m, Castellum or

10 Conventus and contained the conventual church of the Order of St. John of the Collachiurnand that of Our

INTRODUCTION

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RHODES.

Lady of the Castle, cathedral of the Catholics, which before the conquest of Rhodes by the Knights had been the metropolitan church of the o rtho d 0'>"::. It also included the residence of the Latin archbishop, the Inns of the Tongues (divisions of the Otder roughly based on language), the hospital and the residences of the Knights. On the northwest side rose the palace of the Grand Master, which also served as the citadel, In the northeast part of the Collachium were the naval Arsenal and the Armoury of the Knights.

During the Hospitaller period, a wall with rectangular towers running .north-south, past the Inn of Spain, divided the Collachium into two parts. This wall was demolished probably after 1420.

The southern -and largest- part of the settlement was the town proper (Chora or Burgus). A variety of 11

MmlEVAL T0WN

,'oF RHODES' R6STGRATIelN WORK~

races and nations lived and worked there, but no districts with a particular ethnic or class composition have been identified. The Jewish quaner (Ovriake) was on the east end of the town and was divided into Upper and Lower (Ano and Kato) Ovriake. Christians, Greeks and Franks lived alongside the Jews, and there were

at least five churches in the area. '

The streets of Rhodes, as in all medieval towns, were narrow and winding. Many of them follow the axes of Hellenistic roads, like those known today as the Street of the Knights (Ippoton St.), Socratous, Demosthenous and Aghiou Phanouriou Streets.

The financial and social centre was the high street or marketplace, which under the Hospitaliers was called Magna er Communis Plates or Macellus Rbodi or Macellus Burgi Rbodi. It was a broad, long road which began in the west from the Gare of St. George and headed east to the Marine Gate, along modern Apolloniou and Socratous Streets. From there it continued into the Jewish sector and finished in the vicinity of the Tower of Italy. The northern boundary of the marketplace was the southern wall of the Collachium, while its width at some points was over sixty metres.

Until the end of the 15th century, shops, warehouses and workshops were situated only on the south side,

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INTRODUCTION

while the north side was dominated by the wall of the Collachium with a wide moat in front of it. In the beginning of the 16th century it seems that some vaulted warehouses were built on the south side and in the middle of its length, but at a considerable distance from the wall and the moat. At intervals, along the entire length of the High Street, large underground silos served for the storage of grain. The Basilica Mercatorum, where commercial disputes were adjudicated and the Castellani a, or penal courthouse, were also situated in this area. It is quite probable that this same site served as a market in Antiquity and in the Byzantine era, a role it retained until a few decades ago. Other locations for gatherings and social occasions, apart from the market-place and public buildings, were churches (there were 39 in the ciry and some 23 outside the walls), baths, gardens and fountains. For the men there were also taverns, where they drank and played cards and dice.

Returning to the subject of the fortifications, we must stress the role that the widespread use of gunpowder played in their development in the 15th century. Radical changes were made in both defensive and offensive warfare tactics. It is our opinion that up to the third decade of the 15th c. the best part of the Byzantine fortifications to the north, west and south remained intact and functioned as usualin their defence of the city. Under Grand Master Antoni Pluvian (1421-37) and after, the fortifications were expanded west, south and east. The fortified city expanded and reached its modern form and size, that is approximately 42 hectares. The work was completed around 1457-65. All the fortifications of the Early and Middle Byzantine periods were demolished leaving behind only the Early Byzantine fort, known under the Knights as the Collachium, which served as their residence.

The reasons mat: the Hospitallers were forced by the second or third decade of the 15th century to expand their fortifications were, undoubtedly, to include and protect the new districts, which had developed outside the walls, but, mainly, to modernize their defences, which were by then antiquated and incapable of confronting the new and terrible weapon of the era, the cannon. Also, we must not forget that in this period the might of the Ottoman Turks under Sultans Murad II and Mehmet II the Conqueror, was in the ascendant. Confrontation with the Turks, and the Marnelukes of Egypt, was anticipated by the Knights. Nevertheless, and probably through ignorance ofwhat WaS really required, the fortifications of the Knights in this period did not differ substantially in form, strength, or function from earlier dispositions which had to face only portable arms and siege engines and not siege guns.

The first artillery attack sustained by Rhodes was in 1444, when it was besieged by the Sultan of Egypt for forty days. Within the following twenty years the Knights increased their firepower with the financial help of the king of France, the pope and the duke of Burgundy. This is especially obvious in the fortifications built under grand master Pere Ramon Zacosta (1461-67). In the first construction phase of Fort St. Nicholas, between the years 1464-67, two tiers of gunporrs created a field of fire around the entire perimeter of the monument, This was also the case at the bulwark of St. Peter, located approximately in the middle of the northern side of the town and at the back of Mandraki Harbour.

At this time the Knights reinforced the defences of the harbour by building on the northern end of the Mole of the Windmills the Tower of the Windmills and, on the northern end of the long mole of Mandraki, Fort St. Nicholas. They closed off the entrance to the Great Harbour with a chain, which stretched from the Tower of NaiJ1ac to the Tower of the Windmills. Next, from 146"9 to 1480, i.e. until the

great siege of Rhodes by the Turks, the defences were reinforced but in essence their planning and operation 13

MEDIEV,Al ~(DWN

OF RHoDES f,lHSf,OH.A:TION WORKS

against the enemy remained the same.

During the Ottoman siege of 1480, Rhodes was subjected to a barrage of fire by hundreds of cannon, which bombarded its walls fot eighty-five days. It survived, bur: emerged from this trial with its defences in ruins. Nevertheless time the Knights had obtained valuable experience, which they took as much advantage of as time and their financial resources permitted. The man who had defeated the Turks was grand master Pierre d' Aubusson, an exceptional soldier and military engineer. It was. he who took the first measures, on the one hand, to make the fortifications resistant-to enemy artillery and, on the other, more capable of foiling the enemy in battle. He caused strong and very thick embankments to be constructed west of the Palace and the Gate of St. Anthony and in front of the battle stations of the Tongues of Spain, England .and Italy; He gradually extended and reinforced the defences of the gates of St. Athanasius and St. George. The latter ceased to be a gate; under grand master Fabrizio del Carretto, engineer Basilio dalla Scuola was entrusted with its improvement. His plans were eventually put into effect by the last grand master of Rhodes, Philippe Villiers de l' Isle Adam, who created an impregnable strongpoint, precursor of the late 16th and 17th century bastions of Western Europe.

From 1480 onwards, grand masters Pierre d' Aubusson, Emery d' Arnboise, Fabrizio del Carretto and Philippe Villiers de l' Isle Adam replaced the crenellations ofthe ramparts with embrasures for cannon. The new kind of warfare required not only experienced master-masons but also knowledge of mathematics and engineering. The sources allude to the presence of en.gineers in Rhodes making plans for the fortifications already by 1480. Information is, however, both plentiful and definite about the Italian engineers who assisted the Knights in the last six or seven years of the final sttuggle of Rhodes. Among them are Matteo Gioeni, Basilio dalla Scuola, Gerolamo Bartolucci and Gabriele Tadino da Martinego. The last two were in Rhodes during the final siege of 1522 and were particularly effective in the defence of the town and in countering the Turkish undermining of the walls.

It is rare, if not unique, for a large fortress such as Rhodes to survive intact since 1522. Few changes were brought about in the 390 years of Ottoman occupation and the thirty-odd years of Italian interventions. From frontier island and outpost of Western defence, Rhodes after the Turkish conquest came to be almost at the centre of the Ottoman empire and was never again seriously threatened. That is probably the reason why the new masters of the island did not feel compelled to update the fortifications as happened in Cyprus, Crete and other places in Greece and the Mediterranean in general. Thus, Rhodes provides us with the opportunity to study all the experiments that military architecture attempted in order, on the one hand, to cope with enemy fire and, on the other, to return it. The defences of Rhodes are an early stage rehearsal for the fortifications of the great French engineer Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707).

The appearance of the town does not seem to have changed essentially fro m the Hospitaller period until about the mid-LSth century. Visi tors to Rhodes in the first half of that century were surprised to discover that the city before their eyes differed little from that of the period of the Knights of St. John. In the second half of the same century, however, violent earthquakes and the explosion of a gunpowder magazine in the conventual church of St. John of the Collachium caused great dama-ge in the town. Further alterations were the result of relentless bombing by the RAF in 1944. Nevertheless, the town preserves much of its medieval

14 character.

INmODUCJI0N

Hospitaller secular architecture is divided into two unequal periods. The first stretches from 1309 to 1480-81. Few are the buildings of this period that can be identified with any certainty. judging from the remains, the facades of the buildings are usually simple. During the second period (from 1480 to 1522), when the Hospitaller town was particularly prosperous, a great number of secular buildings were renovated following the destructioncaused by the first Ottoman siege of 1480 and the devastating earthquakes of the following year. The buildings of this period are characterized by the appearance of incipient Renaissance forms, especially in the facades towards the high street. It is obvious that prototypes and forms originating in large urban centres of Western Europe, with which the Order kept dose contact, were carried to Rhodes. The dominant personality after the death of Pierre d' Aubusson was Grand Master Emery d' Amboise, whose brother Georges, together with King Charles VIII of France, imported Renaissance artists and artisans from

Italy to Amboise and Paris, thus introducing the style into. France. It is quite possible that the Renaissance 15

MEDIEVAL ll'6WI"J

or; RBO[j.E~ RESTORATIGN W0ffiKS

artists of Rhodes were provided through Georges, the brother of Emery d' Amboise.

Only in very few buildings can architectural types originating in the East be recognized, like the new hospital of the 15th century. It is modelled on Byzantine xenodocheia, convents and ksrevenscrsis where the central courtyard is surrounded by two storey arcades. Some public buildings and wealthy homes were decorated with murals. In the Palace of the Grand Master as well as the houses of the urban rich some rooms were hung with tapestries woven in the East or in Western Europe.

Of the. 39 churches of the town 35 survive in states ranging from good to ruinous, Four of them follow Western European architectural forms (St. John of the Collachium, Holy Apostles, Our Lady of the Burgh and Our Lady of Victory). The remainder belong to the following types of Byzantine architectural plan: single-aisled barrel-vaulted, free cross with dome, three-aisled barrel-vaulted, cross-inscribed with dome and tetraconch.

On the entire island of Rhodes approximately 80 buildings with murals have been identified (churches and a few lay buildings) containing 95-104 layers of painting. Of these, 71-76 are dated to the Hospitaller period, between 1309 and 1522.

In the painting of medieval Rhodes three different styles and iconographic trends may be distinguished:

Western, Byzantine and Eclectic. The latter style, which integrated or juxtaposed iconographic and stylistic elements of both Byzantine and Western art, was a Rhodian development. It is alreadydiscernible by the second half of the 14th century, but reaches its peak and final form on the island by the second half of the 15th century. Its patrons and recipients were members of the Order and educated Orthodox and Catholic clerics and laymen, both Greeks and Franks.

Rhodes, although in Early Christian and Byzantine times ceased to be the naval and economic power and splendid city-state of the Hellenistic Age, nevertheless retained its strategic importance and was one of the most prominent urban centres in the Aegean. During the Hospitaller period it became one 0'[ the gateways of Europe to the East. Together with the cargoes entering her harbour from Western Europe and the East came new ideas, lifestyles and artistic movements. All this, together with the development of commerce, industry and banking practices, caused a corresponding social, economic and cultural development. Many of the indigenous Greeks, especially during the second half of the 15th century and the first two decades of the 16th, were able to keep pace with the Franks in every aspect of life, while retaining their own cultural identity.

The brutal siege and final conquest of the Hospitaller town by the Ottoman Turks in 1522 was followed by a long period of peace, the preservation of old buildings and the fortifications, and of moderate building activity. On the ruins of old churches and unoccupied sites of the Hospiraller High Street, which was filled with low buildings of a typically eastern 'bazaar' type, rose impressive mosques and baths (hammam), as well as beneficent foundatioris (an almshouse, a religious school, a library, schools et a1.)

The 20th century, after the Italian occupation of the Dodecanese in 1912, was a period prolific in scientific and archaeological research, in the restoration of monuments and in urban planning for the protection and enhancement of broad areas of the 'monumental zone', as this was defined by law in 1920.

The incorporation of the Dodecanese into Greece in 1947 found the medieval town in ruins, due to the bombings of World War II, and to a great degree deserted by its Turkish and Jewish inhabitants. In the years

16 that followed, the Greek Archaeological Service responded fully to the need for prompt healing of the injuries

INrI1.0D,UGTIQN

borne by the fortifications and other monuments. The officials responsible at various times for the protection of the walled town fought substantial battles to preserve the authenticity of the monuments and other constituent parts of the medieval urban fabric;

Today, according to the 1960 Act of the Ministry of Culture, the waned town of Rhodes is the largest and most important protected historic settlement of the Aegean. At the same time it is a living residential nucleus with pronounced problems related to the particular historical conditions of the 20th century and the dominance of the tourist trade, of which the medieval town is, naturally; the main attraction.

Even before the registration of Rhodes into UNESC01scatalogue of World Heritage Cities (1988), conditions were created on the local level for co-ordinated action by the competent state and municipal authorities in order to contend with the multi-faceted problems arrd conflicts which a historic town such as Rhodes presents. Their purpose was the enhancement of the historic and cultural character of the medieval town and the improvement of its citizens' standard of living.

From 1985 to this day a programme of intervention on the fortifications, monuments, residential sector and archaeological sites in bomb-blighted areas has been developing. It is anticipated that work on a broader scale will attempt to strengthen the residential aspect,. together with thecompreh:ensive restoration and enhancement of the historical development of the monumental space.

The publication of an album on modern intervention in the medieval town was an initiative of the Medieval Town Restoration Projects Committee in Rhodes, on the occasion of the symposium marking 15 Years of Restoration in the Medieval Town of Rhodes, held in November 2001. It is hoped that it will materially contribute to the presentation of the multifaceted work in progress in the medieval settlement, its monuments and groups of monuments to both interested researchers and the public at large. Above all, it will enable both those involved in it and those for whom these projects are intended, to appreciate that we, and the generinions to follow, owe a debt of gratitude to all the people, known and anonymous who, from 1912 until our day, have laboured, frequently under adverse conditions, to preserve and enhance this rnosr beautiful medieval town of Rhodes.

Dr. Elias E. Kollias

Honorary Ephor of Antiquities Presidentofthe Foundation Projects Committee in Rhodes for th'e Financial Administration and Realization

of Archaeological Works (TD.P.E.A.E.)

t

11.

HISTORICAL 6VOLUTION AND MIlNflG€f'M6NT Or Tfl6 M6DI6VIlL TOWN (J'F {(80])65

MED1E:VAL TdWN O'F RHebES

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-RES1G~ATIElN WORKS'

Byzantine Period

(7th c. - 1309)

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The first fortified ?,ucleus of the 7th century Byzantine Fortress was developed behind the central Hellenistic Great Harbour'. The Byzantine defence line does not always follow the Hippodarneian 'street plan of the Hellenistic city. It frequently deviates, infringing upon i m portan t earlier buildings, as was discovered when the Early Christian basilica on Agesandrou street wasexcavated".

The Byzantine town, perhaps in the late 11 th or early 12th century comprised three parts:

a. The acropolis at the northwest end of the Early Byzantine Fortress, on the natural elevation which dominates both the Great (Commercial) and the smaller, ancient Military Harbour now known as Mandraki.

b. The Fortress with itsvcharacteristic layout of the processional central road (mese), which connected rhe acropolis with the Byzantine cathedral, OUI Lady of the Castle, and ended at the central gateway to the sea Oi1 the- axis of the Great Harbour.

c. The lower town, Cbor«, or Burgus, south of the Fortress, which was walled at a later stage. A section of these fortifications to the east has been brought to light at a considerable distance from the harbour and the Hellenistic east mole.

It is obvious that the Byzantine defences did not include the ancient moles of the Windmills, St. Nicholas and Naillacalthough the limits of the Byzan tine fortifications on the northeast Corner of 'the walls have not yet been precis-ely determined.

It is quite possible that the regular succession of windmills along the eastern mole of the Great Harbour on an extension of the monumental Hellenistic construction belongs to the Byzantine period of the town before the conquest by the Knights of St. John.

All surviving constructions of the Byzantine period display the

General view of the medieval town of Rhodes; [une 2000:

.20

1. E. Kollias, The.Medievsl City Of Rhodes AJld The Palace Of The Gtsnd Mester, Athens 1998, and E. Kollias, "QU<JOfl0,(, Kcio-rpo KOI [iova01:rlplo Tn<; tt£O'QluJ.VlKne; Kw"; lotopia - Teyvn -ApxalOAoyfamq Kw, A' lI.l~Bvtc;Enu:ITnflOV1K6 LuvtSplO, Ai:hens2001, PI" 303"304.

i .. r p _ KWVOl:<.lvlw6nouAo"j,Apxaia P6ooq, Athens 1986.

3. E, Papavassiliou - Th. Archonropoulos, "Nouveaux elements hisroriques er archeologiques de Rhodes a travers des fouilles dans la ville medievale", XXXVlII Corso di culnus sull'an« ravennaree biznntin«, Ravenna" 15-20 marzo 1991, pp. 307--350, K. Mcvorioou=- E. f1ann~Qow:iQu,

-$-

HISTORICAL EVOLUTION AND MANA&EM~NT0F THE',ME_QIE\{l([ TOWN OF RHG:DES

Seq uetuisl expansion phases of the walled town in relstion to the Hippodsmeien utben grid.

21

r;1EWiEVjL:TOWN

®F HfcjQ0ES RE$JQftA1'1Q~ WORINS

"1;vh;OOJWVJ1<.ii ",'An me:; Pobou: H apX<lloAoYU{]l tpWVCl we:; '~aonYla TOV ol'YXPOY9 OX~&.Ib.Ol!6 - OIEU 8tmcrn ms 116MS"; NeE:<; uoN:ie; UclVtV IX IJaAJ<'s, npal\,clKQ EI1lOTniJOvlKOW £ lJVEcSp{OU , Athens J 999, pp. 583-601, Kill H. K6lV.JClS, "H !laAOIOXPWTI9V1KD ({OJ '';U~QV1:IVll PoSas. H Q\'1:101:0CrI1 11m<=; fAMVIOTIKl'iS rr6111<;", PODm, 2,100 XPOVICI, H nONl rm; Paoot) -ano TIN loplJ,ak rwe; p{xpl rnv KoniAmpp =0 TOlfS TaiJpKo!J<; (1523). fTpaKT11(c"

vol, IL, Athens 2000, pp. 299-308.

4 C. Torr; Rhodes in modem rimes, Cambridge 1887, p. 37 and note 2.

5. A. Gabr;.e[, Ll eire de Rhodes. Atchiiecturo miliseirc, vel, 1, napiOl 1923. Avvc- Mapio KcipOo:yt.n - Kot£pi'vu MavOUuQu-N1EMa, «Neu lITOiXda Yla, my oxUpwGn lns llUMS tou Ayiou Icoovvn», Poom; 2.400xpovw, H uOAn me; Pooou auo TnY i6puon wS: }1fxpJ Wy.KUfuilmpn =6· TOUS: TOUpKOUr; (1523), npi:uITlKQ, vol, II, Athens. 2000, F'P' 327- 340.

6, This is echoed in [he synaxaril!11l0f St Phanourios, whi (:h mentionsthat at die time of Neilos Diasorinos, Bishop of Rhodes (1357-1369), there was sysremaric pillaging of ancient building material: " ... at the rinle that [he infidel; ruled tbe FarnoIL' island Rhodes, bed l1se oiour sins, the ruler of

th« t island wished to Jt:blLild rileciry' s wails, whiclr had beenrom dowll by the enen,y. Outside the wells til ere were some homes in ruins, which were rumoured to be rile Iirst Ioriress to the south of the island sbaur ol1e stadium :disnlJlce. From tbcs« ruins; there/ore; [he infidels ga tbered (he Hone For me buildings,,, " K. l'louKrumg, 0 peyae; auva{aplOfll<), vel. 11, Arhens 1966, pp. '2,09-210.

7. Z. Tcnf'!lClVlulS, AviK80wiyypapa yiG Ell F600 KG! T,,,, v6u;;., Lnopd8u; an6 ro Apxtfo rwy i(:i!QVVl'fWV IIIiroY6Jv (1421.1453), Rhodes 1995, p .. 403, docs. no. 127 and 6.

systematic reuse of building material from the Hellenistic and Early Christian city, which had occupied the site in earlier times. Written sources teport that the Byzantine governor of Rhodes, circa 1275, was using prisoners to dig the trenches and quarry the stone for [he building of the walls. Also, when the English crusaders saw the town in 1191, they were so impressed by the scale ofthe ruins of the Hellenistic walls with their rowers, the various massive public buildings and all the evidence of the dense population of times pas-c, that they compared Rhodes to Rome',

The Hospitaller Period

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(1309 - 1522)

From the first years after the fall of the Byzantine Fortress and the establishment of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem (Knights Hospitaller) there is evidence of constant endeavour to improve the older fortifications and to extend and add to them",

The source for the greatamoulUs of construction material necessary were 'again the ruins of monumental Hellenistic buildings and the renowned walls ofthe Hippodameian city, In the l-ith century, at least" there are references to the systematic quarrying vand transportation of stone from them for the building of the early Hospitaller fortifications", Later, it seems that building rnarerial was also sought elsewhere, in new quarries where stone was extracted from the bedrock of the town itself as 'can. be seen along the length of the medieval moat, the Hellenistic necropolis of Karakonero and elsewhere. Documents of the Knights now held in the .archives of Malta testify to the existence of such quarries in the middle of the town, near the vaults of the arsenal, as well as north of the walled city, at Livada, the modern day parish of Niochori '.

