STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE. Principles, Methodology, Applications VOLUME II

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

PRINCIPLES - METHODOLOGY - APPLICATION

VOL. II

Dorothea Papathanasiou-Zuhrt, Ph.D.

MYTILENE, 2013

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | 2

COVER Medieval Town of Rhodes, Knight Street and Museum Square: THE GREAT HOSPITAL OF THE KNIGHTS IN EUROPE Viewed from the House of the Grand Hospitaller Guys de Melais

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 THE GREAT HOSPITAL OF TH KNIGHTS IN RHODES ...... 4

CATEGORY ....................................................................... 6

TYPE ................................................................................... 6

WEBSITE URL ...................................................................... 6

ADMINISTRATIVE LOCATION ........................................... 7

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION ............................................... 7

OWNERSHIP ...................................................................... 8

LANDSCAPE ELEMENTS .................................................... 9

DATING PERIOD (S) ........................................................ 13

ASSOCIATIONS .............................................................. 14

DESCRIPTION .................................................................. 15

CONDITION .................................................................... 19

SECTION II: ASSESSMENT ............................................... 20

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE ...................................... 21

2 THE NOBLE HOSPICE OF THE KNIGHTS IN RHODES ... 25

SECTION I: RECORD SHEET ............................................ 26

CATEGORY ..................................................................... 27

TYPE ................................................................................. 27

WEBSITE URL .................................................................... 27

ADMINISTRATIVE LOCATION ......................................... 28

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION ............................................. 28

OWNERSHIP .................................................................... 29

LANDSCAPE ELEMENTS .................................................. 31

DATING PERIOD (S) ........................................................ 32

ASSOCIATIONS .............................................................. 33

DESCRIPTION .................................................................. 36

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | THE GREAT HOSPITAL OF THE KNIGHTS IN RHODES

4

1 THE GREAT HOSPITAL OF THE KNIGHTS IN RHODES

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | THE GREAT HOSPITAL OF THE KNIGHTS IN RHODES

5

Tick unit of recording:

Building Complex Archaeological Site Open Space

Section 1. Identification and Description of the Asset

Reference number: ΥΑ 23084/737/25-8-1948 - ΦΕΓΔΔ 10/23-9-1948

Name(s): Great Hospital of the Knights in Rhodes Greece

And/or

New Hospital of the Knights in Rhodes

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | TYPE 6

CATEGORY

Agriculture and Subsistence Water Supply and Drainage

Built Environment Commercial

Museum Communications

Civil Domestic

Commemorative Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces

Defence Industrial

Education Recreational

Health and Welfare Transport

Maritime Water Supply and Drainage

Religious, Ritual and Funerary Commercial

Unassigned

TYPE

Original: Civic Building of Community Benefit (Hospital)

Αστικά Κτίρια, Κτίσματα Κοινής Ωφελείας

Current: Museum

WEBSITE URL

http://listedmonuments.culture.gr/monument.php?code=4148

http://listedmonuments.culture.gr/monument.php?code=4148

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | ADMINISTRATIVE LOCATION

7

ADMINISTRATIVE LOCATION

Country: GREECE

Region: SOUTH AEGEAN

Administrative Unit: MUNICIPALITY OF RHODES

Locality (town, village): CITY OF RHODES

Address (street, number): Megalou Alexandrou Square, Street of the Knights, Medieval City

Postal Code: GR-85100

Locality Code: GR-85100

Access: Megalou Alexandrou Square, Street of the Knights

Notes on location: _______________________________________________________

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION Cartographic Reference: Coordinates 36° 26′ 41.28″ N, 28° 13′ 37.56″ E Latitude: 36°26′26″ N Longitude: 28°13′21″ E Spatial Referencing System: NUTS II, SOUTH AEGEAN Altitude: Elevation above sea level: 22 m = 72 ft

Topography:

Notes on Geographical Location:

All coordinates are given in the WGS 84 coordinate reference system. WGS 84 is the latest revision of the World Geodetic System, which is used in mapping and navigation, including GPS satellite navigation system (the Global Positioning System).

http://toolserver.org/~geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Category:Archaeological_Museum_of_Rhodes&params=36.4448_N_28.2271_E_type:institution&language=en

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | OWNERSHIP 8

OWNERSHIP

Owner/Administrator Name HELLENIC REPUBLIC, Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports

