Rhodes’ medieval centre is not a museum sealed away from the present. Residents, shops, services and visitors share a dense walled city on the island’s northeastern shore. UNESCO inscribed the Medieval City of Rhodes on the World Heritage List in 1988, recognizing an urban landscape shaped by successive powers rather than one frozen period. The result is a place to explore on foot, where a monumental gate can lead into an ordinary lane and an active neighbourhood.
The historic area is enclosed by a circuit of walls about four kilometres long and is commonly understood as an Upper Town and a Lower Town. The Upper Town contains major Gothic monuments associated with the Knights of St John, including the Palace of the Grand Masters, the Great Hospital and the Street of the Knights. In the Lower Town, Gothic buildings stand alongside mosques, baths and houses from the Ottoman period. These districts are close together but tell different parts of the city’s story.