Moreover, in the late] 5th and early 16th centuries, the huge need fat building material for the: rapidly expanding town and its fortifications led to the opening of quarries in other parts of the island and especially south of the town at the village of Koskinen and at Malona, near modern day Kharaki,

Already from the time of Grand Master Helion de Villeneuve 0319-1346), the German traveller Ludolf de Suchen noticed intense building activity on the walls and the town in general and, in 1395, Nicolo de Martoni mentioned that the Burgus (Chora) in the town was enclosed within high walls". By the early 15th century the Hospitaller town was organized into two distinct enclaves within its walls:

a. The Collachium, independently fortified, coinciding with the Early Byzantine Fortress and sheltering the most important administrative functions of the Order and the private residences of the Knights. Written sources", and the study of the evidence provided by the medieval buildings themselves, lead to the conclusion that the Collachiurn was internally subdivided into three parts, each with its own defence lines:

• The highest part, which contained the residence of the Grand Master, i.e, the fortifitdpalaoe identified as the Byzantine acropolis on the northwest corner of the Collachium.

• The section occupied by the Hospitaller Brothers and within which stood the conventual church of St. John, where the Brothers performed their religious duties.

• The section which contained the armoury and the hospital where pilgrims and travellers to Rhodes found shelter or were treated as needed.

HISTORItz:AL EVOLUTION AND MANAGEMENTGF THE MEDIEVAL TOWN OF RHODES

Drawing of the town of Rhodes from

a mznuscript of Buoadelmonti (ca.1420).

8. E_ Le Grand, "Relation du pelerinage 11 Jerusalem de Nicolas 'de Marconi (1394,- 13-95)", Revue de l'Oriea: Larin, vol. 3 (1985), p. 583, and A, Gabriel, La cite (see note 5), pp. G and 107,

9. G. Cerola "Le tredici Sporsdi ael codict~ dsssense di Criscoioro Buondelmonti", Bologna 1914, pp, 14-15, and A Gabriel, La eire (see nore 5), PI'. G and 107.

23

Miniature of tbs: medieval WWI! of R1JOdes from the msuuscsipt of C. Ceoutsin (1483-1489).

Substantial remnants of the internal defence partlt10n running north-south at approximately the middle of the Street of the Knights are incorporated within private housing on the east side of Ipparchou Street (nos 3 and 7). Further remnants exist inside the older wing of the Hospitaller Inn of Spain 10. As may be seen in the miniature of the Caoursin Codex, the room today carried on an arch over the Street of the Knights was originally a gate of this early wall". This defence partition is also clearly indicated in the beautifully precise engraving by Breydenbach of 1483.

b. The Burgus (Chora), or town of the Greek and Latin populace, the centre for most commercial exchanges, was where the Greeks lived. The Burgus kept expanding as the Hospitaller fortifications gradually extended south and east.

During the first Hospiraller phase of the town, until the middle of the 15th century, we know -mostly from written sources- that there were suburbs, at some point possibly fortified, known at that time as suburbia, extra suburbia ere."

From written sources of the 15th century we also know that there were settled areas outside the waIled town called prosstie or villages. A settlement is mentioned in 1439 and 1451 at Livada, north of the walled city, while in 1453 we find the village ofHagii Anargyri situated in the Casrellany of Rhodes",

Successive expansions of the fonificarions after the end of the l-ith century included the three ancient moles of Naillac, of the Windmills and of St. Nicholas in the fortified zone of the Hospitaller period. This process began with the construction of the imposing tower which dominated the harbour fortifications from the east end of the Naillac mole, and was concluded in 1465, when the first building phase of Fort St. Nicholas was completed".

HISTORICAL EVOUJTION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE MEDIEVALTOWN OF RHCDDES

10. f. NU:Mct<;, "To KOTMupa ms Ionovfnq ctn l:l~iJwwvlKn n6!ul Ins 1'660"",

s: L[ljIII6ulO x.A.E. (2000), pp, 61-62, 1 L Codex Parisinus Latinus 6067, fo!' 3v (1483-1489), Bibliotheque Narionale,

12. A. Luttrell, "Rhodes Town: 1306-1350", P66o,> 2.400 xpovIa. H nO),ll rlJ(; P660u and mv f6puoJi Tn') plXPI rnv 1((JT(IAnl!'ll =0 IOU,> Toopsouc; (1523), Flpcuctuca, vo]. II, Athens 2000, pp. 309-314 .. and

K. Harrersley-Smith, "The documentary evidence for the suburbs of the dry of Rhodes under [he Hospirallers in the 14th and 15(h centuries", Ibid.. pp. 493-496.

13. Z. TOlpnav)u1S, AviK.$om Eiyypmpa (see note 7), pp. 361, 602 and 694, documents no. 100, 243 and 302.

14. A. Gabriel, La cite (see note 5), p. 80. and K. Movonooir-Nrexxc, "To <ppOUplO TOU Ayiou Nl.KO.AOOU ,11<; IlwQJwvlKns oxupw(ms TnS P6oou", Ta rrap6Jrna vXupa Kill n opuva n,"1V };Jj.IQ,WWV; (to be published).

Drawing of the town of Rhodes by Breydenbach (1483).

Medievs ,.

. ill tawn oFRh

The evoluti . odes.

. [jtlon 'Of ch

ad. .. e town

. n ns fon'ifj,,~ .

cutons.

26

In the second half of the 15th century a pronounced increase in the population of the Hospiraller town is noted. This was a consequence of migration from the urban centres of the Byzantine empire after the fall of Constantinople and the cities of Asia Minor. The result was increased density of the urban grid and radical change at the points where initially open spaces could be turned into building lots", This surge of building activity to house the newcomers was more marked in the Upper and Lower Jewish quarters, at the margins of the High Street at the east end of the Hospitaller town".

After the first great Ottoman siege failed in 1480 and until the second siege and the fall of Rhodes in 1522, the town was completely transformed, its fortifications in particular. The purpose was to streng the n an d adap t them to the new art of artillery warfare i n the late ] 5th and early 16th centuries.

Written sources and study of the building phases of the monuments and fortifications show that the series of violent earthquakes of March to December 1481 exacerbated the damage caused by the siege", Indicative of the magnitude of the destruction is the testimony of G. Caoursin: "The first earthquake occurred on 17 March 1481 at three in the afternoon. On 3 May a strong quake struck at 9 a.m. and was followed bya large tidal wave, whose only damage, apart from flooding various buildings, was the sinking of a commercial ship anchored in the harbour. Frequent tremors throughout the year led to the gradual weakening of structures in the town. The great earthquake occurred on 17 December. Awakened by a tremor at midnight some people ran to churches to pray, others sought refuge in open spaces and yet others in the vaults under their homes. A stronger tremor occurred at 4 a.m. and an even stronger followed at 6 am. The latter destroyed the Palace of the Grand Master" and the three large towers of the harbour", It levelled the churches and caused so much damage to the homes leftstanding that they had to be rebuilt. Many people were killed. A final tremor in the afternoon was accompanied by a southwest wind and rain. People removed their belongings to wooden shacks". The result of this disaster was the almost complete rebuilding of housing and public buildings in the Collachium and the High Street which crossed the town from the Gate of St. George to the Gate of St. Catherine.

Intense building activity on lay and religious buildings and fortifications had led, from Antiquity; to the creation of an important class of masons. These also played an important role in medieval times: they built the new Byzantine Fortress delimiting the town in the 7th century, they extended and reinforced the Fortress and its moat in the 11 th century and carried out the great constructions of the Knights". All the important buildings of the medieval town were made by Rhodian builders, the mestoies, who specialized in the

HISTORICAL EVQLUTION A~D MANAGEMENT OF THI: MEDIEVAL TOWN _OF RHOD~S

15. K. MavOaOOl)-Nti),).u, "P6boS· I:'t(lIXda OOM:ObOplKiu; ov61uons plUS PWUlWVKllS oxupwptvns n6An<;" L1XAE KA' (2000), p.37.

16. Xp. TIOJloxpJmO-bOUAOU, lotopla TflS P65ou. 2nd ed. Revised, Athens 1994, P: 401, where, according to the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela (1160-1173), There was asyrtagogue in Rhodes. as well as in other Byz:uuioe cities. There is evidence of Jews in the 2nd c. B.C. who, ill this period, speak Rornaic (Greekl_ After 15.22 the Jews thar arrived in Rhodes are Sephardirn (Spanish speaking).

17. A. Luttrell, "Earthquakes in the Dcdecanese: 1303-1513", Natural disasters in tlic Orwm:ln Empire, Rerhymno 1997, pp. 145-151, and C. Ton, Rhodes in modern rimes (see note 4), pp. 35·36.

18. C. Manousou-Della, G_ Dellas,

"The Grand Master's Palace ill: the Medieval City of Rhodes". Synopses of scientific lectures delivered during the academic year 1988-1989> within the context of all in-depth course on the Hiscory of Architecture at the National Mersovean Polytechnic School, Athens 11)89, pp. 51-53. The analysis of the building phases of cite Palace of the Grand_ Master as ir stands today- leads to rhe conclusion [hat it Was thoroughly rescored

at the end of the 15th c. .

19. K. MuvQuoou-N,DJ .. a. P65oS. 2:lorxdu nOAw5o~LlIillS ov61uon<; (see note 15),

p. 32. The documented by consrrucrionanalysis damages to the three medieval towers of the 14th c., which supported the old Byzantine Marine Gate and the tim hospital are referred to here. Of these, the large tower facing the harbour, known from a source of 1440 as the 'rower of the old hospital' was not rebuilt afrer it collapsed. Irs northwest foundation .corner was revealed during excavations in me area surrounding the Marine Gate in the. pring of2001_

20. x. TIO[]OXP1.Ol:ObOaAOv, Ioxopia Tn') P6&ou (see note 16), pp_ 337-338, and H. K6)J.JoS, "Mamope<;.rrpwl:Opdmopf.s KUl pnxavlKoi 1;WV PWruWVll<WV oxup({JO£(;W me; P68ou", LIXAE K' (1998-1999), pp. 149-164.

27

dressing of stone and who continued to work through Ottoman and Italian rule under the genetic designation mestorsrus: of Rhodes". As may be seen in the bilingual inscription to the left of the Gate of St. John, after it was altered in the 15th century, there were craftsmen and master craftsmen.

.GJFRH0Dt ~EStQR_AT10t'l· WORKS

Grand Master Pierre d'Aubllsson supervising the W01* ClC'WS building the FortificaTions (MS Codex oEG. Cuoursia).

European frante bsstioneto.

It should be stressed that alterations and rebuilding on the fo rrifica tions and other im ponan t public buildings preserved

Finally, in the- forty years which elapsed between the two major Ottoman invesrmenrs of the town, the fortifications of Rhodes became-an immense and constantly busy workshop where new defense designs were tried out. Efforts we-re made to transfer prototypes and models from the major centres of We-stern Europe-and to adapt them to the battle stations of the various Tongues in charge of the defence on the fo-rtificatiollS.

As a result of this exchange, it is certain that innovative defence elements were produced on Rhodes and were then adopted in Western Europe. The remarkably advanced Bastion of St. George, which underwent successive modifications until the final assault in 1522, is the .outstanding example of this process", Its final form, with the addition of a massive terre-plein based on the plans of the Italian engineer Basilio dalla Scuo1a23, bears the arms of the last grand master of Rhodes, Philippe Villiers de l'Isle Adam (1521- 1522). It is considered by many scholars to be the archetype of the bsstione which was widely used in the centuries following, evolving into the great Western

survlvmg parts of earlier phases, incorporated in to the final disposition. This important fact should be emphasized because it offers the opportunity for further exploration and enchancement of the evolving Hospitaller architecture, military, secular and religious, based on systematic and detailed archaeological and architectural research and on the study ofthe broader development of buildings in the town of Rhodes".

AISl'ORICAL EVOLlJTI0N AND MAtNAGEMENT O~ THE MEDIEVAL TOWN OF RHDDES

I I

- =······~···""·S·~-··=-_;.~·!il~~, ... ~. ~ .. , ~ P;)g =f,Ir- - L

ipJ I ~i ~

r

A

21. H. K6M..ta, Mdoropcq, Idem,

22. A. Gabriel, La cire (see note 5); pp.34-42.

ALi 49 (1994), XpOVlI<Q, p. 805. A.M. Kn')OayAn, K Movouoou-Nresko, "0 I1POllGXwvcr:S '1:0U, Ayf,)u n.U1pyiou m:1S 0XUPrllOWj UiS P6oou", IEr EUjia6(JIQ XAE. (1999), pp. 68-69.

23. G. Gerola, L'opere di Basilio doll« Scuol« perieforrificaziOlJi di Rodi, Venezia 1915,

24. Yl1.no. - 4n E,BA., IXi5w npootookx; -&lQji6pp"-l'lnf;- avci&l~m, TOU jivnjiClQKOrJ UUVOAOU T<iJV jiCOaJWVIK({,y 0xupw(J[;wv me; m5),nc; w') P65ou, A. APX.aJO),OY'K6C; xwpOC; ueoauovuaic uuppo» Kill xepualo TJHIJlo Oxupw=v, p.45 (unpublished study),

Sc George Bastion.

Tentative reconstruction of the successive building phases of the strongpoiat.

~ II

·,IL------

E.

29

MEDIEVAll'IDWN

'OF RliOb)ES Rf:i-STQR~TI®N~ W0Rf¥$'

Ottoman Rule

(1523 - 1912)

• • • •• • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

The conquest of the capital of the Knights by the Ottoman Turks in 1522 and its, i ncorporation into the' gteat Ottoman Empire, which in the following centuries generally experienced conditions of peace (Pax Ouoman,a), was a watershed" which decisively determined the further evolution of the town and the monumental buildings it can rained 25 .•

In particular, regarding the whole of the medieval defences, it is. obvious that, apart from the extensive restoration of the ruins deemed necessary after the long siege and final conquest of the town, they literally "froze" in their form of152226, Thus, Rhodes may be considered as the only f6:rtdied town in Europe that retains the

early transitional form, overlaid with the changes impelled by adjustments to the newer battle techniques imposed by the age bf gunpowdel'27.

In the-centuries that followed the port of Rhodes lost its role as one of the most important harbours on the crossroads from west to east and north to south and was replaced to a great degree by the quickly developing at this time city of Smyrna, on the coast of Asia Minot 28.

Rhodes developed slowly as a middle-sized provincial town of the Ottoman Empire, which at some times was. the -capiral ofa viiayet, but usually a ssncsk: underthe jurisdiction of the Kapudan Pasha,' i.e. the Grand Admiral and Minister of the Navy under the Sultans.

The town had a State shipyard, which was active until the beginning of the 20'ch century on the site of the ancient dry docks in the cove of Mandraki harbour. The forests, however, were exploited by the admiral for his personal profit or faT the Sultan's fleet, There were also courts presided over by a kadi and courts adjudicating commercial disputes. The privileges granted by Mehrned the Conqueror to Gennadiusconcerning the Greek nation were in effect here as well.

IlfuswJ.tio.n -of the GreJt Harbour of the tOwn of Rhodeser tile end of the 18th c. by Choiseul Gouliie« (1782).

'25. X. ncmaxplmooo\J')mu, Ioropic Tm;P6oou (see note 16), p.399 ff.

26. E. Rossi, Assedio e conquists di Rodi nei 1.522 sccondo le relazioni edite e inedir:e d6 Turchi, Roma 1927, Idem .. ; "L'inscrizione otrornana in persiano sul bastione della terre di.S. Maria. a Rcdi", ASAl'elJe VIII-IX (I925-1926), pp. 341-344.

27. A. nO:~16H(iuAO<;, .H !J.>."'CQ0UTLK.ll llo£1q:l!l teov f1fOQl(,)\,lKWV 0XUPWOfulV TnS P6Bou II po S <;1\'1:1 ].loco:;) JJ! on '[Wv lll),p 0 B6i-.wv 6nAWV», Avaari.ilw.an, ovvmpnon, npootaoia pvnjJd\i)y KQIOllV6A,,>v, vel, 1, Athens 1984, pp. 177-200.

28. Maria Efihymiou-Hadzilacou, Rhodes er sa rigion tlargie llll 18tme siecl« Les. ectivites ponuaircs, Athens 1938.

The era of Ottoman rule may be considered a prolonged period 'Of preservation for the medieval buildings and Fortifications after the departure of the Knights and the many Greek burghers who followed them to their new headquarters in Malta. Public buildings were used, with minor modifications, to serve the needs of the Ottoman Administration". Thus, the Grand Master's Palace was converted into a prison for political prisoners of high standing, and the hospital retained its use until the end of the 19th century, when it was converted into barracks".

The numerous churches of the walled town were transformed into mosques, since Christians were forbidden to live within the walls and the gates were closed at sunset after the departure of the Christian merchants and artisans. Soon after the conquest, however, new majestic mosques and public buildings were erected". Most important of these was the imposing complex of the Suleiman Mosque at the highest point of the bazaar, which included an lmeret (almshouse affiliated with a religious foundation) used until recently as a community almshouse, and a mcdicsse

(theological school). Iralso included a group of schools for boys and girls, the well-known Ahmed Hafiz Muslim Library and the Clock Tower, which was established on top of the battered Byzantine tower on [he south-west tamer of the Collachium known under the

HISTORICAL EVOLUTION AND MANAGEMENTOF THE MEDIEVAL TOWN OF RHGDES

29. G. GeroJa, "I rnonumenri rnedioevali delle rredici Sporadi", ASAtene 1(1914),

pp. 169-.318.

30. R Matton, Rhodes, Athens 1966, pp. 71- 72, where, according to Rorriers, at the begining of the 19th c. (he hospital was nursing war casualties: "In place or rhe Knights we find Egyptian cavalry wounded in till: expedition aga.insr th.e Peloporuiesc". The ground floor saved as depots for the military and (he navy. Rottiers saw a large number of cannon, Turkish Or Hospiraller bearing emblems, heaped one upon the other in the stores of the far;ade. Surrounding the courtyard were very large barrel-vaulted storage areas for masts and

Above:

View of the shipyards in the small harbour ofMandraki.

Left:: Drawing of

rill.': small harbour o[MandraJd by Berg (1862).

3'1

Urban organization of tile broader- area of the town of Rhodes in lste Ottoman rimes.

Hospitallers as the Tower of the Guard.

During this time the unwalled marassis, nuclear parishes of (he Greeks in the Ottoman period, radiated outside the walled town. They were organized upon the ruins of the medieval suburbs or villages, along roads leaving the town, but

beginning at a good distance from the

defences. The Christian churches destroyed by the final siege of Rhodes had been rebuilt and the Greeks were allocated strips of land near these old churches for residential use.

Thus the msrsssiz were organized along a main road having as its focal point the church, and some side streets, sokskie (alleys), on the sides. The first parishes were those of Sr. John, 5S Cosrnas and Damian (Anargyroi'), St. Anastasia, the Metropolis, St. George 'An 0' , St. Nicholas, St. George 'Kato' or 'Burnt')2. Neochori, which formed the nucleus of the modern city of Rhodes, was settled last. Befor.e its settlement, mostly by workers of the shipyard, it was studded with scattered homesteads within gardens, which also existed throughout the region outside the Fortress.

These estates, manors with homes and churches, which had existed throughout the Hospitaller period, had been routinely torn down before each siege so as not to be used as bases for the besiegers. After the fall .of Rhodes to the Ottomans, (he homesteads were given as fiefs to the Turks and we rhus find Turkish plots and gardens between the parishes, next to Greek homes.

Already at the time of the conquest by Suleiman the Magnificent, who buried 'those slain in battle in the featureless tetra dceeita surrounding the fortress, the glar;is of the defences was turned into a vast Muslim and Jewish cemetery". Finally, the homes of the Greeks and Latins of the Hospitaller period inside the walls were used to house the newly arrived Muslim settlers with few changes, i.e, the addition of mostly light features and the creation of many gardens in the inner courtyards. Areas of the town devastated during the second great siege were systematically filled with garden loam, especially those behind the circuit of the fortifications.

The area of the moat", the bastions and terre-plains remained undeveloped, as a military zone for the garrison, with limited cultivation or pasture, and the addition of a few sentry poses at the highest points of

HI$T0RICAL EVOLUTION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE MEDIEVAL TOWN OF RHODES

Muslim cemerery opposite tbe post oE the Tongue oi Provence.

other battleship equipment, There, in 1843, Ross saw the chain which closed the Knighrs' Harbour and whose traces were lost alier it Was carried to Constantinople.