General Directorate of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage,

4th EVA (4th Curatorship of Byzantine Antiquities)

Owner/ Administrator Type: private public mixt unknown

Present function of the asset/ since when: 1914 Italian Administration of Rhodes (1914-1944)

Previous functions/ period:

Function Start Date End Date

Great Hospital of The Knights 1440 1522

Barracks for Ottoman Army 1522 1914

Archaeological Museum 1914 Present

Notes on Ownership:

After the 2nd WW, the Great Hospital of the Knights in Rhodes has entered into the jurisdiction of the:

· Kingdom of Greece: 1935-1974 · Third Hellenic Republic: 19740 - present

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | LANDSCAPE ELEMENTS

9

LANDSCAPE ELEMENTS Buildings:

With the top of the main door, the reverse of the bedside of the vault of the big room of the hospital forms projecting; it is decorated of a marble plate: two angels carry the weapons of Fluvian. A magnificent gateway leads from the east (nowadays Mousiou Square) into a passage roofed with ribbed cross-vaults and then into a quadrilateral Courtyard. At the far end of the courtyard, opposite the entrance, is a Late Hellenistic state of a seated lion. In front of its base lies a section of mosaic floor, probably of the closing decade of the 5th century AD, from the Early Christian basilica of Presbyteros Eucharistos at Arkasa, Karpathos. Left, a door leads into another, small Courtyard surrounded by vaulted magazines. Set in the ground is part of a mosaic floor from the narthex of the Early Christian basilica of Aghia Anastasia at Arkasa, Karpathos, of 6th century date. We return to the large courtyard which is surrounded by a two-storeyed Gallery, the ground floor of which is covered by ribbed cross-vaults and the upper storey with a flat wooden roof. On the north face of the building, onto the Street of the Knights, is another large portal, the wooden doors of which were still in position in 1826 when the traveller Rottiers saw them. They too were carved and bore the coat-of-arms of Grand Master P. d’Aubusson. From this entrance which is closed to visitors - a wide marble staircase leads directly to the northwest edge of the upper storey. Ranged around the courtyard at ground level are vaulted-roofed Storerooms. Access to those on the east and north side is from the outside (the former from Mousiou Square and the latter from the Street of the Knights), while those on the other two sides are reached from the courtyard. A large stone staircase to the left of the entrance leads from the large courtyard to the upper storey. We turn left into the Large hospital ward (I), which is 51 m. long and 12.25 m. wide, and divided into two by a colonnade orientated N-S. The plain capitals of the octagonal stone columns supporting the archways are embellished with the heraldic device of the Order of St John and of Grand Master d’Aubusson in alternation. Some of the original roof timbers still survive (as in other rooms in the Hospital), on which are painted the coats-of-arms of the Hospital’s founders, Grand Masters A. Fluvian, J.B. de Lastic and P. d’Aubusson. About half way along the east side of the hall, opposite the door and projecting outwards over the great gateway, is the polygonal apse of the chapel. The large fireplace on the south side of the hall, right, would have warmed the atmosphere. On the two long sides of the ward, the east and west, is a series of small vaulted areas


10

within the actual walls. A result of the concealed buttressing of the wall, they served as isolation wards for some patients. Sculptures from the time of the Knights are exhibited in this hall: relief tombstones of Grand Masters and Knights, relief coats-of-arms and inscribed plaques. A small door, right, leads into another, smaller Chamber (II) with a polygonal pillar at the centre supporting two arches, in turn maintaining the wooden roof. It is very likely that this room was used as a refectory. Displayed here are funerary statues of the Late Roman period, the majority of Rhodian provenance, excepting a small group which has been brought from Nisyros. Northwest of the refectory is the Hospital Kitchen (III); it is roofed by a cross-vault with an aperture through which the smoke could escape. The room now houses sculptures dating from the 7th to the 5th century BC. An arched stone opening connects the kitchen with another Room, devoted mainly to the display of funerary reliefs and statues from the 5th century BC until Roman times. From the next room along the visitor may enter the Museum Garden in which various statues, large and small, have been set up. Part of the courtyard is occupied by a mosaic floor from the Early Christian basilica of Aghia Anastasia at Arkasa, Karpathos. A door leads from the garden to the two Rooms opposite (IV, V) in which statues of the Hellenistic and Roman period are exhibited. The visitor returns once again to the arcade of the upper storey, via the Hospital refectory. All around are small Rooms (1-15) the precise function of which is unknown. Indeed, those on the west and north side of the gallery are each provided with a separate entrance and a fireplace. The showcases housed in them today contain vases dating from Geometric times to the Late Hellenistic period. The first floor is the Hospital and in the ground floor are located the store housed and the inner court yard.

