A major conservation and restoration project for the Palace of the Grand Master in Rhodes’ Medieval City -a UNESCO World Heritage Site- is moving forward with 11 million euro in funding from European Union resources, secured by the South Aegean Region.
The development was announced by South Aegean Regional Governor George Hatzimarkos, who stressed that the iconic Rhodes monument, one of the most important symbols of the island’s history, with a global appeal, requires substantial conservation and restoration work.
Details of the restoration plan were unveiled in March 2025.
The initiative adds to a series of major interventions already completed or underway in the Medieval City and across Rhodes, AMNA reports.
With the new funding, the Palace of the Grand Master, one of the most recognisable landmarks of Rhodes and its Medieval City, is entering a new phase of substantial conservation and restoration.
Medieval city of Rhodes captures UNESCO’s attention
Rhodes, the largest island of the Dodecanese, was famous in the ancient world as a major maritime power and the site of one of the Seven Wonders; the great statue of the Colossus, erected by Chares of Lindos and overlooking the entrance to the port.
While the Colossus of Rhodes was lost in antiquity, probably collapsed into the sea during an earthquake, in 1309 AD the island was occupied by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem who had lost their last stronghold in Palestine, in Acre, in 1291.
Upon settling on the island, the Knights transformed its capital into a fortified city which proved able to withstand the most terrible sieges, until 1522, when the city fell after a six-month siege carried out by Suleyman II.
Nonetheless, the medieval city of Rhodes survived to this day, located within a 4 km-long wall that divides it into the high town to the north and the lower town south-southwest. It maintains the architectural character and the urban organization of a medieval city, as well as its primary building materials.
With the Palace of the Grand Masters, the Great Hospital and the Street of the Knights, the Upper Town is one of the most beautiful urban ensembles of the Gothic period, UNESCO notes, while in the Lower Town, Gothic architecture coexists with mosques, public baths and other buildings dating from the Ottoman period.
The majestic palace to undergo restoration was originally built in the late 7th century as a fortress of the Byzantine citadel, and was converted by the Knights into their administrative center and the palace of their Grand Master.
Earlier this summer, Greece reopened the Pervola site, a sprawling five-acre expanse in the heart of the Medieval City of Rhodes directly adjacent to the Grand Palace, which had remained inaccessible to the public for 75 years.
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