31. H. Balducci, Architctture rurca in Rodi, Milano XX_

32. X. TIonaxpLOToSOU),Ou, latopia me; P600u (see note 16), pp. 401"403.

33. R. Marron, Rhodes (see note 30), p. 74

34. K. MQvouoou-NTOJm, ~nf10S £-VQ OXE01U o1.oUnpwpi"Vn., enosnrdornonq 1:OU j.IvnllC,Q.KOU OUV6AOu l:U.JV llEOQ1u)Vl1«OV oxupwo~wv TnS n61.w; Tns P6Sou" npQI..'T.IKO TOll 40ll i1u;8voue; Luvdipiou rm m LUVTllpnOll TWV Mvnuekov me; Meoovslou, pp, 576-595

33

M'ttmI:VAL 'FOWN

OF RHUOES' RES,1!Of,l)\T:IOfj' W0JR'KS

the towers", Shops and warehouses were built outside the Marine Gate and within a largesection of the waterfront of the commercial harbour up to the Gate of St. Paul. The construction of as mall stone tower,one of the oldest lighthouses in the Mediterranean, by the end of the 17th century, had serious cerisequeoces. Built 00 top of the' central tower ;of Fort St. Nicholas, its additional weight on the spiral staircase, weakest point of the stone building,graduaHy led to the complete dislocation and structural weakening of the stairwell 36.

The second half of the 19th century witnessed the greatest destruction of the monuments of the medieval town. The mostsignificant event was the devastation caused by the explosion of gunpowder stored in the basement of the bell tower of St. John of the Collachium on 6 November 185637. 1n combination with the destructive earth-

quake which preceded it, the explosion literally flattened the 'centre of the Hospitaller town in a radius of 100 metres and obliterated the majestic conventual church of the Order with all the invaluable treasures and relics it contained ".

A series of earthquakes in the late 19th century, and particularly that of 1863, caused the collapse of the mighty central tower of the harbour fortifications, the NaiIlac Tower, which for centuries had been an imposing presence on the east end of the Naillac rnole ".

Finally, at the beginning of the 20th century, in 1. 908, the old towers of the Arsenal Gate were demolished by the Ottoman Administration to allow the easier passage of traffic to the port. These, according to the earliest surviving coat of arms from the. site, were erected in the 14th century under Grand Master Heredia.".

Neill»: Tower at We end of the 18th c .. by Cboiseul GQuffier.

35. R. Manon; Rhodes (see note 30). p. 69.

36. K Mava6.oau-N1O,ACI,Ta o:ppa6pw tou Ayiau N IKoMau (see note 14), (to be published).

37. Mapfa Gebllioff-Baf.avG:icl1. «0 QE:HJPOS l<w n 6tpnSIl "UlS ITupiu&as ern PaSQ 10 has 1856 Km:a lOY Hedcnborg", L1p6J1o<;, issues 1,3-14 (1982), pp. 52-59.

38. C. Retries, Description des JIll:>numents de Rhodes, Bruxelles 1830.

3,9. A. Cabriel, La eire (note 5), pp, 72-74, arid E. Flaridin, L 'oiienc, Pal-is 185.3, table 6,

40. Baron de Belabre, Rhodes oFri1e lVligh rs, Oxford 1908, pp., 41-43, ilL. 20,78.

HISTOFUQf.L EVOLUtiON AND M~NA6EMENT OF THE MEDIEII.4.L TOWN OF RHOElES

Italian Rule and its Aftermath

(1912 - 1947)

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The period of ~ talian rule sign~lIed for ~e town of ~odes, ~ndthe Dodecanese 111 general, then most vital era, dunng which the infrastructure for the development of the countryside was almost completed and the foundations for the modern layout of the urban enviroment were laid'". In particular, the last twenty years (1923-1943) of the Italian occupation were both the most critical for the national, religious, linguistic and cultural identity of the Dodecanesians, and the most creative architecturally. A stated policy of ideological and cultural assimilation .of the local population by the Italians was attempted through various means and ambitious projects becomes strikingly evident at this time: transformation of the urban envi-

ronment through grandiose public works, the establishment of important industrial units, the enhancement of architectural sites and landscapes of particular scenic beauty, and decisiveintervention ill urban planning. Confirmation and continuity of dominance were to be ensured through dynamic intervention on the environment

,

with buildings and monuments that would withstand the passage of time.

The Italians relocated the administrative centre of the town outside the walls, along the length of the small Mandraki harbour, systematically extending the construction of new imposing buildings" which continued a practice begL111 in late Ottoman times.

The establishment of the new administrative centre and the "New Market" in place of the old Ottoman administration building, which was also the residence of the Ottoman governor, the Konsk, Were enterprises monumen tal in scope. They included the landscaping of a portion of land on the north side of the walled town -previously a garden within the ghu;iscreating a buffer zone and displaying the fortifications to best advantage.

41. La presenza Iteliana nel Dodecuieso era 11 1912 e if 1948, Scuola Archeologica ill Arene 1997, S. Martinoli - E. Perotti, Architcttute coloniale itelun« nel Dodecencso (1912-1943), Torino 1999, and Z. T (JlPllClVM, H Irakospatk: om i1w8eKQVnOO (19]2-1943), Rhodes 1998.

Ippotoa St. belore the Itsliu: intervcatioa.

Top" The Grend Mester's Palace beiare the Italian testotetion,

Above: The H church of

The area affected by the Italian intervention, after The necessary -and occasionally unreirnbursed- expropriation of private property! stretches south to north from the Street of the Knights and the Great Hospital Square to the northern fortification line and from the eastern fortification line and the Arnaldo and Arsenal Gates. to the Palace of the Grand Master.

The intervention, mostly urban in character, included: the opening of new gates through the walls (or the modification of those already existing); remodelling of open .spaces and the monumental Street ofthe Knights; large-scale reconstruction of the Grand Master's Palace; demolition of entire blocks of historic buildings in order to create an extensive garden east of the Palace associated with the excavation and exploration of the ancient ship-sheds arid the monumental Roman Tetrapylon. This was a dynamic intervention with very important consequences for the modern handling of the monumental character of the town. The positive consequences for the management of the monumentalarea were:

:1.) Archaeological research and the exposure of important ancient monuments" such as the Temple of Aphrodite, the Hellenistic ship-sheds and the Roman Tetrapylon, whose enchancernent necessitated the actual relocation of the Hospiraller church of St. Demetrius of Piossasco",

b) The repair and restoration of important medieval monuments and groups of buildings such as the Great Hospital of the Knights, the Grand Masters' Palace and the Arsenal compound. This contained the Old Hospital of the 14th century, the Armoury and the statehouses associated with the installations of the shipyard.

c) The reorganization of extensive areas by the additiorrof new buildings in the eclectic style (created by Italian. architects and combining elements from various Mediterranean cultures) and the

inroducrion of other urban planning elements (fountains etc.)

d) The assignment of new uses for restored medieval monuments such as the Archaeological Institute of the Dodecanese, the Archaeological Museum and the Ethnographic Collection,

However, fifty years after the creation of the Italian Piazza dell' Armeria (modern Symi Square) some important negative consequences may be pointed out, such as the passage of a major thoroughfare through the new Liberty Gate and the Arsenal Gate and the free circulation of vehicles through the St. Paul and Arnaldo Gates. The area of the ancient ship-sheds and the Hospitaller Arsenal, historically and archaeologically among the most important in the town, was redesigned.

The new modifications overemphasized modern elements and buildings while completely ignoring the existence of very important older remains and street layouts. Moreover, significant architectural evidence was lost forever due to thoughtless demolition and the complete lack of documentation during the large-scale removal of earth entailed by the realization of these grand projects.

HISTORICAL EVOLUTION AND MANAGEMENT @F THE MEDIEVAL 10WN OF RH€)DES

Piazza delJ'Armerja me, the Itsliui remodelling.

42. M. Came, "L'arco quadrifronre", ASAtene LXIV-LXV (1991), p. 175-266, Idem, "La capella di S. Demetrio dei Piossasco a Rodi", Pooo') 2.400 xpovJa. H rro"l,n TIl') P660u an6 til v (ojJUO;] m<; ptxpl rnv kmdAllIpn ana rou') TOlrpKOUr; (1523), vol, It (2.000), pp. 387-392.

The openi1lg of the Liberty Gate during construction (below) and after completion (right),

To conclude; the perceivable image of the modern-day main north entrance to the medieval town is' out of scale in relation to. the urban grid of the monumental complex. Large parking lots at various levels of the slope together with heavy traffic in both directions -especially of heavy vehicles and buses- distinctly downgrade the area and its monuments and confuse the visitor ·approaching on foot,

A pioneering act of historic importance in the management of the monumental complex was the establishment, by 1920, of the "monumental zone of the medieval town", which included a wooded protective zone around the walls and rnoat". This is an area of approximately 15 hecrars and the Italian government hastened to proclaim It a building-free zone at a time when, there was no such

HISTGRIGAL EVOLUTI@N AND MANAG):;MENT OF THE MED1EVAb T0WN Qf RHODES

Left:

Italian aerial photOgDlpb ofthe meclleval town of Rhodes, .1927.

Below:

Tbe monumentsl zone of th« medieva.l town oFRJwdes.

CITTA ~, RODI

43. H. K6fJ.Ju, "To 1Q1:0plK6 ICilV fnQl@6.0swv rrro OxupwpmtKo alivoAo 111'0:; rrOAnI; ms P6oou';, IlpdKrJ'KG WI.! 401.1 LlI£evQu<; Euvebptoc yJa In LUVTflpnan TWV Mvnuskov m<; Mwoy£iol,J, pp. 556-567, and Leonardo Giacci, Rodi iislien« (1912-1923), Venezia 1991.

29 -,

ME'018i1:ALtoWN

.' -

. €JJ~' ~0[)'E$' .

.RES~OffiATI0N·W0gK:$

precedent of state concern for the environmental protection of land adjacent to monuments, even in Italy itself This fortunately fo.restalled the stated intention of private citizens to turn this most beautiful open space. in the centre of modem Rhodes into lots and convert it into a

residential area.

In fact, the Italians removed the Muslim and Jewish cemeteries from t-heglat;is (cleared securityzone ofthe Knights) which. girdled the fortifications and transformed the area into an extensive wood of tall cypresses and shrubbery.

The protective parkland was, becides, a truly inspired act on behalf of the cultural heritage, which instigated a permanent security zone around the medieval town and created a forested walking space in the centre of the modern town, from where the fortifications may be viewed at leisure from select points of vantage.

Although most of the large scale interventions took place later, even during the first years of ItalianoccupatlOn all recent constructions on the fortifications, such as a large two-storey building on the Bastion of St. Paul and the Ottoman Hospital (a neo-classical two-storey building 00 the Palace Bastion), began to be demolished 4~. Other important urban planning interventions were the demolition of a11 the Customs and other public buildings of the 19th and early 20th centuries on the waterfront outside the Marine Gate. This area was then developed into the 'Square of the Column', depriving the old harbour of its quaintly picturesque character with its kiosks andcates.

In 19:2.0, after a destructive fire in the central commercial zone of the bazaar, Italian intervention focused on the Hospiraller Castellania and irs setting by creating an Italian-style Square, the Piazza del Fuoco.

On the fortifications the Italians unblocked the inner aperture of the Gate of St. George. This opening, originally secured bya portcullis, had been blocked by tbe Knights in 1501 for reasons .of defence, thus completing the conversion of the strongly fortified gate

into a bastion. .

Top: View of tbe Ioniiicuions near tile Grand Master's Palace.

Above: The warerfrom of the medieval harbour during lteliu: rule.

In 1922, on the 400th anniversary of the conquest of the town of Rhodes by the Turks, the Italians opened the GateofSt Athanasius and restored the stone bridge which led to the countryside. This project had a symbolic purpose, since the gate now opened was the one, according to a certain Turkish tradition, through which Suleiman, the conqueror of Rhodes, entered Rhodes and which he

ordered closed, so that no other conqueror would pass after him. Most probably, however, the gate had been blocked in Hospitaller times fql'security reasons.

During the Italian period large-scale in terven tions were carried out to secure and restore collapsed sections of the medieval fortifications and the counterscarp of the moat. This was done in conjuction with the creation of agal'den zone around its circumference and a major road, which connected the· southern and northern suburbs round the walled town.

In the area of the medieval moat significant attempts were. made to drain rainwater, clear the grounds of rubbish and wild vegetation while enhancing the natural bedrock, the ancient galleries and well shafts and the medieval quarry scars", A substantial section of the northwest part of the moat was men converted into a plant nursery and flower garden. Systematic efforts were also made to investigate and excavate the earth-filled ,galleries of the bastions and especially the Casemates and gallery of the Bastion of St George and the semi-circular bastion of [he Italian Tongue (alias of Carretto), The same kind of operation was conducted on a large part of the ancient infrastructure network, i.e, the water supply and drain galleries of the Hippodameian city, which might be. entered at the level of the Hospitaller moat.

The decision of the Italian Administration to retain the 'Great Harbour' of the ancient Rhodians as the main harbour of the island as it had been in Ancient and Medieval times, but also during the Ottoman occupation, had very advers-e consequences for the sea walls and especially the Hellenistic and Medieval Mole of the Win dm ills". The latter was particularly adversely affected as were the over-all disposition of the south-eastern part of the medieval town and. the

HISfQRIG,A.:L EVOLUTION l\ND MM:J'AGBMENT QP:

THE MEDJEVAL TOWN OF RHdb£S

Rsstotution of a 'section of the counteisczrp of the moat during the Italian period.

44.A. Maiuri - G. ]acopith, "Rap portO genetale del servizio archeologico a Rodi

e nelle isole dipendenri dall' anna 1912 all' anne 1927", ChIJ::J Rbodos 1 (1918)

45. A. Maiuri ·G. jacopich •. Rapporro ge.nerale (see note 44) .

46. H. K6M.Ju, To 1(J'[OP1KO 1WV Em:p~Qafu)v (see Dole 43).

41

MEDIEVAL TOWN

OF RHODES RESTORAT10N-'W@FtKS

fortifications of Acandia. The condition of the sea walls is still deteriorating day by day; due to the exhaust fumes and vibration caused by vehicles approaching or leaving the harbour.

In 1934 the regulatory plan for the medieval town of Rhodes, elaborated by the important architect of the time Florestano di Fausto, was approved by special decree. This provided for dynamic intervention and the almost total re-arrangement of the medieval urban fabric with new roads, the demolition of buildings after compulsory expropriation of property, and the creation of open spaces. The main principles of this plan were retained in the approved but, happily unrealised to the presenr day, town plan of the Greek Administration.

47, Z, TOlpilUVAt'lS, A-viKoom iyypapa (see note 7), pp, 55, 89, 102, 116 and 279, 48, H. Balducci, La clucsa di Santa Maria del Bargo in Rodi, Pavia 1933,

The Itslisn Piano Regolatore for rile medieval town of Rhodes (J 934).

In 1935, the Acandia Gate in the wall of the Tongue of Italy, northeast of the: Carretta Bastion, was opened and Fabrizio del Carretto Street, modern Alhadetf Sr, cut across the massive tctrc-plein of Italy, splitting it into three unconnected pans.

This street ran northward

towards the mole of the Windmills and the new harbour of the town, and south-east towards the industrial Cava zone. I t in terrup ted the regular termination of the inner and outer parts of the medieval moat toward the Bay of Acandia. This greatly affected theaesrhetics of the area and turnedan important section of the moat into a thoroughfare flanking the walled town in an irreversible way.

Towards the interior of the medieval town, to the northwest, this same road crossed the medieval garden known from the archives as the Great Garden of the Square" to the imposing ruins of the gothic church of Our Lady of the Burgh. After expropriation of properties into which a substa n rial parr of the destroyed church had been incorporated, the Italians proceeded to dear the ruins of light and worthless additions and to 'Consolidate and enhance them according to the architectural study and graphic reconstruction by the architect H. Balducci ~8. This study apparently cancelled the further extension of the new road northward and the opening of yet another gate on the face of the Great Harbour walls, which was not included In the Itali-an Piano Regolarore (Regulatory Plan). This development was carried out by the Greek Administration in 1955, as may be seen from the inscription incorporated in the modern Gate of the Virgin.

At the end of this period, during World War 11, the medieval town

HISTQRICAL E\L@LUTION AN.D_M~t!JAtqEM6NT OF THE MEDIEVAL T0WN OF BHODES

Top: TJie Upperjewisli Quarrel' beiore bombing

Above: Our Lady of die Burgh before the [tslisn restorstion.

43

MEDIE\{~~10WN OWHIllODES

. RP'STQRATIQtiWQRrtS

once again suffered one of the greatest catastrophes of its history, this time inflicted by the Allies when bombing the Italian and German occupying forces .. The aggregate of ruins from the numerous bombs, which struck the monumental complex, created lacunae in the

medieval urban fabric, which have not yet been satisfactorily dealt with. The insanity of war' led to the inevitable ~bliteration of significant monuments such as the important Orthodox cathedral of the Archangel Michael; 'also known as Demirli Djarni, the Old Synagogue, the Alliance building in the Upper Jewish Quarter et 31.

During World War 11 the fortifications briefly recovered a partoE their original function. Parts of them, namely the bastions 'Of St. George and Italy, and some subsidiary ancient galleries served as bomb shelters for civilians. At Port St. Nicholas the Italian army stationed anti-aircraft and machine guns. For this purpose, they erected large reinforced concrete constructions 'and built massive limestone walls both there and on the mole ofthe Win.dmills for the defence of the harbour.

The temporary British Administration, which succeeded the Italian and German forces after their departure from the Dodecanese, endeavoured to assess the serious war damages in the short time they were in control (1945-1947). Thethen current situation was depicted in the map drawn up in this period which marks those buildings completely destroyed, those judged repairable, those repaired.ior under repair1~. An important point of reference for the town of Rhodes was the precise map Town Plan of Rhodes, which located all buildings just before the bombing of 1943 and was based on previous Italian maps and aerial photographs' of the period. This was a purely transitional period, which did not manifest the political will or planning to salvage or manage the monuments and archaeological sites.

. During the British Administration, the authorities nor only facilitated but proceeded to transporten masse people from the small islands of the Dodecanese to Rhodes". These islanders were settled in the abandoned buildings of the old town, an environment totally

Aerial photognl.phof the medieval town oiRhodes in 1956 pinpoituing the major bomb sires cteeta] byA11ied sciion.

4:4

49. T.W. French.r''Losses and survivals in the Dodecanese", BSAXVIII (1948), p. 194.

50. [p. K,,)VOl;QviwonOlJAi)<;,"To {PYOUtS AflXUlOAOYl1U1S Ynnpeolcc, I'IWbf:KQVll.QOU uno, to J 956 ptfpl TO 1973 muo;.;:iGD tou IF 'tn bi6.owon UlS jlWCIlWVIK(U; rr6AnS '(JlS P600u (plan)", Iotopia «as IIpof3),npaw UUVl'IlpnUm; rlli; }1txlll16.WIKtit; n6AJJt; 'rUt; P6ool!, A8rrva 1992, pp. 71-76. .

f;lISfORIGAL EVOLUTION AND MA:~AGEMENT OF TH~ MEDIEV,A;L TOWN OP RODES

Damages co the Inn of France (lefr.)

and [0 the Hospiialler cburcli of die ArChclllgel Mlcheel or Demirli Djami (ubovc),

vnc>I1NHI1A

_MU',;!~'"",p..tr mfi. ..... i .... .iI'; .... ,:u b myrNi?I"jl':

~ ;.:r.l~ ,/,flhI'U'''W,;I 'D~""" .. ;;....: ......... ;;.,. ,~,...voI.....w/..,.-.a

Map of the condition. of buildings and monuments oFrhe medieval town after bombing.

M5DI~V:AL TO'W ,OF RHGElJi$:

PltfsrORI4.TJbN' WGR:~S.

. -

Right: The Marine. Gate during WWll. Below: The Msiine Gste after bombing..

foreign to their former island and rural home and which they, naturally, perceived as alien.

[r is worthwhile noting that, in a decumentdared 11 October, 1947 and signed by the Director of the Museum and Archaeological District, it is stated that the medieval moat, which, under "the Italian Administration was not rented or cultivated,

being- an archaeological site", under the English Administration began to be rented co private citizens by the Municipality of Rhodes. It is also curious that "even after the assumption of power by the Greek Administration, the Municipality of Rhodes continues to collect the rents". From the same document we learn th-at, forthe first time,rhilitary units were allowed to cultivate land in the moat during the war".

5 I. LX[O]O flpOO'1:ci.oim; (see note 24), Suppl, 1 a, p. 177 (unpublished Study).

Greek Administration First Period

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . '. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(1947 - 1985)

The inco~pO~ation of th: .Dodeca.nese int~ p~st-war Greece signalled the beg1l1olOg of a critical period, which In broad cultural terms was dominated by the new State Authority's effort to assimilate the massive infrastructure left by the Italians. Understandably, the many and varied attendant problems were intense".

During the first years of Greek rule the prime concern of the administration was the restoration of widespread damage caused by the disastrous war, as well as the preservation and operation of the tourist infrastructure which Rhodes already possessed, as the island was one of the very few areas in Greece not plagued by the Civil War.

