REPRINT

THE BUILDING MATERIALS OF THE MONUMENTS OF THE

MEDIEVAL CITY OF RHODES AND THE COMPATIBILITY
PROBLEMS WITH MAINTENANCE

Elias E. Kollias

1
The medieval city of Rhodes is the legitimate offspring of the Hellenistic city,
so it would probably be best to say that it is the same city which, in 408 BC, the
ancient Rhodians founded at the northern most end of their island, different of
course and much smaller.

During the Hellenistic years it was one of the most beautiful and organized
cities of the world. It was divided by straight roads, according to the
hippodamian street-plan system; it was decorated with churches, gymnasiums
and other bright public and private building and was protected by mighty
fortifications.

During the Early-Christian years, Rhodes continued to be a great and bright

city, the center of the Aegean, capital of the province of islands and
headquarters of the metropolis of Rhodes with twenty Bishoprics as «subjects»,
some of which belong to large islands, such as Naxos, Samos, Mytilene and
Kos. The Rhodians continue to have the ability to design and the potential to
construct great and luxurious buildings, public and private, and to decorate
them with frescos, enwalled mosaics and architectural marble pieces,
elaborately carved. The city functions as in the Hellenistic years, roughly
maintaining the hippodamian street-plan system with only small deviations and
the approximately all of its remaining Hellenistic town accouterments. The
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conditions change in the Aegean from the 7 century. The Byzantine empire
loses its provinces wealthy in materials and cultural riches, in Syria, Palestine
and North Africa. The islands are threatened by the fury of the Arabic fleet
which is plowing through the Aegean. The coastal settlements on the islands are
destroyed and pillaged by the Arabs. Their residents abandoned them and
escaped from their islands or withdraw to safer places which they fortified . Few
settlements of the Aegean remain in the locations they held in antiquity. Rhodes
th
is one of them. It is quite likely that during the last quarter of the 7 century,
the ancient settlement was not abandoned and that the population, as reported in
historic Arabic sources, in times of enemy invasion, took refuge in a fort. The
size and the position of this fort are elements which we can define today. It was
the place which under the reign of the knights was called Collachium.

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Around the end of the 1 1 century or at the beginning of the 12 century, the
fortification expands and encloses within the walls the section of the settlement
which was spreading without fortification to the south of Collachium.
Therefore, the city takes a longer parallelogram shape, which was generally in
accordance to that of practically all of the Post-Roman and Early-Christian
cities of Asia Minor and the Middle East. Under the reign of the knights, with
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the extensions made during the 14 and 15 centuries, it changes shape,
inclining towards the circular and enclosing the trade harbour, the great port of
ancient Rhodes.

During the period of the Turkish empire (1522 - 1912) practically nothing
changes in the structure of the medieval city. The broad high street, the «Magna
et communis Platea» as it was called during the reign of the knights, becomes
narrower with the construction of houses and largely with the construction of
shops. Two public baths and six Mosques are constructed and many buildings
are later constructed with light materials using wood and plaster, with which
covered wooden balconies and dividing walls are made.

The basic material with which the city of Rhodes was built and shaped from
the time it was founded in 408 BC until the end of the Turkish empire, was the
calcareous sandstone. Sources of derivation of this material for the medieval
period were initially the ancient structural relics which encompassed the city.
The vita of Saint Fanourios reports that during the years of metropolite Neilos
Diasorinos (1357 - 1369), the «master» of Rhodes in other words the Grand
master Roger de Pins (1355 - 1365) or Raymond de Berenger (1365 - 1373)
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decided to «reconstruct the walls of the country» and gave the command to
extract structural material from derelict ancient constructions south of the city.
During the course of the salvaging excavation and search in the city of Rhodes,
very often traces of extraction of structural material from derelict ancient
constructions are discovered. In the relics of Byzantine buildings and mainly of
the fortifications, but also in structures of the early period of the knights , it is
easy to distinguish the use of ancient sandstone, as well as other architectural
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pieces . Naturally sandstone mining quarries were also used. Until today, the
traces of quarry marks in the medieval moat are evident. Wherever the knights
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found sandstone, while digging and deepening the m o a t , they extracted it and
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used it for the construction of fortifications and buildings. Medieval quarries
can also be sighted on the beach of the southeastern region of the city at the
location of Karakonero, at the southern region of the city, in the district of Saint
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Ioannis , and south of the village Koskinou, which lies approximately 6-7 kms
away from the city.
 In addition, the two sandstone quarries in the city of Rhodes are known only
from the historic sources. One lay at the location of Livada on the northern side
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of today's city and belonged to the priest Emanuel Magkafas , who donated a
quantity of sand stone to the knights Battalion under the Grand master A.
Fluvian ( 1421 - 1437) for the construction of the walls. The second lay close to
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the «arches of Arsenal» (Juxta Voltas arsenalis), according to a document of
the Hospitaller Archive in Malta. From this quarry, the Prior of the conventual
church J. Morel in 1441 who was assigned as supervisor by the Hospitaller
Battalion, could extract stone for the construction of the great new hospital. The
areas and the two quarries have yet to be located.