Heritage: Architecture Considered to be a veritable jewel of Gothic Art, the Great Hospital of the Knights, is probably the most important monument from the Knights’ legacy in the Medieval Town. The Great Hospital’s architectural concept owes much to the inns and caravanserais of the East or to Byzantine monasteries and “hotels”. The arrangement of all these categories of buildings is analogous with that of the Hospital of Rhodes: ranged around a central rectangular courtyard were rooms serving various purposes, cellars, storerooms, stables etc. A


11

characteristic feature of these buildings is the two-storeyed covered | gallery round all four sides of the courtyard. However, the large, long hall in which the patients \ were housed is a typical example of the wards in Western European hospitals (hotels-Dieu). Shift in Medicine The innovation the Knights have performed in medicine is that instead of following the typical monastic infirmary pattern to prepare the soul for death and provide for basic medical interventions only, they produced a shift in Medicine in accordance to the ideals of the Renaissance, delivering medical care that is respected and appreciated from the view point of today:

· instead return their soldiers to health to continue their religious vocation and thus the aim is to cure the patient

· instead of abandoning the sick to their fate to organized their care sick independently of sex and class and origin, a great step towards tolerance in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

· the ability to care for large numbers of patients with a logistics system worthy of today’s standards

· the promotion of medical studies and the certification of higher and lower skills in the medical profession

· the standards of hygiene and disinfection for the first time in collective establishments of Western Europe

The Hospitaller Legacy today The fruits of that commitment are to be found in the substantial and effective work they undertake throughout the world. In one hundred and fifty countries their almost fifty thousand members and about four hundred thousand regular volunteers and hands-on supporters, backed by millions of individual donors, run ambulance corps, relief services, hospitals, hospices, clinics and medical programmes; care for the elderly, the disabled, children and the homeless; and engage in first aid training and disaster and humanitarian relief. No other order claiming to use the title of St. John of Jerusalem can be described in these terms.


12

Farming: _________________________________________________________________

Land Cover: ______________________________________________________________

Hydrology: _______________________________________________________________

Communications: __________________________________________________________

Access: Unrestricted Restricted No access

Vulnerabilities: ___________________________________________________________

Description: _______________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | DATING PERIOD (S) 13

DATING PERIOD (S) Period Date from Date to

Great Hospital of the Knights in Rhodes

1437 1522

Archaeological Museum 1914 To day

Notes on dating: ____________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | ASSOCIATIONS 14

ASSOCIATIONS Persons, Events and Organisations Associated with the History of the Building/Site/Area/ Period:

Person/Organisation/Event Role/connection Start Date

End Date

Grand Masters Antoni Fluvia. Fluvian, J.B. de Lastic and P. d’Aubusson.

GM Fluvia invested 10.000 florins from how own property to build the Hospital, meaning as sum 2.500.000 US dollars of as on florin is 3.5 gr. Fine gold and has a value of 250 modern US dollars

1437

Grand Master Jean Bonpart de Lastic GM de Lastic started the construction works

1440

Grand Master Pierre d’ Aubusson GM d’ Aubusson completed the Hospital

1489

Notes on Associations: ______________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | DESCRIPTION 15

DESCRIPTION

Entrance and Coats of Arms

With the top of the main door, the reverse of the bedside of the vault of the big room of the hospital forms projecting; it is decorated of a marble plate: two angels carry the weapons of Fluvian. The marble streamer under the angels explains that GM Fluvian devoted 10.000 guilders to the construction of the building; the Gothic characters of the dedication are difficult to read, because the lead which filled them was recovered by the Turks. Much of the stone and other building materials was taken from the Roman building on the site of which the Hospital stands. The Gateway An epic gateway leads from the east (nowadays Mousiou Square) into a passage roofed with ribbed cross-vaults and then into a quadrilateral Courtyard. Entrance Doors The original wooden doors are carved with the date 1512 and the coats-of-arms of Grand Master E. d’Amboise and the “grand Hospitaller” Ph. V. de ’lsle Adam and were given by the Ottomans to the French in 1836. Today they are kept at Versailles. Ground Floor In the ground floor are located the store housed and the inner court yard. Large Courtyard At the far end of the courtyard, opposite the entrance, is a Late Hellenistic state of a seated lion. In front of its base lies a section of mosaic floor, probably of the closing decade of the 5th century AD, from the Early Christian basilica of Presbyteros Eucharistos at Arkasa in Karpathos. The Gallery The large courtyard which is surrounded by a two-storeyed Gallery, the ground floor of which is covered by ribbed cross-vaults and the upper storey with a flat wooden roof.