War and the attendant economic hardship and famine helped create a decisive break in the multifaceted social development and the economy of the islands andrhe town of Rhodes itself. During the years immediately following, the degradation of the urban environment in the town of Rhodes became obvious. Moreover, a large wave of economic refugees from neighbouring islands had to be absorbed, and this, in the end, sadly destroyed the Italian vision of a 'Garden City'».

HIST®RIGAL EVOLUTION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE MEDIEVAl TOWN OF RHODES

52. rp. KwvO"(Qv'[Iv6noLJAOC;, 0 npWW5 '.EJJ,JJVQ5 LlJeu8l1YTI15 Kill 'Eipopi»; ApXillomro;v LlwOtKQVnOOll l,ch'VQS Kovrnl) (1947-1961), lecture delivered at the B; Association of Rhodes on 19-5-2000, by- invitation of the Association for the Preservation of the Cultural Heritage of Rhodes (unpublished).

53, S. Martinoli - E __ P~rOUl, Aidutettum colonisl« iraliana (see note 41), pp. 406- 409_

The area 0/ the shipyards ill rile small harbour of Msndxski and the Italian commctcisl centre just «Ite: 1947.

47

The medieval town, in particular, had been inhabited only by Turks, Jews and a few Italians before the war. Afterwards, a complete reversal of social factors took place, and the medieval street plan was decisively affected. Quite apart from the wide expanses created by bombing -which even today still have to be dealt with satisfactorilythe town'smonumental complex Was to a large extent abandoned by its inhabitants.

The Muslim inhabitants; erstwhile the ruling class on the island, continued a decline beguh during the Italian occupation. They had always' been few in numbers and never particularly active in the productive sector for most of the Ottoman era inthe island's history. Highly conservative and understandably' hesitant in coping with circumstances that were changing too rapidly, they showed neither the initiative nor the driveto contribute, even for the conservation of their own homes;'.

Since early Ottoman times, the urban Greek population had lived in the msrassle, fanning the town outside the walls. From the 16th century onwards, ties with the growll1g and financially powerful colonies 0f Rhodiore entrepreneurs abroad were dose; the wealthier of these people usually maintained. summer villas for their brief stays on Rhodes, whereother members of their families might live permanently.

During the war, many Muslims took refuge in the neighbouring coast of Asia Minor and, of course, not all returned. Spe.ciai mention must also be made of the mass annihilation of the Jewish population when the Gerinans occupied Rhodes in 1943. In July of the following year, 1,673 members of the Jewish communi ty Were arrested, rounded up in what is now the Square of the Jewish Martyrs in the centre of the then thriving Jewish quarter inside the. walls, and were obliged to hand over all their possessions. This is known as the 'Holocaust', because all those arrested were subsequently shipped by the Nazis to concentration camps'>. Only 151 persons survived, while a large number of buildings, amongst the most opulent in the town, were left empty and ran to seed .. Until today these buildings are referred to as 'abandoned JeWIsh property'.

After the War, the walled town functioned as a transfer depot,

Illusuetioii of the cctittc of rhejewish Quamr, by E. Flsndin (1853).

54. rp. K'\)\'lTIGvnVOrrouAos. To tpyil TnS ApXCl.(9AOYJ Kil<; YwpwloS LlWOtKuvf)ool) (see note 50), pp. 71·76.

55 Xp. [lonaxpW1:.(ioO&AOU, loiopiomc F6Sou (see note 1 G), p. 582.

where newly arrived immigrants from the rest of the Dodecanese found permanent or provisional shelter. Empty Jewish and Muslim properties were found to be conveniently available for this purpose and were occupied by squatters.

During this same period, the

State began to implernen [ its legally established rights to occupy property whose owners had not shown signs of life for twenty years. Rhodes, together with Kos, are the only parts of Greece with a Land and Property Register (established by the Italians III 1926 and still maintained today). This is a great advan tage for the particularly complex property ownership situation of the medieval town. The expropriation of property during the last period of the Italian administration and the more recent compulsory purchase of land by the State, afforded the medieval town of Rhodes a particularly beneficial situation. The large amount of property owned by the State includes approximately 1/5 of buildings and 113 of the land. Even today, however, private individuals are active in unlawful activities involving I the misappropriation of abandoned properties.

Concerning the more general spirit of the management and enhancement of rhe monuments and archaeological sites the new circumstances [hat arose during this period must be examined.

It is now clear that the medieval walled (Own occupies the geographical centre of the modern town and what was, once, the centre of the great Hellenistic Hippodameian city. The medieval town, however, did not follow the same rate of development as the urban fabric of the Italian town. The modern part, admirably laid out by the Italians in its basic lines; expanded rapidly after World War II and the new neighbourhoods spread over the extensive ancient cemeteries to the south of the ancient city. This development was regulated with the Street Plan Ordinance of 1962 and the Doxiades Regulatory Plan of 1973.

Particularly after the settlement of the Dodecanese immigrants, who chiefly hailed from farming backgrounds on small islands such as

HISTOf;lICAL EVOLUTION AND MANAGEMENl OF THE MEDIEVAL TOWN OF RHODES

View of AJ:andia Ba.y during the Italian period.

49

Symi, Karpathos and Kalymnos, the open spaces of the town were often used for cultivation and stock-rearingcespecially in the medieval .mo.at.Many documents in the Archaeological Service archives indicate that, during this early period, the Municipality of Rhodes received rem from people exploiting land in the moat .. The situation is described as particularly serious, since the interiors of towers and bastions Were converted

into stables or temporary living quarters, and it was impossible for the Archaeological Service to carry Out inspections", In another document, the eastern part of the moat is described asa 'cattle station' .

This open monumental zone continued to deteriorate and was described as a "source of infection for the town and an area inaccessible to the public and a high risk for fire and other acciden ts" . In 1955 there is reteren ce to the construction of conduirsand the drainage of rainwater and sewage from broad areas of the modern town into the central part ofthe moat".

Another important problem, during this period and up to the middle of the 1970s, involved the town's central fruit and vegetable market: Since Italian times this was located atthe northeast end of the moat, below the bulwark of St. Peter, towards the small harbour of Mandraki. The disruption and nuisance caused by such activity right at the entrance to the monumental area, just behind the tourist zone on the Street of the Knights 'and the Palace of the Grand Master, continued to worsen, as is evident in the; large correspondence of the Archaeological Service. Desperate proposals to relocate the market finally led to the subrnission vof a pilot study that foresaw the demolition of all bombed buildings on Theseus St. in the Upper jewish quarter, and the erection of new structures to cater for the market on the same location. Fortunately, this proposal was never realized. In the end, the central fruit and vegetable market was moved outside the walled town, in the vicinity of the Cova industrial belt, and close to the main access roads of the town and the Rhodes-Lindos road. There, it is much more accessible to the majority of the modern town's inhabitants and no hindrance to the improvement of the historic centre.

In 1954 a new attempt was made to prepare a study for the street-plan of the old town, based on the corresponding Italian study (piano regolatore) of 1934, but now taking into account the new

The church of Our Lsdyot tbe Burgh before restoration work:

56. LXt510 rrpoomofor; (see, note 24), $uppl. I a, P: 178 (uri published study).

57. LXtOlO npoorcotaq (seenore 24).SirppL la, p. 181 (unpublished study).

situation, in particular the destruction and gaps left by the bombing of 1943. The plan aimed to facilitate the movement of traffic with the broadening of old and the creation of new roads and squares. Empty spaces created by bombs allowed for the planning of new sguares and open spaces. However, the plan went even further, suggesting the creation of additional roads, such as the extension of the street of the Italian Walls, now Alhadeff St., which by 1955 cut through the ruins of Our Lady of the Burgh and skirted the walls tel exit at the harbour. This work in effect cut off the northeast part of the walled town and the mole of the Windmills from the rest of the historic centre and led to its deterioration. From that time on, the Gothic church became known locally as the 'Divided Church'. This situation lasted until 1996, when the two halves were rejoined and

HISTORICAL EVQLUTION AND MANAGEMENT O~

- '

THE MEDIEVAl TOWN OF RHODES

Street-plan Proposal Io: the medieval town (1954).

I

_I

51

the monument underwema general facelift through the projects of the 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities of the Ministry of Culture 10 19965s•

In 1959, a town-planning proposal was drawn up with building regulations for the medieval town of Rhodes", Based ana topographical plan of 1956, this was finally approved in 1961 (Governmerlt Gazette 148/23- 12-161, issue 4). It was based on the same principles as the. piano regoletore of 1934, with minor modifications. The opening of new toads for au tornobi]e traffic remained the basic principle, but the plan was pervaded by a lack of respect for the monumental complex which had survived the War.. A ririg road was thus ordained for the town, at the rear of the fortifications, together with several new roads and sq uares. At the same time, the widening of many other roads and squares within the walled town was planned.

Nevertheless, the reguJa60ns for the introduction of new buildings were in accord with the specialchatacter of the medieval urban fabric and harmonized with the environment. The wall to wall arrangement of buildings was recognized; the town is divided into residential sectors, with a minimum surface set at 300 square metres per plot, and 100 square metres minimum per plot for the commercial centre. Limits for the permissible coverage of these plots is established at 50 and 70 per cent., respectively. The permitted number of storeys is two with a total height limit of 8 metres, excepting a small patt of the commercial centre, where single storey buildings' have a height limit of 5.50 metres.

Unfortunately, this Town Plan Ordinance is still officially in force at the time of writing. The slightly earlier Protection Act for the waned part of the town by the Ministry of Culture (Government Gazette 24122-1-1960, issue 2) was a fortunate contradiction to this piete of legislation60•

In the forty years between then and now,. fierce opposition by the Archaeological Service, the -agency responsible for the preservation of the medieval town, foiled every attempt to demolish buildings, and open new or widen old roads. The preservation of the integrity of the protected group of monuments Was thus secured.

A landmark in the history of the management of the medieval

Gene.r-iIl view of the csstern corner of [he fortification walls and the ruins of Our Lady of Victory duriIlg the Itslisn period.

53. r N,illuS, L,. BAn%nS' M_ Z~pMvl;m;.

"Arroxcratrrccn tWv·[!{KAllmG:>v Tm; j.iWQJ-. wVIKn<; l1QAnS ,nt; Poobu J>.QE no/,.mO"uidi QSEonoiniJrt", Tlpcuanca 40u LlI£Gvouc:; LlJVoopfou flU FIl tuvuJpnon "!'WI' Mv»pdc,}I' me;: Meoovctoo, Rhodes, 6-11 May 1991, pp. 540-54 L

59. r N,illm;; "H nohofiofJ-ia me; P61lou uno 'tnv haMKpmla (1912-1947) fWS ,0 1974"; QVUKoiV{')(l"ll (ITO o\lv{8p.JO "H noko&oJ:lia crnv EMaSa·1:I1l6 10 1949 p.tXPl TO 1974", Volos 3"4 December 1999.

60. fp. Korvotcvtrvonousoc; 0 llf'WTOS 'EMnvuS AE~'le1,1V1:ns ]{at 'Eq,o-poS (see note 52).

61. fpaq,do AOSlalln, Mia npwm (kwpnoi" TQU npoj3M;wmc; l;n<;" Lliomp,riotw<_;, cfuY'IdVOfW" Kill Dmpoppwou,x; TIl<_; P£OruWVIKrie;: n6&wS' .P86otl (unpublished study),

town is the special study undertaken by the Doxiades architectural firm in 1971 {,I. This study briefly examined the architectural physiognomy of the old town, which at that time numbered 5,488 inhabitants and 1,752 homes. It also studied the condition of buildings following restoration work undertaken during the Italian occupation (1920- 1945) and the damage of World War II; it examined the ownership status (113 of the total expanse ofrhe town belongs to the State), the absence of a sewage network, and the already intense commercial activity (460 retail outlets). In this short examination of the town's problems, the uniqueness ofthe town of Rhodes as a protected historic settlemeritand living entity was underscored, as were the inability of private individuals to meet the cost of proper restoration in order to preserve the character of the settlement and the mounting pressure of tourist development. It was stressed that a new integrated agency was required to confront the many problems of the old town. Funds, special programmes of studies and interventions were needed. These views already reflected, at this early date, the influence of modern concepts on historic settlements; this was four years before the Amsterdam Declaration.

Proposals, mostly for the development of tourism in three areas, were innovative. Various expedients for funding restoration and the management of buildings in the medieval town by a non-profit agency were examined; then the leasing of properties for twenty years with the simultaneous raising of loans on special terms. After this period, and once the programme had been completed, income could be used to continue the work of restoration. Despite the fact that these proposals were quite radical, time has shown them to be the natural evolution of economic activity and the gradual transformation of the character of the 'cultural good' into a consumer item. The absence of specific legislation to this day has led to the continuous expansion of tourist activity at the expense of the

HJSTORICAL EVOLUTION AND MANA6EMENT O~ " THE MEDI~VAL TOWN OF RHOD~S

Aerial photograph of the csst walls of rhe Byzantine forriJ-icaaons of the medieval [Own along the length of Pythagoms St. September 1989.

residential sector, although the enforcement of archaeological legislation has preserved me fabric of its historic shell,

As regards purely archaeological and restoration work, this period was especially rich and decisive for later action by the Archaeological

Service. When, on 7 March 1947, the new Greek Military Adrninisrrarion was established on Rhodes under Vice-Admiral Pericles Ioannides, his provisional advisor for archaeological matters was none other than the distinguished Byzantinist Anastasios Orlandos, In June of the same year Yannis Kondis, the first Director of the Greek Archaeological Service 10 the Dodecanese, took charge in Rhodes, replacing the exceptional Italian archaeologist Luigi Morricone", The choice of the young Kondis was not haphazard. He had broad learning, excellent professional training, and had already proved himself worthy and of unusual administrative ability as Curator of ancient Olympia. Greek archaeologists deeply felt the importance of antiquities for the Greek State and of the Italian archaeological legacy in the Dodecanese, They were also aware of the obligations Greece, devastated by war and occupation, was called upon to undertake. The Greek Archaeological Service Was called upon to meet and ;surpass the standards of the Italians at all costs.

Wi th the appointment of Kondis, the Archaeological Service Branch in the Dcdecanese became independent of that in Athens; an increased budget would permit the reparation of damage caused by British bombardment of the harbours and the old town of Rhodes; of the Marine Gate, the Gate of St. Paul, many other points on the medieval walls: certain buildings on the Street of the Knights, in the Rhodian acropolis and at PhiJeremo.

On 22 August 1947, and for the first time in Greek history, a Declaration of the military governor was published in the Gazette of the Military Administration, establishing archaeological legislation

MEDIEIJ,4;U TOWKI

The bombed area of [he Upper Jewish Quarter in 1956.

62. fp; Kcovorcvuvonousoc, 0 upwwo; 'EMnvQ(; I"Ilw8UV1:ilS Kill 'Etpopos (see note 52) (unpublished). .

63, I.D. Kondis, "Recenr Restorationand Preservation of the Monuments of the Knights in. Rhodes", BSA XLVn (1952), pp.213-216.

speci fically for the Dodecanese: Article 16 forbade "the building or construction of any work whatsoever on the site of bombed buildings of Rhodes without prior permission by myself given only after trial excavations establishing that no antiquities of note exist underground .... .",

This Declaration proved extremely important for archaeological investigation and the management of the extensive bombed 'squares' of the medieval town. Its enlightened instigator undoubtedly had In mind the enormous importance of the: gaps in the urban fabric precisely over the Agora and central market of the great Hellenistic Hippodameian city. The misfortune of war offered a unique chance to excavate and expose the evolution of this important Greek city through the ages. Proof of this was provided by the dynamic progress of archaeological investigation which continues to this day in the most important bombed areas: Athenas Square, Peisidorou Square, Sophokleous St., Nikasylou Square, Kondis Square; Pythagora St. etc.

The display of a new kind of extensive, richly layered archaeological site -in locations where the integrity of the town's fabric was violently interrupted by bombing- has significantly enriched the protected historic settlement. It also presents opportunities to enhance the areas containing those sites in various ways.

On 23 September, 1948, the Protection Act for the Historic Buildings of the Town of Rhodes was published, again in the Gazette of the General Military Administration of the Dodecanese, The legislative framework havi og been established, extensive restoration began on buildings damaged during the War, with special funding from the Military Administration of the Dodecanese. Large work-teams organized under the daily supervision of archaeologist Pavlos Lazarides, and the technical personnel ot the Military Administration, architect D. Katsares and civil engineer G. Moropoulos, worked ceaselessly. Thus, by 1951, the Marine Gate and the Gate of St. Paul were restored, together with most other damages of the fortifications", At the same time, removal of debris from collapsed buildings began and repairs Were carried out on ruined structures. Systematic archaeological

HlsmRICA~ EVOLUTIQN fiND MANA~~MENTOF THE MEBIEVAL.TOWN OF RHODES

The Gate oi Sr. Psul immediately afr:er me bombl'ng o[ww/I (top) alldaft~l' restoration (above).

investigation below the level of the Hospitaller period and of later structures brought to light fresh and abundant evidence of great importance about the Ancient and Byzantine city.

Work of restoration continued unabated in the 1950s and the first

five years of the 19605, by which time the structures damaged byrne bombing had been completely restored, not only along the sea walls but also on the land walls and the monuments in the town. Even simple ancillary structures had been restored.

Within the framework of the

Archaeological Service, an effective mechanism to execute projects had already been established .. This consisted of a good number of specialized technicians, worthy successors of the great work of restoration undertaken by the Italians. This was the period when intervention on a particular monument was based chiefly on the experience of the technician, usually supervised by the responsible archaeologist, who consulted with engineers either of the Military .Adrninistrationor of the Prefecture. The concept of a specialist architect-restorer, a person responsible for the execution of a study of restoration based always on analytical architectural - archaeological documentanon and research into the structural evolution of the monument, was still unknown.

For the restoration work on the bombed parts of fort St. Nicholas, it was necessary to conduct a special operation to recover original blocks of masonry from the sea bed with the help of divers. Likewise important were restoration interventions on: the complex of the Hospital of the Knights, where the Archaeological Museum was 110W operati ng: the small church of SL Derrretri us of P iossasco: the Villaragut

building of the Knights; the Inn of the Tongue of France (an intervention funded by the French state with specialist consultant professor A. Gabriel, who first restored the monument), the 'Admiralty' or 'Residence of the Greek Archbishop' on the Hospitaller 'Castellania' and on the Catalan building on Simiou St.

MEDIEVAL TOWN

OF RHQP'ES BESfr.::>RATION WORKS

Top: The eastern side of the Fore of St. Nicbolss before rescue intervention. Above: Aerial photograph of the Fort of St. Nicholas in 2000.

During the seven year Dictatorship (1967-1974:), conservation of Rhodian Medieval monuments decreased because of insufficient government funding, and particularly due to the immense pressure of rescue excavations undertaken by the Archaeological Service as the modern town grew rapidly, almost doubling in size.

In 1971, important work -rnostly of a rescue nature- was carried out on Fort St. Nicholas. On the eastern side of the late bulwark of d'Aubusson, powerful wave action driven by the prevalent southeasterly gales had undermined the foundations up to the mouth of the spillway of the cistern underneath the central Tower of Zacosta. The Fort's foundations were strengthened with reinforced concrete after a study by the Dodecanese Naval Fund, and [hen quantities of large natural boulders were sunk in the sea as a protective belt. These boulders, in contact with the monument, concealed almost completely the ancient pier on the eastern side of the molevand severely affected the imposing Port aesthetically.

At approximately the same time there were pressures to enlarge the modern concrete pier added by the Italian administration along the western side of the mole of St. Nicholas. Its extension northwards effectively submerged the southwest side of the Fort within a concrete platform, also altering the character of the Italian layout, with its characteristic deer statues at the entrance of the small Mandraki harbour. Finally, on the inner side of the south end of the mole, until recently preserving the aspect of [he old shipyard, new and unsightly buildings came to. occupy a zone where construction had formerly been forbidden in order [0 protect the walled town. The new structures obstructed the view of Fort St. Nicholas from the axis of the modern Liberty Gate.

During the Dictatorship, the pier of the commercial harbour received urgent attention. The competent services deemed that the defences on the fortified mole and the imposing Tower of the Windmills were obstacles to their plans for an integrated open square, many thousands of sq uare metres in size. Citing as an excuse cracks eviden t in the tower, which had been finely restored by the Italians and integrated within the area of the Customs and Port Atnhority installations, they proclaimed it 'in danger of collapse' and prepared the relevant documents for its demolition! Only then did the Ministry of Culture hastily undertake to pay the extensive cost for the rower's restoration. Work of consolidation began in 1974, and was completed 1n 1976.

Despite this, work quickly progressed on the pier extension, initially to the north of the mole. The Italian breakwater disappeared while to the east, in 1979-80, the mole with the wind-mills and tower were submerged within a broad expanse of cement. Enormous ships and large container vessels with cargo and lorries not only impinged aesthetically on the medieval fortifications, but wounded the

HISTOB1GAL EVOLUTION AND MANAGEMENJ OF THE MEDIEVAL TOWI'lJ OF RHODES

Tile TOWel' of the Windmills during restotstion work iI~ tbe 1970's.