The customary construction system of sandstone from the Early-Christian

years until the end of the Turkish empire was ashlar.

In the Early-Christian years, and particularly in the early Byzantine and

middle Byzantine years, the ancient construction material which was derived
from the relics of the Hellenistic city was used without being processed or was
processed only enough to slightly improve the method of joining the stone
bricks. Most often during construction, they instated pieces of the tiles for the
satisfactory placement of the stones. The joints have a width of 0.05 to 0.10 m
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and usually were enclosed with a lime mortar . The walls however, give the
feeling of an ashlar construction. During the Byzantine period, this system is
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often combined with the webbing system , in particular when walls of great
width are being constructed , which begin at 0.80 m and in fortifications reach
up to 3.00 or 3.20 m. In these cases, two parallel walls were built and the space
between them was filled with clay stones and clay, but sometimes the two
external walls were also connected with transversely placed stone blocks.

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During the reign of the knights, in particular during the first half of the 14
century, building using construction material derived from the structural
remains of the ancient city continued. The Voyagers who visited Rhodes then,
admired the size of the stone blocks which the knights used in the construction,
largely, of fortifications. They were large stone blocks whose length usually
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exceeded 1.50 m and had a height of 0.48 to 0.50 m. Later , and especially
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from the 15 century onwards, the knights used smaller sized stone blocks
whose length did not usually exceed 0.30 to 0.35 m and formed tiles from 0.22
to 0.26 m, even though sometimes the height of the tiles on the fortifications
reaches 0.40 m, especially at the end of the }5 century and at the beginning of
Λ

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the 16 century under the grand masters D'Aubusson, D'Amboise and Del
Caretto. In this period , the horizontal and vertical joints are straight, and in the
fortifications, as a rule, are covered by an irregular strip of plaster, which has a
width of 0.02 to 0.03 m. During the time that Rhodes was governed by the
grand masters A. Fluvian (1421 - 1437) up to and including P. R. Zacosta
(1461 - 1467), particular sections of the fortifications (gate of Saint Anthony,
tower of Saint Georgios, tower of Saint Ioannis etc.) have horizontal and
vertical joints which are covered by a strip of plaster with a width of +/-0.01 m,
protruding so that the external ends of it are completely straight and obviously
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cut with the help of a ruler. At the end of the 15 century and at the beginning
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of the 16 century, one category of symmetrical wall-construction, with
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excellent seaming and very delicate joints which are difficult to distinguish,
becomes fashionable and it appears in secular and church buildings. This type
of wall-construction is modeled on the ancient one. In my opinion, it is very
likely to be the impact of ideas of the Renaissance. Moreover, an example
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constructed in accordance with the pseudo-ashlar system , has been located in
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the magazine (beginning of 16 century) which stands on the northern side of
the Argyrokastro squar. Here, tiles are alternated, so that one has a height of
0.35 m and the other 0.19 m. This type of sophisticated wall-making obviously
draws its origin from the ancient Greek models of the Hellenistic period. In this
period, as the joints are covered by mortar, this is then engraved with delicate
joints with the help of a ruler. During the period of the Turkish empire, from
1522 until 1912, the use of Rhodian sandstone structured according to the ashlar
1 5
system continues. The Muslim temples (of Imprahim Pasha of 1540, of
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Retjep Pasha of 1588 and of the Sultan Mustafa of 1765), the bath of Sultan
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Mustafa of the 18 century, the mausoleums in the burial ground of Murad Reis
and other constructions of that period were built with a careful ashlar wall-
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construction, which approximates that of the end of the 15 century and the
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beginning of the 16 century. The same occurred with the constructions, houses
and churches, which were built by Greeks in the same period outside of the
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medieval city in Lindos .