Small Courtyard Left, a door leads into another, small Courtyard surrounded by vaulted magazines. Set in the ground is part of a mosaic floor from the narthex of the Early Christian basilica of Aghia Anastasia at Arkasa, Karpathos, of 6th century date. On the north


face of the building, onto the Street of the Knights, is another large portal, the wooden doors of which were still in position in 1826 when the traveller Rottiers saw them. They too were carved and bore the coat-of-arms of Grand Master P. d’Aubusson. From this entrance which is closed to visitors - a wide marble staircase leads directly to the northwest edge of the upper storey. Store Rooms

Ranged around the courtyard at ground level are vaulted-roofed Storerooms. Access to those on the east and north side is from the outside (the former from Mouseiou Square and the latter from the Street of the Knights), while those on the other two sides are reached from the courtyard. First Floor The first floor is the Hospital. Monumental Staircase A large stone staircase to the left of the entrance leads from the large courtyard to the upper storey. Ward of the Sick We turn left into the Large hospital ward (I), which is 51 m. long and 12.25 m. wide, and divided into two by a colonnade orientated N-S. The plain capitals of the octagonal stone columns supporting the archways are embellished with the heraldic device of the Order of St John and of Grand Master d’Aubusson in alternation. Some of the original roof timbers still survive (as in other rooms in the Hospital), on which are painted the coats-of-arms of the Hospital’s founders, Grand Masters A. Fluvian, J.B. de Lastic and P. d’Aubusson. The Fireplace About half way along the east side of the hall, opposite the door and projecting outwards over the great gateway, is the polygonal apse of the chapel. The large fireplace on the south side of the hall, right, would have warmed the atmosphere. Isolation Wards (Intensive Care) On the two long sides of the ward, the east and west, is a series of small vaulted areas within the actual walls. A result of the concealed buttressing of the wall, they served as isolation wards for some patients. Sculptures from the time of the Knights are exhibited in this hall: relief tombstones of Grand Masters and Knights, relief coats-of-arms and inscribed plaques. Refectory

A small door, right, leads into another, smaller Chamber (II) with a polygonal pillar at the centre supporting two arches, in turn maintaining the wooden roof. It is very likely that this room was used as a refectory. Displayed here are funerary statues of the Late Roman period, the majority of Rhodian provenance, excepting a small group which has been brought from Nisyros. Hospital Kitchen


Northwest of the refectory is the Hospital Kitchen (III); it is roofed by a cross-vault with an aperture through which the smoke could escape. The room now houses sculptures dating from the 7th to the 5th century BC. An arched stone opening connects the kitchen with another Room, devoted mainly to the display of funerary reliefs and statues from the 5th century BC until Roman times. Arcade of the First Floor Around the arcade of the upper storey and the Hospital refectory are small Rooms (1-15) the precise function of which is unknown. Indeed, those on the west and north side of the gallery are each provided with a separate entrance and a fireplace. The showcases housed in them today contain vases dating from Geometric times to the Late Hellenistic period. Garden From the next room along the visitor may enter the Museum Garden in which various statues, large and small, have been set up. Part of the courtyard is occupied by a mosaic floor from the Early Christian basilica of Aghia Anastasia at Arkasa, Karpathos. A door leads from the garden to the two Rooms opposite (IV, V) in which statues of the Hellenistic and Roman period are exhibited.