Ael-ial phowgrapll oEcile modem beibou: at the medieval Mote of tile Windmills (Sept. 1989).

The mediev;]l Mole of the Windmills witi: rile Hospitsllei cower during the Italian period.

fabric of the mole by colliding with or battering it with their vibrations.

From the beginning of 1977 until 1982, the rate of conservation on the. medieval monuments decreased for various reasons: lack of sufficient funds! a decrease in the n umber of skilled labourers available, and the dearth of

specialist technical personnel'".

The medieval town had been transformed into a habitat totally unlike the densely inhabited town of 1910-1920, where all the residents, Muslims and Jews, owned the houses they lived in. Already by the 1960s, the old town had become a stop-over for homeless newcomers seeking permanent housing outside the walls. Many properties no longer belonged to private individuals; of those that were

58

64. 'A. nO~16nOl)Ao<;, "XUPCIlHJlP1OUK€.<j <f'8o~ pES aw; pWruwvlKtS DJ{\JpWOE.1S m<; IIOAU'U; 1I6f.n<; ·w<; P6oou", Ioiopia Kill rrpopJill/loTO ouvrnpnam, Tl15 peocuiovuau; 116AtJ5 T1l5 P60D!), Athens i 992, pp. 149-166.

privately owned, a good number were exploited in the tourist trade. Marginal elements lived in the 'working-class' part of the town, the purely residential sector, a situation that was intrusive, alienating and transient. Most residents' ambition was to somehow acquire modern private housing out-side the walls. Frequently, however, the transient residents left feeble family members, mostly elderly parents, in the 'decaying' house within the kasrro,_<ls a form of social pressure in order to obtain an apartment from the Welfare Ministry. It is dear that, at least after the War,there was no working class element of a defined character in the medieval rown'",

The major earthquake of 1957 gave rise to new problems in the already disorganized residential nucleus of the walled town. Also, many of the Italian restorations in the area of the Palace of the Grand Master began to suffer markedly from lack of repair after recent damage. Several buildings were closed to the public.

The: condition of the worn monumental shell, containing elements from all the historical periods of the town's development, was further aggravated by disuse now' that social life in the neighborhoods of the old historic centre had declined. Most of the small Muslim mesjids (houses of prayer), many of which were converted Byzantine or Hospitaller churches, had been abandoned, possibly as early as the beginning of the 20th century. The

management of the Foundation of Muslim Properties (Vakfj had used some of these monuments.and the ancillary structures and cells which freqllentlysurrounded them to house homeless Muslims. Others served as offices or warehouses. Only the four large central mosques of Suleiman, Imbrahim Pasha, Redjep Pasha and Sultan Mustafa remained in regular or partial use. The Demirli Mosque, probably the old Greek Orthodox cathedral of Sr. Michael, was completely destroyed by the bombing of 1944. Parts of the important welfare foundation of Suleiman the Magnificent that were preserved included: the Imaret which, until recently, served as a municipal soup kitchen;

HISTQRICAL EvoLuTION ANID MANAGEMENT OF THE MEGlIEVALTOWN t:JF RHODES<

Collapsed section of rile bastion of rile Gr,llld Masters' Pslecc.

65. [p .. KWvi:novrtv6rroUAos, Toepvo Tn':; ApxmoA6yJlu\.C; Ynnpscicc; AWO£Ktlvfinou (see note 50), pp. 71-76.

59

the Khourmelly Medresse (religious school) enclosing the, old Byzantine church of St. George the Cappadocian, and the Muslim Library of Hafiz, Ahmed Agha, in which Muslim relics are kept and is still operational. The monumental CLock Tower and the old Muslim school belong to the private Vakf of Ahmed Ferhi Pasha, based in Constantinople, and include the two battered westernmost towers of the early Byzantine fortifications and the later large neoclassical School, which operated until 1994 as the 13th Primary School of the Town of Rhodes.

Of the two large Ottoman bathhouses (hammam), which serviced the Muslim residents of the tOWI} , the oldest, and most central, was known as the Eski Hammam, Built just after the capture of the town by the Turks, it was seriously damaged in the War, condemned and demolished in the late 1940s66, Excavation on the site revealed the massive foundations of the east Byzantine wall of the 'Chora', which has now been included in the ladscaping of Eudemou Square. The later Yeni Hammam, or Baths of Sultan Musrapha III,

supposedly mentioned for the first time ina firman recording the existing buildings of Sultan Selim II (1566~74), is also known as the Baths of Suleiman. It is considered one of the most important provincial bathhouses of the Ottoman empire and is still in public use today",

In the Jewish quarter, six synagogues appear in the land register of 1926. Today, only the large Kahal Kadosh Shalom synagogue of the Lower Jewish QuaneI' is still in operation. The large synagogue of the Upper Jewish Quarter, along with the group ofJewish educational buildings (Alliance School) occupying the centre of the building block between Theseos, Pindarou and Kisthiniou Streets, was completely destroyed in the air-raids 'Of 1944. The remaining, smaller, secondary synagogues were either destroyed or abandoned after the deportation and extermination of the Rhodian Jews in 1944.

The Byzantine and Hospitaller churches within the boundaries of

Collapsed part of the counteISCalp of [he Tongue of Auvergne.

66. Professo r Anastasios 0 rlandos had included the baths in rhe list of protected historic monurnenrs. Prior to demolition, the b'llilding was stripped of its protecticnbj- the Archaeological Council.ias iSe recordetij n docurrienrs of the Archaeological Service,

67. R Balducci, Archirerrura turca in Rodi (see note 31). p. 45. L111}IO"wCQ Aovrpd Yeni Hammam, 8nf'OS Pooiwv, m.no.;

4(h E.B.A. (ed.), Rhodes 2000.

the Jewish Quarter or the ruins of those destroyed in the siege of 1522 (OUI Lady of the Burgh, Our Lady of Victory, anonymous church on Kisthiniou St.) were converted into residences for Jewish families.

After World War II, when Greeks from the islands returned to inhabit the walled town of

Rhodes, and despite the prevailing conditions related above, an old Byzantine church and an abandoned mosque (Peiai ad Din A1esdjidirS in the Moslem quarter operated once again as parish churches, as the present church of St Phanourios and the church of Sr Pauteleirnon in the Jewish Quarter ".

After 1982, the Management of the VakFceded most churches in the medieval town to the State so that they could be restored by the Archaeological Service:". At the time, irnpo.r tant secular medieval monuments such as the Hospice of St. Catherine (14th ceo tury) , the 'Admiralty' (15 th century), the Operri Mansion. (early 16th century) and the Catalan Mansion on Simmiou St. (15th century) were gradually falling into decay. The process was speeded up through alterations and partitioning carried

out by homeless squatters from the neighbouring islands, who had occupied the buildings immediately after the war.

At the same time, the fortifications were decaying or collapsing because of lack of care and conservation of the imposing structures themselves and of the surrounding area". The moat was made impassable by wild shrubs and bracken, and was downgraded by the constant grazing of wild animals, dirty water from the illegal sewers, and rubbish and building waste systematically thrown therein. In winter, unchecked flooding by rainwater created areas with stagnant water, which undermined the foundations of the ramparts, the tcrre-plcin and the medieval counters carp, transforming the moat into a swamp.

After the establishment of the 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities in 1977, an attempt was made systematically to preserve

HISTORICAL EVOLUTION AN.Q MANAGEMENT OF THE MEDIEVAL TOWN OF RHD.DES

Building waste dumped in the sector of the Tongue oiEngland (November 1980).

68. A. Gabriel, L, cite de Rhodes. Arcbitecnue civile er religicusc, vol, II, Paris 1923,

p. 193.

69. A. Gabriel, La eire (see note 68), p. 197.

70. HA. K6MLGS,"H nohn:tK.t1 1US onoxardoroonq Kill UvO:S!:lsns me; j.1Wo.lWVJKf,,; rrONHjl:ns P6So\] j.1aC 1:0 or.!ITr.po P£YMO IIOA£PO 0947-2000) Kill TO. mmuyj.1o.cc l:ns!' (to be published).

71. 'A. nO~IOIIOUAOS, XUpo.Kmplo"!lK£'; rpeoptS (see note 64).

MEDJE\I~L TQWN

G{f .RijBDES REEiTO.RATlQN WGBKS

62

72. H_ K6M](1:<j; H r!o/mIKn -rnt; anOKomcrtnon<; (see note 70),

73. T~XVIK6 EmJJ~J1T_6p!<J £MOOO<; - Tf-ln}lQ L'\.wDeKGvi'wou, "TIaJucl rroAIl PoDou. TIapt}l~ao!1», loiopla l<:aj np.aj3J.njJo.-ra auvrllpnons .TnS pE:.OruWV1KliS n'oJ,nc; rm;, Po8o!!, Athens 1992,. pp. 47c5Q, KUl Istiruto Universirario di.Architerrura di Venezia - Cornune di Rodi, L~ citrA murata diRodi. Stud: e tpotcsi per jJ reGupI'Jo, Aprile - Lugli6 19B6. (unpublished study).

the over three hundred properties under the management of the Archaeological Receipts Fund (T.A.P.A.). For the first time architects and civil engineers were .hired to prepare projects and supervise work". From 1981 until about 1986, rescue consolidation work was carried out on the walls of the medieval harbour and the advance wall of the landward fortifications in the sectors of Auvergne, Spain, England and Provence.

On the occassionof celebrations organized by the Vice-Ministry of Youth in 1982-1985, monument interiors were remodelled to serve as exhibition and cultural venues. They included the church of Our Lady of the Castle and parts of the bastions of Sr. Geotge,and of Italy (Carretro] .

The period of 1979 to 1985 could be considered 'as transitional, in preparation for the 'organized comprehensive intervention' on the listed settlement and its monuments. Intensive consultations and deliberations took place regarding the choic-e of agency that would be called upon to face the critical situation evident at all levels in the walled town.

Within this context, and in cooperation with the Municipality of Rhodes; the south-eastern part of the medieval moat was awarded cultural use in the form of a prefabricated ope.n air theatre, the Melina Merkouri Theatre of the Medieval Moat. This theatre, accessed through the Acandia Gate, represented the first attempt to give the monumental area a social function. It provided impetus for theexperimental landscaping of the moat and its approaches.

Duri ng this phase, studies initiated by international organizations. concerned with monument protection such as UNESCO, proved unrealistic and impossible to implement, such us the proposals of the Italian architect Renzo Piano for the development of the medieval moat. Also, intense interest was shown on the part of mostly Italian universities, such as that of Venice; to undertake comprehensive research programmes in urban planningfor selected areas of the medieval town".

In spite of growing interest the monuments, and in particular the fortifications, deteriorated rapidly, particularlv after the winter of 1983. At that time, the landward defences at the sector of Provence suffered landslides which caused the collapse of a section of advance wall 30 metres long. This caused locally based agencies to intensify their efforts to create the conditions for effective intervention on the medieval monuments and resulted in the signature of a Planning Contract between jointlycornpetent national and local agencies: the Ministry of Culture, the Archaeological Receipts Fund and the Municipality of Rhodes. The Contract provided for the establishment of an Office for the, Medieval Town of Rhodes in 1985 and secured the necessary financial support from the Archaeological Receipts

Fund, which immediately included this programme in the 1st Operational EEC Programme, in the Integrated Mediterranean Programme for the South Aegean (MOP), with a budget of 1 billion drachmas (2.9 million euros) for the five year period 1985-1990.

This move Was supported by the new (141611984) Law, which provided for Planning Contracts between State agencies and the independent Local Administration for the execution of specific projects. This, at the time, was considered a bold initiative quite at

HISTORICAL EVOLUTION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE MEDIEVAL JOWN OF RHODES

Gensral lendscepiog Iayou: for the most (study: Renzo Piano).

NonTH

1)

J'

63

Condition of moat and collapsed sections of tile fonificuions of tire. Tongue of Prqvence.

74, H. K6MIaC;, H rrOAl11Kn cm; arrOKOTdo1:Q- 011(; (nore 70). ALI 42(1987)" XPOVH{Q,

p. 673. 11. KG.lv<:rtdvH6C;, "H :0N,,,o tnS oAoK).npwptvnC;cruvn'tplicrilS· me; QPxn~K,OV] KnC; Mrtp.oV9p·ldC; "Ql n cMnv)Kt\ ~PJJ£jpiQ", ITpGK1IKCt Emompovncou Euveopio1J NhS (6),:rIS naV1i.lOE .uakt" Rhodes, 27-30 September, 1993, pp. I-to.

variance With the attitudes and mentality then prevalent in the Archaeological Service", According to Law 1416, two multidisciplinary committees were appointed to plan and supervise the works. Thus in 1985, the "Office for the Preservation vand Restoration of the Medieval Town" was established, with the appointmenr of scien tific,administrative and technical staff.

Greek Administration Second Period (1985-2000)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . '. . . . . . . . . . . . . .' . . . . .

Organized Intervention

HlRTQP1ICAL EVOLUTION ANI] MANAGEMENT GE TH~ ME:r~IEMC.L rdWN.

OF RHClDES

T,he Office for th~ Conservation and Restoration of the Medieval Town of Rhodes was founded in October 1985, under, the joint authority of the Municipality of Rhodes and the Ministry of Culture. This was, at the time, a considerable innovation in the management and enhancement of the monuments and Rhodes' cultural heritage in generaF5•

It is not by chance that this pioneering and decisive act coincided with the ratification by Gree_ce of the Granada Convention for the Protection of the European Architectural Heritage".

The destIUctionof World War II frequently targeted historic city centres, making people aware that the preservation and revival of their architectural inheritance constiru tes a focal point of cultural identity as, for example, in the case of the historic city of Bologna in Italy or Warsaw in Poland.

During the 30 years that followed until 1975, celebrated as European Architectural Year, important projects were carried out for the restoration and revival of historic city centres or parts of them that had gradually fallen into decay":

The case of the medieval Quarrier du Marais in Paris is considered as the most characteristic example of early intervention in an urban area, incorporating new uses of the restored monumental shell". Among the most successful large-scale interventions were those involving the Dalmatian Coast's historic centres, especially in

Interior of a Hospiteller building in the residential area of the medieval rown.

75. The planning contract berween. the Ministry of Culture, the TA.P.A. and the Municipality of Rhodes was signed on 28 September 1984 and is valid for 20 years.

76. A9nvii XplOTOrplOOll,«H rrpoorooic trov [Ol:OPIl{WV O_lKIOPWV j.lEOa, crio 1[1 via oup· ?aan ym rnvrrpoomom me; apxm:1ITOV1- KitS KAnPOVOP1aS", Ioxopia IWl npofJMparaauvrnpnam; Tll<; PWalWVlXtlf:; D6NI!; :rnq F6Gol', Athens 1992, pp. 11-30.

77. [COMOS, Deuxicme Colfoque sur I'erude de la conservation, de la: rcstsuretion et de

Split and Dubrovnic, which included excellent documentation and analysis of the monumental shell". In the historic centre of Bruges in Belgium intervention developed along three main lines":

a) Emphasis on the residential function of the centre, jn order to encourage new population groups to settle there and limit depopulation.

b) Preservation of i ts trad itional character with careful restoration, according to strict construction regulations, without impeding modern architectural solutions.

c) Segregation of the circulation of pedestrians and vehicles, awarding priority to pedestrians, perimetric delivery of supplies, rotating sectors in turn; emphasis on mass transportation and the restricted use of private vehicles.

HISTORfeAL EVOllJTION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE MEDIEVAL TGWN OF RHODES

Medieval [Own oE Rhodes, partial view of the High Street,

Opposite:

Aerial phowgraph of the wes[ern part of the medieval [Own beiote 1989.

I~ reanimation des. ensembles bistoriqucs, Tunis 9-16 IV 1968, EMnvlKn Ercupcfu, Flpoocaota Mvtuuicov Kill flapaOOUlaKWV OIKlaj1WV, npcumKO Tpll1jltpn<; ouvdvmcnq, 5-7 February, 1975, A811va 1975, Kill 20 EUj1II6U1o mu leOMOS, 3-11 October 1973, Thessaloniki - Kasroria, Tlpcucuxa, pub. T.E.E., Athens 1979.

78. Le plan de Sauvegarde er de Ja mise ell valeur du Msreis Paris Projet: Amenagemenr urbanisme svenir No. 23-24 (1983), pp. 209-250.

79 _ The restore tton of Dubtovtuk (1979-1989), Insriture for the Restoration of Dubrovnik 1990.

80. r. noM~m;, "H IIOAEOOOjlll«(1 51001:00n trov peAe:n{)Y QVanAaOns, QV(J~ael-u(Jns Wl:OP1KWV =ipililV KUI uUpUbOOIO.KWV TJ:I111141:Ul\' TOUS", lotopia Kill rrpofJ}uipma auvrripnam; me; PWill6)VIJul<;. nOA}J(, me; P6Sou, Athens 1992, pp, 36-46.

81. a) The Athens Charter, l o j)l&fJvi<; Luvi- 8pw ApXm:1n:6vw,' 1W1 TCXVlKWV TWv lamplKWV MV1lpckDV, Athens 193 L b) Venice Charter, 20 ille8vt'i Luvi,sPIOApXlTCKToVWV Kill TCJ(I'lKWV roiv Im:oplK6)V Mvnpdwv (fut8vtlS Xap,ns YlO 'tn IUVU1PflOJl Kill AnoKma01:0011 MvnJIdwv KOI Xeo:1PWV), Venice 1964 (accepted by ICOMOS)"

c) Amsterdam Declaration - Council of Europe, accepted by 25 ellropeah countries in 1975. d) Chatter of Cultural Tourism,

Me;r2IE'IIp;L ';rOWl$J :9f!1~kJlES R8ST(j)R~TIGlN WORKS

From 1931 onwards, the general principles and specifications that still govern the restoration of monuments, architectural entities and archaeological sites or cultural landscapes today had been elaborated in specialized assemblies of the social scientists, architects and other specialists in charge of historic buildings, under the auspices of international organisations such as UNESCOan~d ICOMOS81•

The celebration of the European Architectural Year in 1975 offered the opportunity fora general review of the complicated problems encountered in the preservation of urban areas as well as the social implications this presents 011 an international scale. Interest in the preservation of cultural heritage 'ceased to be a prerogative of an intellectual and scholarly minority and exceeded all precedents". The Amsterdam Convention was the culmination of these events". The Amsterdam Declaration, accepted by almost one thousand partlClpailts from 25 Eu topean countries, expressed fat the first time a new attitude towards Eu rap ean arch i tee t II r al heritage, promo tin g "action co-ordination for its protection". Its preservation is considered a vital issue, as it helps the European populace to grasp the concept of their common history and future. This is why it should always he set as one of the main goals of town an.d rural planning.

Contrary to the Amsterdam Declaration, which constitutes a vague moral commitment of the European countries that accepted it, the Granada Agreement, signed ten years fater, entails specific obligations".

Already in the intervening decade, the new ideas had a considerable effect cion Greece as well, In 1977 the Study oi' the Old City of Athens. The Present and Future of Plaka was completed, During the years that followed, work in the historic nucleus proceeded on several levels, from the infrastructure and underground conduits to the upgrading of the commercial centre, the remodelling of open-spaces and the restoration of historic bu ildings. The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of the Evironrrrent, Planning and Public Works led this eo-ordinated action; the latter controlled the special Office of Plaka with the guidance ofa panel of scientists from the National Technical Universitybf Arheris'", This organized intervention on the historic centre of Athens-was awarded a medal by Europa Nostra" in 1982, in recognition of its exemplary character,

The Alin.a:ret oitbeSuleimenMosque during its Dismantle{nem.

accepted by ICOMOS, November 1976.

e) Florence Charter for Historic Gardens, lCO/vfOS, December 1982.l) Convention for the Protection of the Euwpl'an Arch irecrural Heritage, Co uncil of Europe, Granach, October 1985 .. g) International Charter for the Preservation of Historic Cities, ICOMQS, October 1987 h) International Charrer for rhe Management of Archaeological Heritage, lCOMOS 1990

82. X_Mno0pm;, "12 LUVEV1:rUSEl<;", APXIITKTOVLKciEMpOTtJ 10 (1976), pp. 21-22.

83' "]"0 LvvibplO rou l'I.J:llITEpvrUJ:1», ApK'r&KToVIK(J .Bipma 10 (1976), pp.33-36.

84_ A_ Xp,mo(pioou, H rrporrtuofu trov 101:0PIK,jlV O!K1Dj1WV (see note 76).

'68

Serious restoration projects involving both isolated monuments and groups of monuments have also been carried OUt in the city of Thessaloniki; after the destructive earthquake of 1978 in particular, they took the form of comprehensive interventions with coordinated action involving all relevant authorities".