Limestone does not seem to be used as a construction material in the

medieval city until the period of the Italian empire, in other words until 1912.
Generally, on the island of Rhodes, it was used in this way in areas where it was
abundant. The Early-Christians constructions at the location of Charaki of the
village Malona and the medieval Castle of Faraklos in the same area have been
built with limestone, because the hill of Faraklos had been formed from this
material. The same could be said for the medieval Castle of the village of
Archaggelos and the village of Asklipeios . Limestone, of course, as everything
else, was used for the production of asbestos, which will be discussed later.
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Marble had a limited use in construction. As a rule, it was placed on door
threholds, it framed the rectangular windows of the firearms in the fortification,
it covered, in the form of slabs, the floors of courtyards and largely it was
engraved with coats of arms or epigraphs which were enwalled in buildings and
in the fortifications. Marble tombslabs, which were carved, usually in the
image of the deceased accompanied with epigraph which declared the name of
the deceased, his rank and date of death, covered the graves of the knights , and
also the prosperous townsmen of the city. Marble as a rule, was derived from
the ancient ruins of the city or from its cemeteries. Marble, just like limestone,
was used during the Middle Ages, but also during the period of the Turkish
empire and as an asbestos production material. Again we will discuss this later.
 The roadway of the greater number of streets and squares of the medieval
city until the middle of the decade of 1950 approximately, was covered by a
layer of sea shells cohesively set in clay. The same occurred with the courtyards
and the covered areas of certain buildings. Archaeological research has
indications, but not certain proof, that in the Middle Ages the pebble also had
the same use, at least on particular central roads, in courtyards and ground-level
areas of certain buildings.

The use of wood during the Middle Ages does not differ from that of the
Hellenistic years. It was used to make furniture, door or window frames, lintels
for doors or windows , ceilings (as a rule, on the storey and often on the ground
floor) and during the period of the Turkish empire for covered wooden
balconies plaster mainly for front faces of the storey, in other words thin
partitions made of timber and plaster and girders.

The forests of Rhodes were always rich. Trees which were appropriate for
construction grew in them, such as pine trees, cypress trees and cedars. One of
the reasons why the Arabs, during the early Byzantine period, sought to take
over Rhodes was the desire to be supplied with valuable wood for the
construction of their ships. Cedar wood was also obtained by Rhodians from the
Asia Minor during the period of the Turkish empire. A ruthless enemy of wood
is the climate of Rhodes, damp and hot, which favours the development of
pernicious organisms in wood.

We will not particularly dwell on the use of metals, iron. Brass and lead in
construction. They had the same use as in antiquity. The medieval Rhodians
made tools, nails, railings, gate casings, joints, pegs etc.

The historic sources have not enlightened us, at least not yet, on their origin,
if, in other words, the metals were imported from other countries or if some of
them at least were mined as ore by Rhodes or other islands of the Dodecanese.
The only thing we do know is that there was an attempt by a certain Ioannis de
1 9
Riparia in 1441 to locate gold, silver, brass, iron, and lead ore etc. However,
nothing is known about the result of the search. Nevertheless, there is some
information that during antiquity there was at least the exploitation of lead
2 0
deposits .

According to the research carried out in Rhodes, Kos, Leros, and Kalymnos,
bricks were used in the construction of domes and cupolas during the Early-
Christians years. In particular, Rhodian bricks were certainly of the finest, if not
the finest in the whole of the Byzantine Empire, due to the fact that they had
been selected for the construction of the dome of St. Sophia in Constatinople.
Ioustinianos sent three prefects to Rhodes (532/37) in order to make «large,
hollow, porous, thin, and white bricks) there; the post of five bricks is situated
21
at one of our own bricks » .
 When in 562 , under the reign of Ioustinos, the dome was damaged, they
22
used Rhodian bricks again . We have only one preserved example from the
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mid Byzantine period, at the Castle of old Pelio . The bricks were also surely
during the period of reign of the knights, since there is mention of importing of
bricks to Rhodes from Astypalea a document of the Hospitaller knights, from
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the Maltese records, dated 1452 . The excavational research, to date, has only
located their use in the construction of the sugar processing workshop, located
in zacharomylos of Malona. Excavational research has also indicated that they
were used in the flooring of a tomb at St. Spyridonas in the medieval city.
Baked clay tiles, originating from the workshops in Italy and Spain, were used
th th
by the Rhodians in the late 15 and early 16 centuries in order to cover the
2 5
flooring of luxurious parlors in the Palace of the Grand Masters and the
homes of the rich bourgeois of Rhodes.