Main Materials and Structural Techniques:

Local Stone in second use from the remains of the preceding roman building in situ. Gothic Architecture

Diurnal Variations: _________________________________________________________

Open

Winter: From the 1st of November until the 31 of March 2010: 8:30-15:00

Holidays

1 January: closed 6 January: 08:30 - 15:00 Shrove Monday: 08:30 - 15:00 25 March: closed Good Friday: 08:00 - 19:00 Holy Saturday: 08:00 - 19:00 1 May: closed Easter Sunday: closed Easter Monday: 08:00 - 19:00 Holy Spirit Day: 08:00 - 19:00 15 August: 08:00 - 19:00


28 October: 08:00 - 19:00 25 December: closed 26 December: closed

Free admission days

6 March (in memory of Melina Mercouri) 5 June (International Enviroment Day) 18 April (International Monuments Day) 18 May (International Museums Day) The last weekend of September annually (European Heritage Days) 27 September, International Tourism Day Sundays in the period between 1 November and 31 March National Holidays (28th of October, 21st of March)

Movement: _______________________________________________________________

Free admission for:

Greek citizens and citizens of other Member - States of the European Union aged over 65 years old by showing their ID card or passport.

Journalists with a journalist identity card Members of Societies and Associations of Friends of Museums and Archaeological Sites

throughout Greece with the demonstration of certified membership card Members of the ICOM-ICOMOS Persons accompanying blind and disabled Students of Higher Education Institutes and equivalent Schools from countries outside the

EU by showing their student ID The official guests of the Greek government, with the approval of the General Director of

Antiquities. Tourist guides after demonstrating their professional identity of the Ministry of Culture and

Tourism. University students and students at Technological Educational Institutes or equivalent

schools of Member - States of the European Union and students at Schools of Tourist Guides, by showing their student ID

Young people, under the age of 18, after demonstrating the Identity Card or passport to confirm the age

Feasts, Special Days: ______________________________________________________

Designations

World Heritage Ref. UNESCO 12COM XIV.A/1988

European Label Ref. ___________________________________

National Ref. ___________________________________

Regional/local Ref. ___________________________________

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | CONDITION 19

CONDITION Historic Integrity:

Rhodes is the only European walled town with its landscape maintained intact in 1522 that still shows the transition between the classical medieval fortification and the modern ones. Considered to be a veritable jewel of Gothic Art, the Great Hospital of the Knights, is one of the most important monument from the Knights’ legacy in the Medieval Town of Rhodes.

Physical Condition:

Excellent and fully accessible to large numbers of visitors (circa 180.000 at annual basis)

Notes on Condition: ____________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | SECTION II: ASSESSMENT

20

SECTION II: ASSESSMENT

Significance of the asset (tick for each value):

Assessment of Significance Very High/ Very good

High/ Good

Medium/ Moderate

Low/ Poor

None

Rarity

Representativeness

Aesthetic Value

Integrity

Historical Value

Symbolic, Spiritual and Social Value

Scientific Value

Interpretive Potential

Importance:

· Global

· European

· National

· Regional

· Local

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

21

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Final Statement of Significance (free text):

Rhodes is the only European walled town with its landscape maintained intact in 1522 that still shows the transition between the classical medieval fortification and the modern ones. Considered to be a veritable jewel of Gothic Art, the Great Hospital of the Knights, is probably the most important monument from the Knights’ legacy in the Medieval Town.

The innovation the Knights have performed in medicine is that instead of following the typical monastic infirmary pattern to prepare the soul for death and provide for basic medical interventions only, they produced a shift in Medicine in accordance to the ideals of the Renaissance, delivering medical care that is respected and appreciated from the view point of today:

· instead return their soldiers to health to continue their religious vocation and thus the aim is to cure the patient

· instead of abandoning the sick to their fate to organized their care sick independently of sex and class and origin, a great step towards tolerance in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

· the ability to care for large numbers of patients with a logistics system worthy of today’s standards

· the promotion of medical studies and the certification of higher and lower skills in the medical profession

· the standards of hygiene and disinfection for the first time in collective establishments of Western Europe

The Hospitaller Legacy today The fruits of that commitment are to be found in the substantial and effective work they undertake throughout the world. In one hundred and fifty countries their almost fifty thousand members and about four hundred thousand regular volunteers and hands-on supporters, backed by millions of individual donors, run ambulance corps, relief services, hospitals, hospices, clinics and medical programmes; care for the elderly, the disabled, children and the homeless; and engage in first aid training and disaster and humanitarian relief. No other order claiming to use the title of St. John of Jerusalem can be described in these terms.