At the same time, smaller scale interventions and special studies were developed in regional centres like Rethymnon in Crete and the old centre of Kavala. In the old town of Monemvasia the revival of the ruined settlement was due to private initiative and the active involvement of enlightened individuals; this was also awarded a medal from Europa Nostra in 1980RB•

The programme of the Greek National Tourism Organisation has boosted the new attitude towards the preservation and revival of abandoned traditional settlements, especially during the years 1975-1992B~. New uses were incorporated within the context of the tourist development of the entities involved. The programme initially involved six settlements (Vathia in Mani; Vizitsa in Pelion; Mesra on Chios: Oia on Santorini, Papigo in Epirus and Fiscardo on Cephaloriia) and focused on the exemplary restoration of private buildings, based on model studies of the highest level, in order to ensure the quality of the interventions. The positive results of the programme earned international acknowledgment wi th two awards from Europa Nostra, in 1979 and in 1988, and other special awards. It also greatly contributed to making the inhabitants and local authorities aware of its benefits and gained acceptance by both the owners and residents of the buildings restored.

During the same period, innovative cooperation was being established at the divided historic centre of Nicosia, in a successful example of bi-communal collaboration, and a positive response to the messages of the European experience from siruilar programmes90. The first stage of the Nicosia Master Plan was competed in 1984 by mulridisciplinaryscientific groups, under the auspices of the United Nations. This effort continued with the Central Area of Nicosia Plan, in the form of three priority projects of intervention in corresponding problem areas:

1) Rehabilitation of the Pedaeos riverbed, which crosses the city.

2) Pedestrianization Plan of the Commercial Axis of the Historic Centre of Nicosia.

3) Revitalization of two Housing Areas of the Walled City.

Also of particular interest is the improvement of the abandoned Chryssaliniotissa area, in preparation for re-settlement by a renewed, permanent nucleus of inhabitants.

H~tdRtCAL EVOLUTION ANQ MANA(sEMENT ElF tHE MEOJEVAL TOWf\J OF RHODES

85_ L bnJlaK6nou~os. "To np6ypo_jlpn TO\1 runE. ym Ttl DI<:lawon TIlS nA6Kns~, EuvtIlpll011 MU AvnfJi(jJon Flapoboosaxcav Kupkav IW) L'UVo},wv, Tlpcucmcc TOU blc8vour; LUflnoolou BOAOU, September 1981, ed. T.E.E. - Tpripc Movvnotcq, Thessaloniki 1982. pp_ 153-18 L

86. Marijnke De J ang - Marcel Van Jole, The Power of Ex-amp/e. 20 years of Europa Nosaa Awards, Netherlands 1999.

87- dl1jlOS EkooaAovlKns. ApXITeKT.OVIKn KAoPOI'O/IU] KGl Mvnpeia OH] BwoaAoviK1J, npcucrlKQ ·LuvrD1Jfou, 18-22 Mun 1980, Thessaloniki 1983, Kill T.E.E. - TJl-11l-W KEV1:plKnr; MaK~$o"i(lC; (A ICIKwviiiau), «{-T ava@iwon 1WV OlKIO-OKWV OUVOAWY otnv EMaou: H nepfrmoon Tnc; Avw 116).n" eEOG-q),ovfKl1S~' EUV'ClJpnOll 1(01 AVQ{Jf(,)Q11 rIapaooowxrliv K-qpiwv IWJ Euv6Awv, pp_ 147-158.

88. Alexandre Papageorgiou-Verietas, "Le parrimoine archirecrural de Ia Crece", Mom.mre.rwlf,ll XlV (1976), pp. 67-97.

89. Greek National Tourism Organisation, Prcsetvztionetui Development of Traditional Sealemen ts in Greece (J 975- 1992), Arhens 1992.

90. r. nOAU~Oe;. '"Eva HmlJ(lll-LfvO nnpaol':lYl:la DlClK01VOUKQU DHlA6you: H aVCu-IAaan me; ouvoudoq XpuQ'aArvuimo-oar; 0U1 AtUK(»ofc", Llu..rfo EUMOYOU ApPT!'KTOVWv, issue 4, period B', Sepe 1992. pp_ 29-32.

MEDIB/AL TOWN eF~HOOfiS RESTORATION WOBKS

The initiation of a comprehensive intervention in the medieval town of Rhodes introduced.« new institution, constituting a landmark for Local Govel'nment in Greece .. In the absence of a housing protection policy, the signing of the first Planning Contract of its kind In Greece mainly relied on the initiative of enlightened individuals at the local level and the necessary receptiveness of the Adrnin.istrat io n'". The co-responsib le State and local authorities wok upon themselves coordinated action fat the restoration and improvement of the historic centre of Rhodes" the walled medieval town. The Municipality of Rhodes undertook the implementation of decisions taken in common, formulated in the meetings of two collective panels, the 'integrated' and 'scientific' committees; for the first lime in Greece.

Cooperation between the

contributing authorities was also expressed at the level of the specialized technical Office of the Planning Contract established in 1985 as an multidisciplinary group of peo-ple who undertook the implementation of the programme". The signing of the Contract relied on the specific objective of restoring twenty ruined buildings owned by the State and at that time under the management of the Archaeological Receipts Fundi their use was later ceded to the Municipality of Rhodes for twenty years, until the expiry of the Planning Contract.

In this way, the newly founded Office for the Conservation and Restoration of the Medieval Town of Rhodes, or, in brief, Office of the Medieval Town, literally touched the substance' of the social problems besetting the walled town. A team was promptly set up which proceeded to clean, clear and deploy emergency means to preserve the buildings pending restoration; simultaneously, the first restoration studies as well as other projects, broader in context, and infrastructure renewal (street lighting, the illumination of monuments andsires, new litter bins erc.) were put into effect. The establishment of an initial team for the preparation of the studies and the realization of the works was composed of specialists in various fields and was based on the initiative of chosen architects,

View of tile cenrre of the medieval rown Hom the Suleunsniye minaret in 1988.

70.

91 H- K6MI0.S, "Elooywyn", Ioiopia «at .rrpopklpara ouvTJipnons T"m; pwru(,)vl1ul" 1I6.M,) Ul,)P65ou, Athens 1992, p_ 9.

92. H. K6MIW;,."H lJOAl"1:1ICr1 lnS orroxorooroo!l<;""(,ee note 70). Ad 42(1987), XpOV!KQ, p. 673.1\. Flcpucxsuonousou, e. AVaTIOAll;{lvoc;,"Entp~aol1 KaJ nf'0~Mpaw ern jl£(J(lI,(';Vi KJ:I n6An "l-tl<; P6oou", EmJ.lf3aat1l; Of: apXITf"KWYlKQ pvnjJefaK<11 rrapa600lQK6. {JIKIOTJJ<a aUvo).Q, lraklicn 1989, pp.81-90_

Below: Pbotogteouneuic drawing from the fortifications, Bottom: Architecture] plan of Fort St. Nicholas,

HISTORICAL EVOLUTJ~N Af\JD MANAGEMENT OF THE MEDJEVAL TOWN G>F RHODES

11111:li ill II i I Ii I

71

most of whom had already completed post-graduate studies in the conservation and res to ratron of monuments at European u ruversi ties.

Since its establishment, the Office of the Medieval Town associated its projects with research - that is, the emergence, of new knowledge iminediately rela-ted to the works. Thus, special research projects were promoted in the curricula of various Greek institutions 'of higher education (National Technical University of Athens, Aristotelean University of Thessaloniki, University of Athens Medical School, etc.). In addition, a new, accurate land survey of the entire set tlernent and drawn elevations of its fortifications and Fort St. Nichol aswerecontracted out to specialist privatefirms,

MEDIE.VJXCTO'Whj.

'OF HH~gE~ HE;S;CQRAliONWbRKS

MlpslWW11lg c11C ownership status of ptopcciies in rill: medicvel towaoi Rhodes .

EPE¥NA ItUOKTHtlAKOY KAE>EttO'I'OI

.. ~~~ ..

. :RESBA:~CJI:.PR0JE¢rON T;HE J®:WNERSHIPSTATUS OF PROPERTIES

'L_ ;;.'_ - .. ~<

~btj,~,~t!lUi~~nlrllul'!![DI ~. tiT~r~ ko' •• 'f\I'riI.,IItoloi'k;!J ri ~hll;YI4>'\ib:J ~}:i'!'il'fl(:ft1·U:!llo'J~!oMI~1 reWl~ ~'Ie:.:- "~I ~~:p;~t.,a. 'nIiII".; ~ .lil'jl_-.n:o",j! m ~~ ~I~~I~ "";I~~"~" I)S ~liI: ~*"r~~ itlfi;li.r Llol """1l;::~.lf .. iMl .~ ~oo- ~~ "I~ l.1li ne 1:o:rrid,"~"'I\e-"~ofIi'l$,N:j.~r.rt r,~, 'IJ~' lP':Pt~1"!~Y!nWI~""NIo ~\: ilII\rfiC::"I,,"~I,," l~i=Ii-~ ~ ~ 10 1~,b~ll1[oa'll:onI'iILT~-toYl">I;.'v,IolltrJt.ll~!:!:I.lli!rtlllf 1":rrl"~IIr«I.IpIi."'h·.Imj="

HISTORICAL EV0LUTION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE MEDI8YALTOWN OF RHODES

Reconsuucoon of tin: buiJdmg phases of die Inn ofSpaln before and aHN 1480.

73

74

93, 11. KWVOl:UV1:lOS, H £VVOlCl em; OliOJ()UlpWI-'tvnS ouvrripncnc, (see nore 74), pp. 1-10. 94, M, [KOVE, To loJOKmOlaK6 Ka8S1:1r(vf; TII~ psoouovnuu; 1T6.Am; Tn., P6oou, (unpublished study).

95. r. LKEI.HJ(j.l\JAUXU., ~KOlvWVlOAoyudJ. pEAtw UQAl(1<; uoke; Pooocr", II016mm (wri.,; Rhodes 1988, (unpublished. study). .

96. e.K. Flrtoioc, "TIaAUlOCl\,SPi,HlOAOYI«O UAll(O apXO-loAOYLKWV QVUOKUCPWY THe; !-,wruwvIKDS nOAnsms P6oou", "PoSOS 2.400 XEoV 10. I-I n61n l:mj. PoSou arrornv (Spool! 1110; ~1£Xf'1 tnv Km:6Anqm an'" T0US ToupKOuC; (1523)", Tlpoxusa, vol. II (2000), pp. 393-40l.

97. A. Tq1:~lp(lC;, "0 pM,oe; me; yew),oyiuS 01:11 ciUYTnPDOll 101:0PIKCilv J:1vnl-'dwv", lotopla kCiJ npojJAtlporaoUVTflplwn<; TWi IlwruwV;llal<; /I6An" TIl" P600lf, Athens 1992, pp, 267-276.

98. N. Znpicpns, K. Mavouoou-NltMa, r Nl:o.liaS, El, Avcnosrrcvoc, 11. Aa~apiSouKoN.uSn, 'Tlcpouofcon HlU fpuo:pdou Lu.vrnpnons H;([] Arroxctucrocnc ms I-'EOOIWVLKllS nOAns ms P6Sou", Loiopla kar npo{3kipam oovtsipnanc Tm; pcoauovuou; nc5An5 U15 P6<'iou, Athens 1992, pp. 168-267, and H na.ltl6 noAIl TIl" P60ou, MtMu:o; - ompl1ciol:JS ]985·1988, Rhodes 1989.

99. ALI 42 (1987), XpOVJKa, pp. 673-679.

N. Zarifis, K. Manoussou-Della, G. Dellas, P.Papa~heodorou, A. Paraskevopoulou,

Th, Anapoliranos, D. Lazaridou-Koliadi, "Medieval Town of Rhodes, Restoration and its problems", Intemtuionel Technical Conierence Suucnual COIlservation of Stone Ma501lty, Athens 1989, pp. 503-512.

For the f rst time in the history of the management of the historic set dement a multidisciplinary group was invited to face the complex problems it presented". Specialized studies and 'analyses were carried out with the collaboration ofa lawyer'", a sociologist'", an anthropologist", chemical engineers, geologists97 and geotechnicians.

The first studies of the Office of the Medieval Town were soon completed, together with preliminary research and emergency measures for each building". The innovative aspect of the in terven tioris was their utilization of exhaustive archi tectural documentation and the study of the development of each building through time; thus, a considerable know-how concerning the conservation and restoration of historic buildings in Rhodes was soon built up.

The projects began immediately in 1986 and were carried out by teams of workmen supervised by the technical staff ofrhe Office; these workmen had i10 previous experience in restorationvalthough several among them were stonecutters from Karparhos, stonemasons, pebble mosaicists etc.

In the meantime, funning research programmes concerning the treatment of building materials used on medieval walls, the relative strength and structural problems of loadbearing masonry and the geological-geotechnical problems of the medieval constructions were completed. In particular, new rules were set for the conservation of wall faces: the erosion threshold required for the replacement of old stone, the depth and Structure of new, healthy stone construction (in order to avoid the older practice of 'capping' eroded stone), the composition of binding mortars and pointing practices. The use of Portland cemen r, hi therro used even in contact with authentic pa.ftS of the masonry with very adverse effects, was abandoned":

The adoption of these new practices by the older teams of workmen employed by the 4th Ephorare of Byzantine Antiquities and the systematic effort to train new craftsmen in the large-scale restoration works ires developing in the medieval town was henceforth a hallmark of the interventions on the monuments.

By 1992-1993, the Office of the Medieval Town had completed 60-70% of the initial restoration programme on the twenty Archaeclogical Receipts Fund buildings. At the same time, a substantial framework of essential survey documentation for the medieval town and fortifications was put together, alongside overall studies of urban planning analysis and model management of selected problem areas such as the large bomb sites of the medieval settlement.

At this first stage of the intervention efforts were made to resolve

the acute housing problems involving properties included in the Planinng Contract. In order to restore the Hospitaller Hospice of St. Catherine, as we'll as several of the other buildings of this first period, fifteen families had to be relocated. The problem was successfully met with the restoration of the remaining unoccupied or derelict housing. It is worth mentioning that in the case ofthe Hospice of St. Catherine more than ten households had to be relocated and housed in prefabricated portable homes temporarily sited In the bombed 'Square' of St. Panreleimon, as part of the long-term worksire of the Hospiraller monument, until they could be finally moved to properly testa red residences of the Planning Contract!".

On 27-29 November 1986 a colloquium entitled History and Conservation Problems of the Medieval Town of Rhodes was held; an exhibition was held in the Hospitaller Castellania for the occasion. The. Acts. of this colloquium were published with the financial suppOrt of the Archaeological Receipts Fund in 1992. They quite vividly described the condition

of the town at the beginning of the new organized intervention in the late 20th cen tury" I. During the spring of 1987, work in progress in the medieval town was presented for the first time in Nicosia, at the Ammochostos Gate, in co-operation with the City of Nicosia and the local Office of bi-comrnunal collaboration.

In 1988, by decision of UNESCO, the medieval town of Rhodes was added to the list of World Heritage Cities!", Thus the Creek Government undertook the concomitant obligation to protect and promote this culturalasser "for "the benefit of Humanity".

In October of the same year the EEC Summit was held in the Grand Master's Palace!". The budding, heavily restored by the

HIST0.f'lICAL EV@LU:r10N AND MANAGE,MENT OF THE MEDIEVAL 1'0WN QF RHQDE"S

Aeris! photograpb qfdll; wotksite o/the Hospise aFSe. Catherine. September 1989.

100.8. AvarroAH<ivoS. A. M. Kao6QYA~Tl, K.

MuvaU-oou-NTt;0.0."H OIlOKGTGmOOn tou rrrrrorucou (p,rWVQ ms Ayfw:;AtK(J,"l:Epivll'i otn Il~OruWVIK'(, nOM me; P60oIJ'·. llptlIITlltci 1"00 40u illf6lvou5 LIJVd5pfQtl ylO

rn IUVT.r7pnOn .wv MvnpdfDv mS" Meooydou, Rhodes 6-11 May 1997, issue 4,

pp. 4g4~499. .

10 I. lotopla «a: npo[Dui}low r:nrvnlpnow, ow; PWGlWV1Kri" ]loA.m; m<; P68olJ, Athens 1992.

75

Ground floor of the Hospitsller Casu:l1anJa. and [he Exhibition of 1986.

102. tJNESCd, Cites souvenir, cites d'evcnir, Villes du psrnmoine mondial, Musee de la civilisation, Quebec 19.91, p. 128. ThG criteria for th is registration were:

"The infl uence of the fortificarions of Rhodes was felt throughout the E. Mediterranean. at the dose of the Middle Ages" (II) Rhodes, "one of the most attractive settlements of {he Gorhic era" reflects "the characteristic historic period during which a Military and Welfare Order of Knighthood derived from the Crusade, survived in the E. Mediterranean. Its

I an dscape and the her.itage ofthe Colossus' rhatonce dominated j rs harbour increase its interest The Islamic monuments add [0 [he interest of Rhodes' (1\1). 'The residential shell, although downgraded, was a meeting point of Frankish and Ouoman forms in the Dodecarrese (Y)".

103. M 43 (1988), XPOV1Kii, pp. 647-652, 663.

104. H. K6AAlOo;,. H nOAnllGl ms nnoxordctoono;(see note 70),

105. H. K6).Juut;, ''Ti:llloypaqJll;:ci: npo@Mpma UlS pWQllLlvlKno:; ayopco:; ,no:; P60ClU Kill rou V6"lOU 1E1XouS lOU KOMGK!OU", Iotopia Kill npofJA_6pam ouvuipnonc TJI<j }1£O{!J(oV1KIi, nOM, me; Pooou, Athens 1992, pp. 81-108.

106. K Mavouoou-Nl11ia, E. nrula~all1).dou, MWQlhWIKn t16An 1-no; pooou. H apxUlOAOYllU] tpwva (see note 3), pp. 598-602.

Italians who held Rhodes from 1912 to the end of World War II; underwent conservation and its worn-out equipment was renewed for the occasion 104. Arcaheological exploration in its basements, foundations and courtyards, and the stripping of plasters from inner walls, confirmed what had, up to that time, been only conjecture- i.e. that the Palace was the Byzantine acropolis and that its oldest parts dated to the last quarter of the 7th century.

During the ye.ars that followed, and particularly in the 1990s, archaeological excavation in the walled town went further than rescue intervention or systematic exploration of the interior of monuments (e.g. churches) and bomb sites: it became part of the wider approach to projects that restored monuments in their urban setting, and also dealt with broader urban segments at the same time. Thus, in cases such as the systematic excavation along the south wall of the proto-Byzantine Fortress and later 'Collachium' of the Hospitaller town, the analysis of urban development in that area also determined the planning and progress of archaeological research':", This, however, being a reciprocal process" archaeological findings then set the limits of the in terventions and also formulated the general principles and spirit of work that was slowly and thoughtfully seeking CO rehabilitate the centre of the medieval town!",

The large-scale excavation programme of the Collachium, a responsibility of the 4th Ep horate of Byzantine Antiquities,

Excavation resesrcl: on rhe grounds of the Grdnd Master's Palace.

H IS:rO 1'1 lYJAl EVOLUTION AND MANA<3EMENT OF THE MEDIEVAL TOWN Qf RH08~S

GnH1d M:aster's Palace, view of the ground floor after restoretion.

extended from the Grand Master's Palace to the Marine Gate at the centre of the medieval harbour and included the major project of fully exposing the remains of the conventual church of St. John. Large-scale systematicarchitectural studies also proceededat several points of the Hospitaller fortifications, and especially within (he earthwork (terre-plein) representing the final modification of the large bastion of St. George (alias of Auvergne) 107. These works-were in full accord with the planning and development of studies and projects concerning (he forrificatiQl1s, and were dements of a methodology based on the full historical and archaeological documentation of monuments, in relation to both the geography of the area and the development of the city of Rhodes from antiquity to the present day'",

In 1991 representatives of [he municipal authorities and the Office of the Medieval Town represented Rhodes at the first

Exposed ruins oithe conventual church of the Order of St. John.

international symposium of UNESCO's World Heritage Cities in Quebec, Canada, and co-signed the Quebec Declaration and the establishment of a Network of World Heritage Cities, based in Quebecl~').

In the same period the Office of the Medieval Town was also very active in joint European programmes, publications and conventionsseminars, most important of which WaS its participation in the European architectural competition EUROPAN 2 in 1990, with the redevelopment of four bombed 'squares' of the medieval town as its subject matter'!", Prizes were awarded to three young architects .. Original and challenging solutions concerning the large gaps in the urban fabric were also proposed in that contest.

In addition, in the context of the Recite-Rebuild Programme for the use of solar energy in rehabilitated monuments, pioneering studies were produced for the restoration of

HTSTORJGAL EVOLUTION AND fY1ANAGEME~T OF THE MEDfEV(l;L TOWN OF.AHODES

Exposure of ea.dyg;ue and bridge within the ea.rrh -Ell of the late Ba~n'on of5[. George.

Drawing of the W side of Pstuitiou St., where the co-existence of mQnunent$ Hom th« Early' Christian to the muslim periods is dearly visible.

Hl7. To ipyo 1:0(1 Ynovpyffov nOArtJoporJ, issue. 1 (1997), p. 158, pier. 1..ALl 49 (l994), Xpovu,d,. pp, 807,815. A.d 51 (1996) KG!.ALl 5.2 (1997), XpOVIKQ, to be published- K, Movouuou-NltMu, ,P6ooS. bTo.Xdu rroko&o]lIKfl(; UVMUGns (see Dote 15), p, 33, notes 25·27,

108, l:j{iOIO rrpocrmoias (see note 24).