Rooftop tiles, whether wooden or arched, were used during the whole of the
Hellenistic and early-christian period. During the period of knights, the social
buildings of Rhodes have a flat roof. The rest of the buildings are , by then,
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covered with a wooden roof, with a coat of concrete with broken brick. It is
likely that the homes of the poor were covered with the green clay, the clay
which was used as a rule during Turkish domination and until a few decades
ago. The ecclesiastic monuments which continued to be arched and domed,
where coated with plaster upon which roof tiles were placed. Neither the
historical sources nor the archeological research has located any roof tile
construction workshops until today.

Plaster, as an adhesive material, became essential to the construction of walls

from the early-christian period. Often walls are built with simple clay (earth and
th
water), mentioned in Byzantine documents of the 1 1 century as «stone and
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clay built » which was followed by joining or coating with lime mortar.
Nevertheless, the forts and important buildings in the medieval city of Rhodes,
especially of the period of knights were built by use of lime mortar as an
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adhesive material , the walls were therefore «rustic » . The plaster was a
mixture of lime and sand or other materials.

The lime was made by burning limestone, but they preferred marble because
it produced a product of excellent quality. Lime furnaces are often located in
archaeological grounds. The sensitive humanitarian knight Sabba da Castilione
(1480 - 1554) arrived on Rhodes in 1505 and, acting as an agent to the marquise
of Mantova, Isabella Conzaga d' Este, sent her ancient status which he collected
from Rhodes and the Alikarnassos area. In the letters accompanying the ancient
works of art, he accuses his fellow knights of being barbarians who know
nothing more than to use a sword and wear the iron armor; he is terrified at the
idea that an ancient sarcophagus, which had just been found at Petroumi (today
called Budrum), might be turned into lime to be used for constructional
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purposes by the commander of the C a s t l e .
 In the written agreement , made in November 1453, between the Knights
and the leaders of the people of Nisyros, the people of Nisyros request that the
Grand Master sends them a foreman in order to build a new large castle, as well
as a craftsman for the manufacture of the lime needed for the construction of the
new Castle. They pay particular attention to the preparation of lime, which was
obviously rare. There is no limestone in Nisyros. Until a few decades ago they
obtained it from neighboring Telos.

As mentioned above, another type of mortar frequently used and known from
ancient times, was concrete with broken brick, which is a mixture of ground tile
and lime. This concrete was processed into an excellent water insulating
material which covered domes and flat roofs as well as the internal surfaces of
water tanks. During the period of reign of the knights and Turkish domination,
it was sometimews used in Rhodes to cover the external surfaces of buildings
when they had leakages of rainwater to the interior.

These, in brief, are the materials constituting the medieval city of Rhodes
and this is the history regarding their use. The history, comprising many
centuries, of the monuments of the medieval city of Rhodes, as well as their
endurance to time, partly proves the compatibility of the materials it is
composed of. They remain erect and intact, although some are burdened with an
age exceeding 500 years, strong earthquakes have shaken them, and they have
been hit by the bombardments of the latest large war. We must also bear in
mind that they are situated in the unfavorable environment of the damp climate
on Rhodes as well as in direct contact with the sea.

•The harmony of the relationship between the construction material was

th
preserved until the first decades of the 2 0 century, that is until the Italian
occupancy. The new conquerors of the island were astonished at the sight of the
medieval city, facing an environment of western European construction which
had hardly been altered in its entirety by time and the slight interventions that
had taken place during the Turkish domination. The prevailing conviction of
that period, ingrained with the romanticism of the 19 century, not only paid
particular attention to the medieval monuments, but also sought their cleansing
from all alien to them, later additions and alterations in their construction;
builders often «restored» the monuments to their possible initial state.
Following this, from the 1920s onwards, after the dominance of the fascist
regime in Italy, there were also political reasons that imposed the promotion of
the medieval chivalric monuments. Within the general propaganda of the
3
italianation of the Greek population, the conquerors left the material
documentation regarding the Byzantine, pre-knightly history in obscurity, whilst
signifying that the western European history of Rhodes was a continuation of
Italian history which had been intercepted by the Ottoman occupancy.
 The Italian regime, acting beneficially, cleaned the fortifications of every
foreign body which changed and degraded it aesthetically. They demolished all
the buildings which rose above the walls and in front of the sea gate and begun
to prop them. Their intervention to the interior of the medieval gate were
limited mainly in the region of Collachium, the area in which the members of
the knights battalion resided and was concurrently the administration
headquarters during the period of knightly reign.