Name: Dorothea Papathanasiou-Zuhrt


22

Affiliation: University of the Aegean

Date: 14. 03.2013

Signature:


23

REFERENCES Μανούσου-Ντέλλα, Κ., Ντέλλας, Γ. 2008, 'Μεσαιωνική Πόλη-Οβριακή. Ξενώνας Αγίας Αικατερίνης', in Μεσαιωνική Πόλη Ρόδου. Έργα αποκατάστασης 2000-2008, Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού - Τ.Δ.Π.Ε.Α.Ε. Επιτροπή Παρακαλούθησης Έργων στα Μνημεία της Μεσαιωνικής Πόλς της Ρόδου., pp. 107-114. Anapolitanos, T., Kasdagli, A.M., and Manousou-Della, K. 1997, 'The restoration of the Knights Hospice of St. Catherine in the Medieval City of Rhodes', in 4th International Symposium in the Conservation of Monuments in the Meditarranesn. New concepts, technologies and materials for the conservation and management of historic cities, sites and complexes. Rhodes, 6-11 May , ed. T. C. Commerce, pp. 483-508. Μανούσου-Ντέλλα, Κ. 1999, 'Ο ιπποτικός ξενώνας της Αγίας Αικατερίνης στη Ρόδο', in Σύγρονη Ελληνική Αρχιτεκτονική, ed. Ν. Καλογήρου, Μάλλιαρης Παιδεία, Αθήνα, pp. 136-141. Κόλλιας, Η. 2001, Οι ιππότες της Ρόδου. Το παλάτι και η πόλη, Εκδοτική Αθηνών, Αθήνα. Kollias, H. 2005, The Medieval City of Rhodes and the Palace of the Grand Master, Ministry of Culture Archaeological Receipts Fund, 3rd Edition, Athens. Manousou-Della, K. 2001, 'New Uses for Monuments. Hospitaller Hospice St. Catherine', in Medieval Town of Rhodes. Restoration Works 1985-2000, ed. E. Kollias, Ministry of Culture. Works Supervision Committee for the monuments of the Medieval Town in Rhodes, Rhodes, pp. 222-223. Manousou-Della, K. 2001, 'Upper Jewish Quarter. Eastern Sector of the walled town', in Medieval Town of Rhodes. Restoration Works 1985-2000, ed. E. Kollias, Ministry of Culture. Works Supervision Committee for the monuments og the Medieval Town in Rhodes, Rhodes, pp. 138-148. Lutrell, A. 2003, The Town of Rhodes: 1306-1366, Archaeological Receipts Fund, Athens. Μανούσου-Ντέλλα, Κ. 2008, Σχέδιο Προστασίασ, Διαμόρφωσης, Ανάδεξης του Μνημηακού Συνόλου των Μεσαιωνικών Οχυρώσεων της Πόλης της Ρόδου, Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού - Τ.Δ.Π.Ε.Α.Ε. Επιτροπή Παρακαλούθησης Έργων στα Μνημεία της Μεσαιωνικής Πόλς της Ρόδου., Ρόδος. Lutrell, A. 2000, 'Rhodes Town: 1306-1350', in Ρόδος 2.400 Χρόνια. Η πόλη της Ρόδου α;πό την ίδρυσή της μέχρι την κατάληψη από τους Τούκους 1523. Ρόδος 24-20 Οκτωβρίου, Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού ΚΒ Εφορίεα Προϊστορικών και


24

Κλασσικών Αρχαιοτήτων και 4η Εφορεία Βυζαντινών Αρχιαοτήτων, Αθήνα, pp. 309-314. Τσιρπανλής, Ζ. Ν. 2000, 'Πρόδρομη παρουσίαση του υπό εκτύπωση πρώτου τόμου με έγγραφα από το αρχείο των Ιαωννιτών Ιπποτών (1421-1453)', in Ρόδος 2.400 Χρόνια. Η πόλη της Ρόδου α;πό την ίδρυσή της μέχρι την κατάληψη από τους Τούκους 1523. Ρόδος 24-20 Οκτωβρίου, Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού ΚΒ Εφορίεα Προϊστορικών και Κλασσικών Αρχαιοτήτων και 4η Εφορεία Βυζαντινών Αρχιαοτήτων, Αθήνα, p. 315-315. Nicolle, D. 2001, Knight Hospitallers I: 1110-1306, Osprey Publishing, Oxford. Spiteri, S.C. 2003, Armoury of the Knights, Midsea Books, Valetta. Sire, H. 1994, The Knights of Malta, Yale University Press, New Haven and London. Spiteri, S.C. 228, 'Castles and Fortresses of Rhodes', ARX- ONLINE JOURNAL OF MILITARY ARCHITECTURE, vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 39-48. Dellas, G., and Manousou-Della, K., . 2003, 'The transformation of the Medieval City of Rhodes to a site of culture and citizens' education', in FORTMED. EC 5th Framework Programme Inco Med and Environment Research Programme, 1st European Workshop, 27-29 September, Veroia, ed. I. Papayanni, and Theologidou, K. , pp. 219-225. Valkana, A. 2012, The Knights of Rhodes, M. Toubis, Athens.