109. C Manoussou-Della, "Principes generaux gllidant la restauration des b5liments de la ville medievaie de Rhodes", Acrej du l er Colloque iatcrneiionel des villcs du peuimoitie mOfldi~l, Quebec 1991,

pp. 147-166.

110. Europan 2, Resl.llwrs europeens, Hebiter ls ville - RequaJifica. tion de sires utbeins, 1991, pp.43~52, KU] EUROPAN 2

(J 990·1991), H ((lin ornv 1I6AIl. Mw via avr£\ml'll riCi TiS QOTJd.; ncpJo,yis, wpwnai'K6 llp6ypapJ1u rm vtoPJ5 apXHoooVfS EAAuS, Y.llE,xn,il, E, - E8vIKn fpuppmdQ EUROPAN.

79

the Muslim Courthouse built on top of the Byzantine Tower of Tlreofiliskou Street, and of the Yeni Hammam Baths, which even today operate as public baths.

In 1993 the island of Rhodes hosted a Congress on New Towns Over Old Ones, with the active participation of the Office of the Medieval Town, as may be seen from the Acts (published in 1999)1Ii. In the same year the 2400th anniversary from the founding of the city of Rhodes in 408 B.C. was celebrated, accomplished through me union of the three ancient city-states of the island: Kamiros, Ialyssos and Lindos. The highlight of the celebrations was the organization of an international scientific conference under the title Rhodes, 2400 Years. The town of Rhodes Irom its establishment until the Turkish occupation in 1523. The two volume Acts were published with the support of the Planning Contract and Include several papers on recent research on the medieval towri'".

This celebration and the scientific conferences it included gave special impetus to scholarly research and publication by the Archaeological Service, which now proceeded with the support of the Office of the Medieval Town. Thus, within the context of research in the archives of the Order of Saint John, kept in the National Library of Malta, it was decided to finance publications by two major researchers of the Order's history: the Englishman Dr. Anthony Luttrell mostly for the 14th century and the Greek medievalist Zacharias Tsirpanlis, professor at the University of Thessaloniki, for the 15th and early 16th centuries'!", In 1995 the first volume (1421-1453) of this monumental project came out, which was to assemble in one corpus the unpublished documenrs from the archives of the Knights Hospitaller relating to Rhodes and [he South Sporades (Dodecanese) 114. The sheer volume of information these documents contain on the life of the Hospitaller town at the peak of its prosperity, combined with the accelerated pace of both archaeological excavation and architectural study of Hospitaller buildings in the 1990s, has opened new pathways for the multidisciplinary understanding of the period in the future. The

MEDIEVAL TOWN OF'RHOQES RESTQR~TIQN "WQ!1~~

I I

1 r

t I

,

';", .... ,"'t>~

\

Proposal for the development of the bombed square io the Jewish Quaner.

EUROPAN 2 Ardiiicaual Competition.

"Ill NicS rroAw, rravw ac naAlCS, I1pmrrlKii Ernctnpovucoc LlTVfbpiOlJ, Athens 1999.

112. PoooS 2.400 XpovJa. H lIaAn InS P6DoIF an6 rnv [fjptJa'ri Lns j1cxpJ mv KQr.aAmp.n alIo TOUS TOUpKOUS (l52}), ITPOKT1Kci, vols I - 11, Athens 2000.

113. A. Luttrell, Rhodes rown (see note 12). [14. Z. T(JlpnavMc;, AvtROOTU eyypucpu (see note 7).

three-volume work planned to cover the years from 1421 to 1522 is expected to become a landmark in the historical and archaeological research of the Dodecanese.

In 1987, the Act for the General Urban Plan of Rhodes was finally passed within the context of the Enterprise of Urban Restructuring (E. P.A), of the Ministry of the Environment. This succeeded a preliminary land use study for the Dodecanese Prefecture: The special study of the medieval town, produced by a private firm of architects and urbanists at the same period, has not yet been ratified. The 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, responsible for the control of construction licenses inside the walled town, applies the plan for the use of land through stopgap legislation, although the related Law has not yet been published. The urgent need for a full study for "the integrated restoration and management of the protected monumental complex" Was stressed from the early years of the Office of the Medieval Town in order to expand the rudimentary guidelines provided by the E.P.A.

At the same time a study entitled The Island of Rhodes. Pilot Study for the Comprehensive Urban Planning and Management of Space, was funded by the Environmental Projects of the United Nations (U.N .E.P.); this was a pioneering project for which the Municipality of Rhodes cooperated with the Office of the

HISTOP1ICALEVOLUTION AND MANAG~MENT OF THe M60lEVAL JQWN Of RHODE'S'

Yen; Hammam Publ«: Baths. Latccel section wid) the ceilings viewed from below.

Medieval Town. The first pan of the study was completed by May 199-8 and included a full analysis of the existing situation and general guidelines for the necessary coordinated action of the authorities on the island in Ol"derro tackle multiple problems"> .. In terna rio n al ex. p ertis e 'was <so ugh t through collaboration with specialists distinguished in the field of urban monumental sites: the results of these deliberations were formulated for in situ application 116. For the medieval town of Rhodes it was finally decided to proceed as follows: 117

MED:lEVAL rrQWN

.oF RHQ;pES 'BEST®IRAIION W0RKS

~il~py~io~ r.Jt~~f~-~~~~ ~aJ ~~.~~ ~ rEN1KO "nOAEO&oM I ,,0 ~XE1i.IQ ~oAO::E

115. NOjlopXia fI(>lS£KOVriOOU, frf.poS P6801J; To vnoi tncPoooss. ITp6wIInJ!t:Atrn riG OXOKAllp«lpivo I1tplj3oMovw<6 axsStl1op6 I@ oiGxdp,dn wv: xwpou. [Prefecture of the .Dodecanese, MUD i'cipality ·of Rhodes, Rhodes Island. Original srudyfor a complete envirorrienta] plan and management of the afea.J,UNEf~ Rhodes 1988 (unpub, study).

116. Insrinit pour la sauvegarde des monuments historiques Splir, Contcnu eb.naiySe'du relev« de I't[arexistJ.1lr du pa trimoine erciiitectum] er iubnin, Documenmtiou du usveil (unpubl ish ed study) ,

a) The completion and correction of the existing photogrammetric framework available from. the Ministry for the Environment with topographical surveys, precise measurements of street levels and the creation of new precise plans, to a scale of 1:200

b) The complementary inventory of buildings with additional information concerning ownership, use, condi t i o n, architectural and stylistic elements, materials and building techniques; the whole on a rlexi ble da tab ase p rov iding for future updates and supplementary information fields.

c) The promotion of a pilot urban planning project, In a chosen neighbourhood, the 'Ana Ovriaki', to provide a. model for the restoration of

the en tire town.

The following proposals were made for this pilot project:

• Full photographic and architectural documentation of the: buildings and their stylistic elements at scales of 1:50 and 1 :25.

• The provision of a specialized urban plan of the neighbourhood.

• The modernization of utility networks with the installation of underground conduits for drains and cables and restoration of road surfaces.

• The landscaping of archaeological and bombed sites, and other open spaces.

• The restoration of proper.ty belonging to the State.

• The exploration of options for the provision of incentives to private owners for the restoration of their property.

• The resolution of social problems and [he construction of public amenities.

During the following years, until 1995-1996, important steps were taken concerning analysis and documentation of the urban fabric of the medieval town, produced through the cooperation of the Office of the Medieval Town, the 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities and the Archaeological Receipts Fund!".

In particular:

a) The new reliable topographic surveys for the whole of the medieval town were linked to the cadastral entries of properties and brought up to date concerning built-up and open land in the town.

HISTORICAl- 6VOLU(ION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE MEDIEVAL TOWN OF RHODES

117. Cf. first report on Rhodes, -.:0 November 198:7, UNEp, On sitereport, C. Dellas architect (unpublished study).

118. Giorgos Della." "Restoration and management of the medieval town ,of Rhodes", npOKrlKQ Tal) 4o<J LllI:Bvoo<; Luvdipiou yw rn Euvuipnon TWI' Mvtljitkvv TIlt; MeooyEiol), Rhodes, 6-11 May, 1997, pp. 510-527.

Urban Planning Study of Medieval Rhodes. Land use zones.

MEWCN1KR noxa ~ roOQY "MBDlEVAl 'roWN OF RHODES

ZONiU XPHtEoN rHI:

b) The study of the ownership status and a full inventory of properties belonging to the State, and those managed by the Archaeological Receipts Fund, Was completed in two phases' 19.

c) The new inventory of pm_perty in the medieval town was completed and the information processed by computer GIS programmes to provide easy access to -every part of the town.

119 .. E. BuoJ1EHi8n - A. Bru{CJ;.n - I. FlonoroiQVVOU, [5IOh'TflOliJKO KaGcon:iis jlWQ1fi)v/IellS uoAIl<; P6oou, Rhodes 1995 (unpublished study).

d) The architectural documentation of five building blocks in the Upper Jewish Quarter; in which the percentage of State ownership is particularly high and includes many bombed andarchaeological sites, made considerable progress.

However, delay in the enactment of a new set of urban planning guidelii1es t'or the control ofcornmercial expansion into purely residential areas and the still pending approval ofa new urban plan adapted to modern concepts of m-anagement for historic sites as important as the walled town of Rhodes remain crucial problems.

In this first period of intervention in the medieval town (1985~1995) three other important subjects were brought up tor priority consideration by the Office of the Medieval Town:

1) The installation of new underground utility networks throughout the walledtown.

2) Intervention in the commercial centre (,Old Market'), site of the traditional Ottoman bazaar.

3) Traffic problems and the enactment of special traffic regulations inside the.walled town.

The first move of the Planning Contract Office on all three subjects was the comprehensive analysis of the problems associated with the dual function of the historic centre, which is at the same time part of a Hving town and the focus of disproportionate commercial and tourist exploitation with repercussions beyond the Iocal ievel,

A lengthy period of active operation of the consultative comrnittees and the exchange of experiences with other historic cities were required for conditions to mature sufficiently for the realization of the required interventions!". It has to be admitted that concerning the integrated intervention for the rehabilitation of the commercial centre, which was, according to the relevant studies and estimates, almost OUt of control, political will did not prove strong enough to oppose even the momentary reaction of 'tourist bazaar' shopkeepers 121.

On .80, June 1994 a major task began: the construction of underground conduits to house the utility networks of the walled town. This would be followed apace by the restoration of road surfaces and the redevelopmenrof unbuilt and archaeological sites associated with the project!". The cooperation of the responsible authorities necessary for the realization of this great project in the medieval town was expressed by the signatute of a special Planning Contract between the Municipality of Rhodes and the local Water Authority" the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of the Aegean arid _the Public Company of Urban Planning and Housing (D.E.P.O,S.) of the Ministry for the Environment, which was assigned responsibility forthe implementation of this project. The first stage of this project has already been completed, covering 45% of the total surface of the

Development of fiu;ades on Theseos St.

o W

HISTORICAL EiV®LUTION AND ". MANAGEMENT OF THE"ME"DlEVAL tOWN OF RHODES

120". Flam this point of view the cases of Plaka in Athens and Ann Polis of Thessaloriiki were significant, as they were both studied in depth and there ha-s been an exchange of opinions in situ during visits by rhose responsible.

4(h Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, i riven tory of store fusades. Rhodes J 993 (unpublished study)

12J. 40 &popdo Bus0vtlVWV ApX<ll(m'n:wv; rpacpdo T £Kflllpiwo-w; MruOlwvIKfie; fhSA_nS P6oou, Anoypoqll'l 61.jJt.d}'

(see note 120).

122. Ll_E_n,O.E. - rpOlj)do MWiDwVIKnc; DoAne; P6oou, rmKic; apxtc; anoKm:ci· O1;Qom; TWV o8ompwpdT(o)V me; PWaJwIElK/]S nOAnS Pobo», Rhodes 1992, (unpublished study), and MfJ-Qt; Pooou - fpacpdci MEOQIWVIKt1S D6Am;, Evnp$poxw::oC; <:pUKCAOS: YI(] -1;0 lpya unoSopri,;" am jl£OruWVIK1i n6An me; P6Sou, Rhodes 1992,

D

--~--------------------~

85

. . h Quaner . . . bi cks JeWiS "fblliidlllg 0 .

Suivey o

walled town. The great importance of coordinated action by the authorities is now robvious, for a variety of reasons: it promotes archaeological research, and ameliorates living conditions through improved infrastructure and the rehabilitation and enhancement of monuments.

In 1992 a series of measures concerning traffic and parking within the medieval town during the tourist season (from 1 April to 31 October) were imposed. This programme included the pedesrrianization of the centre and the monumental zone, exception being made for permanent residents at hours off tourist peak time; and the organization of parking lots with restricted parking, again with the exception of those carrying. a permanent residen t pass, who are allowed to park within the' walls!". These traffic measures were applied with success and have already raised the awareness of citizens, this being a minimum gesture of respect towards the monumental area, which at the same time is, one of the most frequented tourist attractions in Europe.

iilIST@HIGAL EVOLUTI®N ,_AND MANAGEMEfiTOf lRE MEQIEVAL TOWN ,OF HHODES

123. L\.i\.lloS, Po6iwy _ fpa.cpdo MwruwvlKlic; nOAH,) (opxIttlttWY I. NlW.Oc,l,KuK4:OrpopwKix; pvBpfow:; pmruwVlKris noJuiS Pobo», Rhodes. 1992 (unpublishedstudy).

Census m!J.p of me Commercial centre of the medieval town.

-

XIPfHE XPHEED~ rHE fno~ N IIU

-

As far as the commercial centre is concerned, the only intervention was limited to Orpheos St. in 1988-1989: it included the integration 'of shop frontages according to a study produced by the Office' of the Medieval Town. Moreover, the anticipated facelift of the central commercial zone led to the lands.caping of open spaces on Orpheos Sr. in contact with the Byzantine advance wall, at the base of the Cannon Gate; and of the small Eudemou Square, where the few remnants of the old Ottoman Hammam and the foundations of the Byzantine sea wall of The Lower Town were enhanced.

At that time (1986-1990), the raising of public awareness and the participation of citizens, especiallyshopkeepers, in the regulation of vitally important issues for the commercial centre was pursued. To this end the OffIce of the Medieval Town organized frequent meetings and special exhibitions. Within this context specifications were also set for the integration of commercial Street fron rages and shop signs, which were incorporated in the 1993 special edition of the Tethnicaland Commercial. Chamber" Department of the Dodecanese, under the title Medieval City of Rhodes. Principles and Regulations of Intervention.

Since its first years of operation within the context of the Planning Contract, the Office of the Medieval Town took over some of the responsib ilities of both the Ministry of CultureArchaeological Receipts Fund and the Municipality of Rhodes where the historic centre -at the same time a living part of the town- was concerned!", This fact was underscored at the beginning of 1989, when. many among its scientific and technical personnel became permanent members of sraff of the Ministry of Culture, to cover 'constant and fixed needs' of the local branch of the Archaeological Service, whose technical resources were inadequate for the restoration projects at hand.

During the following years, by decision of the authorized committees, important eponymous monuments and monumental complexes of medieval Rhodes!", were incorporated into the programme of the Office, together with the medieval fortifications and moat, within which the open air Melina Merkouri Theatre was already operating successfully!".

Projects such-as the restoration of the Hospiraller Castellania and the interior modifications carried out in the Public Library, the restoration of the Hospitaller Infirmary of Villaragut on the Street of the Knights!", the housing of the Municipal Health Centre ina restored Hospiraller building on Gavala St., and [he restoration of the Hospitaller Hospice of St. Catherine in the Upper Jewish Quaner (Europa Nostra 1997 Award), were completed within seven years!". At the same. time the foundations' were laid for a modern mechanis rn of intervention on the Hospiraller fortifications and moat.

HISTORICAL EVQLUTtON AND' MANA®EMENT OF TH~ N1E-DU~v.A~ TOWtsI OF RHQl:GES

124. H JTaJua n6AfJ T11S P6oQu. M citra; - Erropj36dtlC; 1985~1988, Municipality

of Rhodes, fpa<pdo IUYTflpmlns Kill Anoxcrructacnc ME.owwvuffic; TI6).ns P('OO(], npOypul-'-l.rumd, Ltll-'?aan m.rro. -TA.TI.A. - (ed.) Municipality .of Rhodes.

125. N. Zarifls, K. Manoussou-Della, G.Dellas, P_ Papatheodorou, A. Paraskevopoulou, Th .. Anapolitanos, D. Lazaridou-Koliadi, Medieval town of Rhodes, Restoration and 'its problems (see TIme 99), pp. 503- 512

126. C. Manoussou-Della.i''Prograrnme for the iJlt!,J;g{3ted restoration and environmental upgrading of [he monumental complex of the FOrtiflc"don~ of Rhodes", The Fortiiicuion in rhe Medicermneen Basin:

Technologies tor rile preservationand conservanon, Rhodes. May. 25-31, 1998, pp. 2L8-237.

127, K. Mavo6oou-N,OJ.a, r. N,aAaC;, 'To Kdp'll- Villaragut crtn IIWU1wvlKn [JoAn me; PODou", latopta K<11 npoj3Nljlam O-l)vulpnOIl~T-O<;" J,ICrJa.JwvJx'fI<; 116An<;" mt;" POOOIl, Athens 1992, pr. 123-147.

128. e. AVOJlOAl1:6vl)S, A. M. KaO&UY)"l,

K Mavou-oou-N,tA1_a, "H GIIOKm:amaOn tou mnOTliC01' S,;VWVU ms Ayl.oe; AIKm£pfvnq" (see note 100), pp. 484-499. The 'crjterja for the award received for the restoration of the Hospiraller Hospice of St. Ca rh e r; n e were: a Po r th ecareful and sensitive restoration of [he Medieval Hospice and it, annexes and the detailed research required to restore it to its original form after centuries of neglect and misuse and for the educational initiative i nstigared by the salvation of the finds and the i nterprerarion of the results of me project",

MEDJfi.YA L. TtlWN

0F RMODES RBS;r.ORATION WOF,\K$

90

129. C..E.TI.D.E. - fpu<pEio MWQl(,'V1Kns DOAnS P68ou, r~Vj.K~s upxts cnosrmimuons (see nore 122).

130. A. Poziopoulos, ~Wear propagation in the fortification constructions and the effecriveness of period 1983-1996 interventions in the medieval ciry of Rhodes", npaxTJ.KQ rou 40u Llll:@,roU., Luvdipiou I'm rn Luvrilpnon -rwv Mvnpekav m<; Meoovdov, Rhodes,

6.-11 May, 1997, pp. 635-646.

131. K Muvouuou-N'u9.1u, "MWUlWY1KtS 0XUpWOEIS 1m; rrOAns 1:nS peouu. Mc8olioAoy,o IWI UPXES Eflcll?<ioEWY", 'Hmec t:fIfpJ3doCIi; ;m npooiooks 10l0PiKWV KUWOK!'UWV, IIpaKIIKci LtJVEOpiotJ, Thcssaloniki 200 1,

pp. l45-157.

132. E. Papavassiliou - Th. Archontopoulos, Nouveaux elements hisroriques (sec note 3), Kill K Mavouoou - E. IIcma?oOl)"dou, Mcocucovuei nOAn ms P60ou.

H apXUloAoy"w tpwva (see note 3).

The Municipality of Rhodes, the respousibleauthority for the implementation of the Planning Contract, appreciated the multifaceted contribution of the Office to the improvement of the Medieval town. Thus, the 'Department for the Protection of the Medieval City and Archaeological Sites', included for the first time in the new administrative structure of the Municipality of Rhodes, was, in actual fact, the Office of the Medieval Town. This action intended to ensure for the future, quite separately from the Planning Contract, the existence of an agency representing the responsibilities of the Municipality of Rhodes that could intervene and protect the residential area of the medieval town.

At approximately the same time, around 1994, the infrastructure of the entire residential sector and the condition of the buildings; especially those belonging to the State, were deteriorating rapidly despite the implementation of the restoration programme pursued through the Planning Contract. The major project of the Construction of new underground utility networks and Restoration of road surfaces within the walled rown, of great importance for the much-desired "amelioration of living standards in this sensitive area", was of the highest priority for the Planning Contract as well?".

Rapid decline was also noted in listed monuments within the medieval town, and it was understood by all that the pace of intervention and restoration was far slower man rhedeterioration of the monuments. This was particularly noticeable in the medieval fortifications, although the Office of the Medieval Town, within the five years from 1989 to 1994, had taken urgent rescue measures and restored problem areas in order to arrest decay!": However, failure to take large-scale overall environmental measures and stop the water erosion of medieval masonry and foundarions,combined with the recen r (1983) removal of large quanti ties of earth that buttressed the foundations of these massive structures resulted in the spectacular collapse of large sections of wall in 1993-1994 and ]998-1999131•

At the same time, the 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities had almost completed preliminary exploration and excavation in old churches that had been converted to mosques in Ottoman times. These, after 1982, had been ceded to the Archaeological Service by the Management of the Public Vak£. Several had already been restored, such as St. Paraskevi, the Holy Trinity, St. Arhanassios, St. John at the Gate of the same name, St. Spyridon, St. George (Khourmally Medresse) and the ruins of St. Michael (Demirli Djami) which had been destroyed by bombs in World War II. Systematic excavation was also being carried out in the wider bombed zone of Athenas Square, and at St. Artemius, SS Constantine and Helena, St. Augustine (alias Sf. Nicholas) and Our Lady of Victory'". Moreover, the stripping of old plaster during restoration in the compound of

the Irnaret (Old Almshouse, lately municipal soup kitchen) revealed a Hospitaller chapel next to the crypt of a much bigger church which had not survived (probably the church of rhe Holy Apostles); both were studied and restored.