The preservation works to the quarters of «languages» on Knight Street

commenced in the 1920s. (The faces of the buildings were cleaned from the
coatings, added closed verandahs and all those constructions believed to be
foreign to the initial knightly form of the buildings). We will not touch on the
subject of the morphological and functional problems of the restoration works
here; we will rather focus on the materials that were used.

In referring above to the history of the constructional materials which were

used during the middle ages, we mentioned which ones they were and how they
were used in Rhodes. Their durability to wear and human intervention has
proven their compatibility in practice by now. During the period in question
though at the time of the restorations of the medieval monuments of Rhodes,
cement had made its appearance, which was then regarded to be a prime
constructional material of great possibilities. Obviously, they were not aware of
the dangers its use posed to the monuments. Therefore, cement was used on all
the monuments of Knight Street, some of them regarded as important works of
architecture (quarters of <languages» of Italy, France, Provence etc.). They
retained or rebuilt the wooden ceilings and covered the roofs externally with
reinforced concrete tiles, whereas during the rule of Knights and Turkish
domination, as mentioned above, the roofs were covered with concrete with
broken brick or clay. In fact, on the southern side of Knight Street, were some
simple, seemingly knightly buildings rise restored, they did not lay a wooden
roof; instead they shaped coated roofs with or without balcony. They erected
thick beams made of reinforced concrete which occasionally bear underpins
made of the same material. The lintels on the openings (doors or windows) of
the buildings, where they are coated, have also been constructed with reinforced
concrete. The same method has been used wherever it has been necessary to
construct girders. By the 1970s, 30 or 40 years following these constructions,
the damages of these materials became evident.

Cracks began to appear on the tile veneering and the loadbearing of the
buildings, which resulted in the fact that rainwater leaked through to their
interior. The damp, among other things, began to destroy the wooden ceilings
or, where these did not exist, the veneering fell off the ceilings as a result of
oxidation of the expanding iron in the armature of the slate. The same fact is
observed with the veneering over the concrete girders or the lintels on the doors
and windows.
 The plaster used as an adhesive material or as a veneering of the interior
areas also consisted of a large quantity of cement. It is possible that this is the
reason why, due to the damp of Rhodes, many of these dilate and fall. Where
interventions were made on the fortifications, plaster was used as an adhesive,
in which they had used a large quantity of cement. The damages are evident at
first sight.

The same method, regarding the use of constructional materials, was also
used in the «restoration» of the Great Master's Palace, between 1936 and 1940.
The result of the use of the materials became evident sooner than the results on
the Knight Street buildings. By the beginning of the 1960s, rain water began to
flow through the cracked tiling and the roof beams had been affected by decay.
Before the roof was insulated in 1998, the guarding staff of the Palace often
placed plastic dispensers in order to collect the rainwater which leaked from the
ceiling in many of its halls. Wherever there was veneering, it flaked, and the
decorative Italian wall paintings fell. When it became necessary to remove the
veneering, in 1988, in order to reveal the early Byzantine wall painting of the
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17 century, we realized that it was approximately 0,10m thick and consisted of
a mixture of sand and a large quantity of cement.

Following the incorporation of the Dodecanese into Greece (1947), the

Greek archeological Ephorate undertook the important job of restoring the
monuments which had been affected by the bombardments of the latest large
war, a job which was continued until approximately the mid 1960s. The
restoration and supporting of the monuments in Rhodes, as well as the other
islands of the Dodecanese, was continued at a tireless rate. By approximately
the early 1980s, cement continued to be used, at least as an adhesive material in
construction. We must bear in mind that, until approximately the mid of 1970s,
the Archeological Ephorate maintained the monuments, following one-sided
scientific analysis and report of the archeologist, due to the fact that they did not
employ a scientific technical staff. The methodology was not only Rhodian but
Panhellenic in the least. The opinion of the experienced and reliable technician
was decisive in the use of the constructional material, especially regarding
plaster and the facing of static problems. It was natural for the craftsman to be
influenced by the current modem notion regarding the construction materials.

I believe that the conclusion volunteers itself: The Rodian monuments

require a study of, among others, the medieval materials, especially the plaster,
due to the fact that we made errors in that particular area. Ever since the Italian
domination, lime mortar was abandoned as an adhesive and as a
coating/veneering; cement was used instead, in both the above cases. Contrary
to this, the tradition of coating domes with concrete with broken bricks, was
preserved by the Greek Archaeological Ephorate.