Εμμανουήλ, Π. , The Hospital of Rhodes during the Sovereignty of the Knights of St. John’s Order 1310-1530, [Online], Available from: <http://www.emmanouil.com.gr/eshdv/eshdvarticles/58-hospitalrhodes.html>.

http://www.emmanouil.com.gr/eshdv/eshdvarticles/58-hospitalrhodes.html

http://www.emmanouil.com.gr/eshdv/eshdvarticles/58-hospitalrhodes.html

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | 2 THE NOBLE HOSPICE OF THE KNIGHTS IN RHODES

25

2 THE NOBLE HOSPICE OF THE KNIGHTS IN RHODES

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | SECTION I: RECORD SHEET

26

SECTION I: RECORD SHEET

Tick unit of recording:

Building Complex Archaeological Site Open Space

Section 1. Identification and Description of the Asset

Reference number: ΥΑ 23084/737/25-8-1948 - ΦΕΓΔΔ 10/23-9-1948

Name(s): Hospice St. Catherine in Rhodes Greece

And/or

The Knights’ Hospice of St. Catherine in the Medieval Town of Rhodes

And/or

Casa di Santa Caterina (during the Hospitaller period)

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | TYPE 27

CATEGORY

Agriculture and Subsistence Water Supply and Drainage

Built Environment Commercial

Museum Communications

Civil Domestic

Commemorative Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces

Defence Industrial

Education Recreational

Health and Welfare Transport

Maritime Water Supply and Drainage

Religious, Ritual and Funerary Commercial

Unassigned

TYPE

Original: Civic Building of Community Benefit (Hospital)

Αστικά Κτίρια, Κτίσματα Κοινής Ωφελείας

Current: Museum

WEBSITE URL

http://listedmonuments.culture.gr/fek.php?ID_FEKYA=19581

http://listedmonuments.culture.gr/fek.php?ID_FEKYA=19581

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | ADMINISTRATIVE LOCATION

28

http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/gh251.jsp?obj_id=1749 http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=1749

ADMINISTRATIVE LOCATION

Country: GREECE

Region: SOUTH AEGEAN

Administrative Unit: MUNICIPALITY OF RHODES

Locality (town, village): CITY OF RHODES

Address (street, number): Thisseos Street 1-3 and Pindarou Street 2,4,6, and 8, Medieval Town of Rhodes

Postal Code: GR-85100

Locality Code: GR-85100

Access: Thisseos Street 1-3

Notes on location: _______________________________________________________

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION Cartographic Reference: Coordinates Latitude: 36,442893 Longitude: 28,230802 Spatial Referencing System: NUTS II, SOUTH AEGEAN Altitude: Elevation above sea level:

Topography:

Notes on Geographical Location:

All coordinates are given in the WGS 84 coordinate reference system. WGS 84 is the latest revision of the World Geodetic System, which is used in mapping and navigation, including GPS satellite navigation system (the Global Positioning System).

http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/gh251.jsp?obj_id=1749

http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=1749


OWNERSHIP

Owner/Administrator Name HELLENIC REPUBLIC, Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports

General Directorate of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage,

4th EVA (4th Curatorship of Byzantine Antiquities)

Hospice St

Owner/ Administrator Type: private public mixt unknown

Present function of the asset/ since when: 1914 Italian Administration of Rhodes (1914-1944)

Previous functions/ period:

Function Start Date End Date

Hospice of the Order of the Knights of St. John

1391 1481

Hospice of the Order of the Knights of St. John

1516 1522

During the Ottoman occupation the 1523 1511

The buildings were evacuated during the German Occupation due to the deportation of the Jewish Community

1944

Historic Museum 1987 Present

Ministry of Culture 1997 Educational Programmes


Notes on Ownership:

