The island of Rhodes, which belongs to Greece, has become a thriving resort for sun-seekers fleeing the cold winters of northern Europe. In addition to sun, it has a great deal to offer those in search of history and art. Over the centuries, Ottoman rulers, Crusaders, merchants, pirates, poets and artists have all made Rhodes their home and have left their marks on its unique culture.
From the beaches west of Rhodes Town, there is a clear view of Turkey’s Marmaris Peninsula, which is only 20 kilometers away. As early as 2000 BC, its strategic location made the island a thriving center of commerce between Egypt, Lebanon, Greece and the eastern Mediterranean. Rhodes was especially prosperous during the Archaic (700-600 BC) and Hellenistic (300-100 BC) periods, both eras of great creativity in Greek art and architecture. The legendary Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, towered over Rhodes Town’s Mandraki Harbor for most of the 3rd century BC until it was toppled by an earthquake.
During the Middle Ages, Rhodes was a Byzantine possession, and was raided by the Persians, Saracens, and Turks. In 1204, the Crusaders seized Constantinople and granted Rhodes nominal independence. The Knights of St. John settled on the island a century later and began building Rhodes’ extraordinary medieval Old Town, still inhabited and largely intact today. The entire Old Town is a registered UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In 1522, the Ottomans invaded. Rhodes’ sturdy medieval walls held off the siege for months but finally the island passed into the empire of 28-year-old Sultan Suleyman II, known in the West as “Suleyman the Magnificent.” During his 46-year reign, Suleyman presided over the height of the Ottoman Empire’s military power, wealth, and influence, earning the respect of his European contemporaries — Ivan the Terrible of Russia, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I of England, Francis I of France, and Charles V, King of Spain and Roman Emperor. From Algeria to the Gulf, Ottoman navies ruled the seas.
Suleyman was also known as a great patron of the arts, encouraging monumental architecture as well as painting, textiles, metalwork, calligraphy and poetry. The flourishing Islamic art and culture of this period is known as the “Ottoman Renaissance.” Rhodes was no exception, and shortly after the Ottoman victory in 1522, the pink-domed Mosque of Suleyman was built to commemorate the event. It was rebuilt in 1808 and has recently been restored.
The Ottomans ruled Rhodes from 1522 to 1912, and a prosperous Turkish quarter known as the Hora developed in the Old Town. These days it is a colorful, mostly pedestrian area with many Ottoman-style homes, shops, mosques and minarets. Across from the Mosque of Sultan Mustafa, built in 1764, is the small but impressive Ahmad Hasuf Arabic Library. Ahmad Hasuf was a Turkish native of Rhodes who was employed by the Imperial Ottoman Government. His official duties often took him abroad, and in his travels he collected Arabic and Persian books and manuscripts. In 1794, he founded the library, stipulating that it employ not only a librarian but also two teachers of Arabic to instruct the children of the Hora in the language of the Qur’an. Today the library is visited by tourists and visiting scholars.
Another interesting sight in the Hora is the peaceful and harmonious Plateia Dorieos. This tree-shaded square contains the Mosque of Redjep Pasha, built in 1588, as well as an Ottoman fountain, and several attractive cafes. At the other end of the square is the tiny Church of St. Phanourios, built by the Byzantines in the 12th century. The pleasant meeting place of cultures and ages seems to invite the visitor to have a cup of tea and meditate on the varied and colorful figures in Rhodes’ past and the rich legacy they left behind.