Thus, in 1994, the opportunity to submit proposals for funding by the 2nd Community Support Framework of the European Union coincided with the full realization of the multiple problems besetting medieval monuments. These were the particular responsibility of the 4th Epho_rateof Byzantine Antiquities, local representative of the Ministry of Culture. A well-documented application via me Ministry led to the acceptance of two specific and specialized restoration programmes for the 2nd Community Suppon Framework (Southern Aegean Regional Operational Programmes), to be carried out by the 4 th E phorate of Byzan tine An tiq ui ties. These were the Program m e for the Restoration of the Byzantine Churches of the town of Rhodes and the Progtamme. for the restoration of the medieval fortifications of the town of Rhodes. They both began in June 1995, with the 'deployment ofspecialisr scie-ntific and technical person nel of the 4 th Ephorate who had originally staffed the Office of the Medieval Town.

These projects belonged to the European Community 'CultureTourism' programmes. A premise for their eligibility was that the monumentsconcerned.should be at least partly f~tnctional and open to the public at the end of the works. This proved very important for the subsequent direction of modern intervention on the monumental shell of medieval Rhodes.

The proposed. seven targets were the historic religio us foundations of:

a) St. George (alias Khourmally Medresse)

b) the Imaret and church of the Holy Apostles

c) the monastic compound oESt. Augustine (church of St. Nicholas)

d) the ruins of Our Lady of the Burgh or 'Divided Church',

Also the folLowing strongpoints on the fortifications:

a) the great bastion of St. George (Tongue of Auvergne) and the part of the moat surrounding it

b) the Byzantine-fortifications of the Collachiurn and the archaeological site on Panaitiou St.

c) the Bastion of Pro vente (alias of St. John) and the section of the moat around it.

For the first time, the local Ephorare of Byzantine Antiquities was in charge of large-scale interventions in the medieval town of Rhodes; the citizens had to become acquainted with this new aspect I of the monumental space, arising from a combination of the post-war development of the walled town and modern ideas on the integration

of monuments into everyday life. Projects commenced, such as the

HJSl[0RIIZAL EVOLUTION AND. MANAGEMENT OF:

Ttl!: MEUIEVAL TOWN OF RHO_PES

133. K. Movocoou-Nresxu, ilpoS EvnoxtolO 6AoKAnf'(')~Evn<; onokctcoroonq (see note 34).

134. A. Moropoulou, M. Koui, tho Kourreli, D. Papascririou, P. Thcoulakh, Th. Tsiourva, N. Achilleopoulos, Ch. Karakandas, A. Rcrnanos, K. Tokarlidou, Th. Kolliadis, N. Zarifis, R. Van Grieken, F. Delalieux, B. Silva, E. Molina, M.A. Vicente, S. Vicente, F. Zezza, F. Makri, "Techniques and methodology for the preservation and environmental managemem of historic complexes ~ The case ofrhe medieval city of Rhodes", The Fortification ill the .Medireranne'ln Basin. Technologies for the presetvstion .and conscrvstion, Bari 1998, pp. 603-634.

P. Theoulakis - A. Moropoulou, "Porous stone decay by salt crystallization - The case of me building material of the medieval city of Rhodes", Ibid, pr· 647- 673, xcu K. Pirilakis, "Medieval Ciry of Rhodes: GeorechnicaJ soil conditions, seismic hazard analysis and seismic design loads", Ibid, pp. 250-264.

135. C. Manoussou-Della, Programme for the inrergrared restoration (see nore 126), KOl 'A. nO~l('l!IOUAO(;, Wear propagation (see note 130).

136. LXtbw npomaoias (note 24), pp.I 07-1 14 (unpublished srudy), Kill K. MovouoouNu:M.l1, TIpos tva 0X£OIO oAo.d .. npwptvnS UJIOKmamOonS (see note 34).

rehabilitation of the imposing historic rums of Our lady of the Burgh (better known as the gothic 'Divided Church') which permanently stopped the flow of traffic through the road bisecting the monument from north to south, This was achieved through cooperation with other local authorities, and swift action upon the opportunity presented by the installation of the underground utility networks at the eastern part of the walled town.

During 1995-1998" the Ministry of Culture, through the 4th Ephora te of Byzan tine Antiq ui ties, assumed full responsi bility for the rehabilitation of the medieval moat. This also included the installation of infrastructure condui ts and a system of drains co carry rainwater by gravity flow to the two outlets of the area, the ports of Acandiaand Mandraki!".

Comprehensive interdisciplinary studies and research prograrnmes'" were in progress for the management and landscaping of the whole of the fortifications, while the necessity for broader environmental measures to restore the disrurbed rstability of the massive defense structures was ackn owledged'" ,

In 1997 the Bastion of St. George opened to the public, Its large southern battery, turned into a cultural venue, sheltered an exhibition on the work of the Archaeological Service and the Office of the Medieval Town during the 50 years from the incorporation ot the Dodecanese into Greece onwards. For two years before that, substantial works had been realised, including:

a) the removal of part of the' fill from the tetre-pleia of the last building phase of the srrongpomt. This was done in order to reveal the early disposition of the gate and bridge, which was found intact inside the filled obsolete moat, within the bastion

b) the protection and waterproofing of the platform of the massive bastion and of the gun batteries and gallery found at different levels inside it

c) the fitting of drains to dispose of the rainwater which was responsible for strong erosive action on the walls and earth filL These drains were connected with the drainage system of the moat -';1 project which required special drilling in the stone plateau of the German sector of the moat north of the bastion. During the course of the project important archaeological data and remains of the underground water supply system of the great Hellenistic city of Rhodes were brought to light. These are now the object of systematic research and enhancement as pan of the archaeological promenade of the moar'".

By early 1998, the realization of both the programmes undertaken by the 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities had been in large

part achieved and the allocated funds nearly exhausted. The political leadership of the Ministry of Culture then decided to include a new programme of the 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, concerning the restoration of medieval monuments, witha higher budget, in the national branch of the 2nd Community Support Framework. This programme, which was by then organized to include larger monumental complexes,contained comprehensive interventions such as the restoration and rehabilitation of the medieval mole and Fort St. Nicholas" the resrorano n of the landward medieval fortifications and moat, the restoration ofche sea walls and the tWO moles of the medieval harbour (the. Mole of the Windmills and the Mole qf Naillac), and the improvement of areas within the medieval town, such as the monumental zone of the early Byzantine wall of the Collachium, the north-western part" from the Grand Master's Palace to the Bastion of St. George, and the eastern parr of the Jewish Quarter, from the church of Our Lady of the Bmgh to Our Lady of Victory and the Bastion of Italy (alias Carretto).

In September 1998, by decision of the Ministry of Culture, this programme was transferred to the Foundation for the Financial Administration and Realization of.Archaeological Works (T.D.P.E.AE.). This new organization operates as the main executive agency of largestale and highly specialized projects of the Ministry of Culture; its existence as a legal entity governed by Private Law ensures The necessary flexibility for the provision of special equipment and the organization of self-supervised workteams,

The establishment of the Inspection Committee for the Restoration Projects of the Medieval Town of Rhodes is an important measure taken by the Ministry of Culture and recognizes the great. importance of continuing the seven large-scale restoration projects already begun. Inclusion of these specific restoration programmes in the projects of the Fcundarion (T.D.EE.A.E.) guarantees their continuation in the future, irrespective of European Union financial support!".

HISTORI(bAL EVOLUtiON AND MANAG'EMENJ OF THE MEDIEVAL TOWfi OFRKODES

Medieval style: entettsuuneat by the

"Street Tbceicr'tin tile N. parr of th« Moat. Summer 1999.

137. These prog:rammes, according to the relevant decision of the Ministry of Culture, taken after consultation with the Archeological Council are: J) Restoraricn of the landward forrificarions and landscaping of the medieval 1110a[,

2) Restoration of the sea walls and mole" of the medieval harbour of Rhodes,

3) Restoration and rehabilitation of Fort S, Nicholas and its mole, 4) Restoration of all monuments on the northwest part of the medieval (Own. 5) Restoration and e rich ancemcnr of the BY2an ti ne fon.i-fi.ca[ions and mcnumenrsof the Collachium. 6) Resrorarion and rehabilirarion of the Early Christian and Byzantine monuments of Rhodes, 7) Restoration of the Sr Panreleimon .area monuments.

The period 1998-2000 was marked by the implementation of some extensive restoration programmes. These, in certain cases, 'evolved into comprehensive interventions: the monuments concerned have already been returned to public use, for the citizens and visitors

of Rhodes.

A particular feature of this period was the creation of a modern intervention mechanism capable of organising large-scale self-supervised work teams. These developed valuable expertise in all related fields and techniques, with the high specialization required for an interdisciplinary approach to intervention on the monuments. This significantly accelerated the pace of intervention and rnaintainance that is in permanent demand, particularly on the fortifications. Today, as a result, the markedly negative ratio between the pace of damage versus repair noted during the middle 1990s has been reversed!".

In the summer of 2000, the whole of the archaeological promenade of the moat in the landward part of the medieval fortifications opened to the public. Throughout the course of this pleasant walk pains were taken to vary the development of the archaeological, natural and monumental aspects of the site and to highlight the historical evolution of Rhodes. At the same time, proper presentation of the organized worksites and damaged sections throughout the walk, stresses the antiquity of the monuments and their need for constant maintainance, even though they are resilient enough in the face of natural and man-made threats.

With the completion, in September 2000, of the Plan for the Protection, Landscaping and Enhancement of the Medieval Fortifications of Rhodes the future of comprehensive intervention on the fortifications is outlined. The Ministry of Culture is now in charge of this project, through the 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities and the Medieval Town of Rhodes Restoration Projects Inspection Committee of the T.D.P.E.A.E.

It should be noted that this is the first comprehensive programme for the restoration of a monumental complex of this size to approach completion since the incorporation of the Dodecanese into Greece. The guidelines for intervention on the medieval fortifications are:

a) Preservation of the autonomy of the area as an archaeological site and its strict separation from the modern town of Rhodes, with two main, entrances, from Mandraki and Acandia.

General view of the main entrance to medieval moat from Mandrski after landscaping - enhancement.

138. K Mavbuoou-N,OJm, MWaiC,W1KEC; Oxupt:l.aelC; 1:1lC; nOAnsuiS P656u (see note 131), and K. fllUACurnC; - A. Li~toC;, "AvCtrn:u'SIl £1b.KOU AOYlOPIKOU orroruncocnq, xomvopronotnonq, ?o8}lovojlI1onc; l\.Oll~papxnons U,jV rrpo~An}l{nwv Otic; 0XUP(;)O~JS ,us jltOruOJVIJ(t\S nOMS ,ns P65ou", 'HIm:" f:m:ppda£)(; Kill npooiaoio lfHOpIK;WY l(mQOKe:tI(VY, Thessaloniki 2001,

pp. 159-171.

b) Easy access through intermediate entrances-exirs at the points of the two main land gates of the defences, connecting the moat to both the old and the modern part of the town of Rhodes.

c) Ease of access, wherever the architectural layout allows, to the interior of the walled town, of which the medieval fortifications are a part.

d) Opening of the area to the public, including the numerous visitors to the town, according to modern concepts about Iactive protection', which assures Iuture preservation and management of the monuments by society as a whole. This can only be achieved through their functional integration into the life of the modern town!".

Very important in this respect is the hosting of various a-ctivities within the archaeological. sire, through creative initiatives by the users, but also by the organized operation of venues for cultural events 'such as the Melina Merkouri Theatre, the exhibition halls in the bastions of St. George and Italy and the series of rooms available within the gatehouse of the D'Arnboise Gate. The organization ofopen air archaeological and exhibition areas is also desirable. Suchare for instance, the underground drains

and water supply installations of the Hellenistic Hippodameian town in the German sector of the moat. Here, in October 2000, an exhibition entitled 'Immortal Water' was held, for the celebration of the European Heritage Days of the Council of Europe.

Within the context of the gteat restoration programme under way since 1982, which included the Restoration Rehabilitation of the Byzantine and HospitaUer Churches of the Medieval Town Some important interventions were carried out. These projects advanced 111 direct relationship to the rehabilitation of large areas of the medieval urban fabric, rrequently disorganized due to World War II bombing or other, older causes of destruction.

The cases or Our Lady of the Burgh, the monastery of Sr.

HI~TQRICAL EVOLUTION AND MANAG~MENT OF THE MEt'lJEVALroWN OF-RM'ODE~

139 . .6,. ZIWtl<;, Ta jNDFUO .KW n /JoAn, Athens 1991.

Exhibition in rile Bastion 0[5r. George.

Augustine, the church of St. Mark (which was linked to the recently relaid medieval garden of the Marc de Montalembert Foundation) and the church of the Holy Apostles, situated within. the restored compound of the Imarer, are comprehensive interventions on monumental complexes now functionally integrated in to the life of modern Rhodes and which have assumed new roles.

Other, smaller scale interventions were also completed during this period and opened to sightseers. They operate as focal points for the neighbourhood, upgrading the surrounding area: such are the churches of 55 Theodores, 5L Michael, St. Catherine (IlkMihrab) etc.

It is obvious by now that the complex problems typical of all settlements that are at the same time protected monuments can only be faced through coordinated action by the responsible authorities, thus ensuring the proper response of the public.

In the case of the medieval town of Rhodes, particularly after 1985, the initially theoretical approach to the social integration of the monuments and organised intervention at the urban and architectural level was translated into action within less than a decade. The systematic installation of the underground utility networks and. su bseq uen t res to ration of ro ad sur faces, the regulation of traffic, the general rehabilitation and management of

"Melina Mcrcouii" Mcdievsl Moat Theatre during a concert.

96

the moat as an archaeological promenade also open for cultural events, the restoration and rehabilitation of Fort St. Nicholas, the creation of a Heritage Centre for Educational Programmes at the restored Hospitaller Hospice of St. Catherine, the restoration of OUf Lady of the Burgh, and the rehabilitation of a section of the waterfront near the main gate of the medieval harbour, all constitute important achievements, attained after persistent co-ordinated effort throughout several years.

At the same time, at the urban level, a network of functions for the restored monuments began to develop, converting them into important focal points for the town's residents; their new role in the town's future became more specific. Buildings located in purely residential areas were usually assigned social uses, such as the Municipal Health Centre on Gavala St and the Centre for the Rehabilitation of Senior Citizens (Senior Centre) at 49N, Pyrhagora St.

For the Hospitaller Hospice of St.

Catherine, a special case, its modern use was considered 10 conjunction with the development of the restoration and the arrangement of its interior. The establishment of the Heritage Centre for Educational Programmes of the Ministry of Culture in Rhodes, carried out by the 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiq ui ties, enriches the bombriddled and downgraded Upper Jewish Quarter, where. the educational activity of the Elementary school still survives. The historic character of all open spaces in the area, dominated by the foundations of the impressive sea wall of the Great Harbour, is also reflected by the content of the educational programmes created for Rhodes. The recent programme 'Rhodes, the Impregnable City' was installed on the ground floor of the east wing of the Hospice, which had been struck by World War II bombs and was restored. The programme has been operating with success since the summer of 2000. It compares the two most important unsuccessful sieges of Rhodes, one by Demetrius the Besieger, in Hellenistic times (304 B.C.) and the other by Mehmed the Conqueror in the Hospitaller period (1480-1481).

Buildings and groups of buildings within the monumental zone

HISTORICAL EVOLUTION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE MEDIEVAL TOWN OF RHODES

An Educational clsss in the Hospice o[St. C1thedne.

or associated with the commercial zone of the Old Market usually find new uses related to the operation of museums - exhibition centres and venues of cultural events. Thus, the Villaragut complex on the Street of the Knights is already open to the public, a typical example of a 19th century upper class residence in the region, while its west wing will soon house the Prehistoric Museum of Rhodes. The compound of the Imaret com bines several functions: a municipalcafeteria, an exhibition hall for the Municipal Gallery, the church of the Holy Apostles which is also open to tourists, while the courtyard serves as a cultural venue. The Byzantine cathedral, Our Lady of the Castle, is open for exhibitions, concerts and other cultural events.

Several vaults belonging to the monumental complex of the medieval fortifications were also rehabilitated during the same period, and operated as venues for exhibitions, musical and other cultural events: the great Bastion of St. George, the Bastion of Italy, the ground floor of the east tower of Heredia, and the ground floor of the central tower of Zacosta at Fort St. Nicholas. In the latter case, the worksite was experimentally opened to the public in the part of the mon ument at the time under restoration. A scale model of the Fort as it had been before the beginning of the restoration was displayed together with a video of its historical development through rime.

Finally, the Grand Master's Palace presents a special case. Apart from its permanent organization to receive visitors, it also houses a convention centre and both permanent and touting exhibitions. After the restoration of the .ground floor of the medieval palace in 1993, two permanent exhibi tions Were mounted there to mark the celebrations for the 2400th anniversary of the foundation of the city of Rhodes. They present the ancient city and the medieval town separately and were prepared by the respective local Ephorates of Antiquities. During summer, in the inner courtyard, quality concerts and other cultural events are held there such as theatre and opera performances that blend with the monumental scale and historic weight of the site.

Model of Fort St. Nicholes.

Nevertheless, several important issues remain unresolved, such as:

a) The insti tuti on of a fullydocumemed study for the restoration of the waIled town.

b) The upgrading of the central commercial zone, known as the Old Market, on the site of the traditional bazaar.

c) The comprehensive facelift of the waterfront of the medieval harbour, from Fort Sc Nicholas to the gate of Acandia, including the three medieval moles: Sr. Nicholas, Naillat and the Mole of the Wi ndrnills.

d) The comprehensive restoration programme for State property.

e) The development of the outsize gaps in the medieval street grid created by World War II bombs in the walled town and the archaeological sites they contain.

f) The reorganization of all open public spaces and parking lots in the town, with appropriate public amenities, comprehensive street lighting and illumination for the town, its monuments and archaeological sites.

HIS,[ORIGAL EVOLUTION AND'MANAGEMENT OF THE MEDIEVAL TOWN ®FAHQDES

A twofold, comprehensive new programme assigned to the Medieval Town of Rhodes Restoration Projects Inspection Committee of the T.D.P.E.A.E. has been included by the Ministry of Culture in the National Branch of the 3rd Community Support Framework of the European Union for 2000-2006 and is already in progress. It includes on one hand the restoration of the medieval monuments of the town of Rhodes and, on the other, the restoration and enhancement of its medieval fortifications.

These operations include large-scale projects which involve whole stretches of the urban grid and aim to. transform the

''Ancient Rhodes" exhibition at the GnlJld Master's Palece.

monumental area, through new plans for the integration of the archaeological sites within the fabric of the. contemporary town. A new approach is thus being adopted for the research and enhancement of monuments which are no longer seen a,'; isolated units, but within a broader urban and historical context and set within a natural landscape of individual character.

This attitude entails systematic excavation, considered as an indispensable part of the project and often covering extensive portions of the street plan under consideration. The archaeological investigation is guided by analysis of the integration of the particular monumental setting into the geographical landscape and its relation to the development of the town from antiquity to modern times. The main hypotheses of the research are form ulated in dose collaboration between the archaeologists and architects in charge. They are. based on knowledge of the archaeological background of the Hellenisticand Byzantine city, the remains of monuments in combination with data available from the records of the Order of St .. John, and the study of the mechanisms influencing the development of the street plan, including the limiting factor of the fortifications 'during the expansion of the town inthe 14th'and 15th centuries.

Thus, the dated concept of dearly-set boundaries to excavated archaeological areas fenced off and isolated from their 'surroundings is revised. In contrast, the idea of archaeological walks connecting isolated monuments and archaeological sites within broader areas is now introduced, enabling the visitor to acquire a better understanding of their continuity and to appreciate the rich J aye rs reflecting the long history of the town.

At a first stage, integrated interventions are planned in the form of pilot projects in two selected and strictly delimited areas, characterized by particular problems in the rehabilitation of the monuments they contain. These are the areas which developed on the fringes of the traditional bazaar ofrhe Ottoman town, at the two ends of the centralaxis of the Hospitaller town, the medieval main road or high street (magna er comm usus pIa tea) .

The first of these areas covers the northwest part of the town, from the old gate of the Hospiraller market (Gate of St. George), to the Grand Master's Palace and its surroundings, heavily modified by the Italians. Its main characteristic is the fact that it stretches between the main axis of the bazaar and the monumental zone: of the Street of the Knights. It comprises the intermediate, neutral and untouched so far, purely residential area ending eastwards in a series of archaeological sites preserving sections of the south wall of the Hospitaller Collachium.

Piecemeal interventions Oil [he monuments of this area in the