After the 2nd WW, the Great Hospital of the Knights in Rhodes has entered into the jurisdiction of the:

· Kingdom of Greece: 1935-1974 · Third Hellenic Republic: 19740 - present


31

LANDSCAPE ELEMENTS

Farming: _________________________________________________________________

Land Cover: ______________________________________________________________

Hydrology: _______________________________________________________________

Communications: __________________________________________________________

Access: Unrestricted Restricted No access

However it is better to ensure the access via telephone call at:

4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquites

Dimosthenous St., Τ.Κ. 85100, Rhodes, Medieval Town, Rhodes (Prefecture of Dodekanissa) Telephone: +30 22413-65200 Fax: +30 22410 21954 Email: [email protected]

Or/and obtain information at

Municipality of Rhodes, Tourist Office, Ippoton Street and Plateia Mouseiou.

Greek National Tourist Oranization. : +30.22410.23655, : +30.22410.24454

Vulnerabilities: ___________________________________________________________

Description:

Saint Catherine’s Hospice serves today as a Museum. Exhibitions of the Ephorates of Antiquities of the Dodecanese are mounted in two rooms of the first floor of the building: they cover

· archaeological finds from the site of the Hospice and · the study and restoration of the building itself.

mailto:[email protected]

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | DATING PERIOD (S) 32

Additionally it hosts the HERITAGE EDUCATIONAL CENTRE of the Ministry of Culture in the wider sense expressed in the GRANADA CONVENTION of 1985. The Hospice is eminently suitable for the building and the surrounding archaeological site, particularly in view of the close proximity to neighboring schools. Such a building, in this location, may play a leading role in the rehabilitation of the area, transforming it into an attraction for the visitor of the Medieval Town.

DATING PERIOD (S) Period Date from Date to

Gothic Period 1391 1480

Early Renaissance 1516 1987

Post WW II full scale Restoration

1987 present

Notes on dating:

_________________________________________________________


ASSOCIATIONS Persons, Events and Organisations Associated with the History of the Building/Site/Area/ Period:

Person/Organisation/Event Role/connection Start Date End Date

Domenico d’ Allemangna, Admiral of the Order of St. John in Rhodes under Grand Master Heredia

The founder, an important personage, is disposing of considerable means, and plays an important role in politics and in military matters in the last quarter of the 14th century and up to 1410. He endowed his foundation with lands and various revenues, and brought important relics from Constantinople to embellish its chapel.

Towards the end of the 14th century the admiral of the Order, Domenico d’Allemagna, paid for the building of a hospice (hospitium) at the east end of this street, in the Jewish ghetto near the St Catherine Gate. It was dedicated to the name of St Catherine and d’Allemagna donated windmills and other properties for its upkeep. The foundation was intended to house noble pilgrims. Among those known to have stayed in St Catherine’s Hospice (Casa di Santa Caterina) are Nicolo de Martoni in 1394 and 1395, Roberto da Sanseverino in 1458 and Nicolo d’Este in 1468, all of whom mention this in their writings.

1391 1391


Niccollo de Martoni, Travelling Georgrapher

Gives a detailed description of the Hospice including the interior decoration and furniture

1394 1395

Pero Tafur, Travelling Georgrapher


1436 1437

Roberto Sanseverino, Travelling Historian and Pilgrim


1458

Constanzo Operti Admiral of the Order of St. John in Rhodes under Grand Master del Carretto

Rebuilds the Hospice after it has been destroyed during the Siege of 1480 and the followed earthquake in 1481

1516

Ottoman Occupation No records Colonel Rottiers, in his Monuments de Rhodes (Brussels 1830), says that Jews lived there and draws the heraldry of the south fa de

1830

Belabre in his book Rhodes of the Knights mentions that it was a Jewish School for Girls and draws its coats of arm.s. In 1923 A. Gabriel in his monumental La cite de Rhodes, vol. II, gives an extensive description of the Hospice, publishing a summary of its foundation charter, architectural plans and photographs, stating that it was inhabited by Jewish families.

1900

Gerola Gerola also left photographs of the building before and after the restoration of the windows on the west and north fa des of the first floor in 1927, as described by A. Maiuri in the an nual Clara Rhodos of 1928.

1914

A. Gabriel in his monumental La cite de Rhodes, vol. II, gives an extensive description of the Hospice, publishing a summary of its foundation charter, architectural

1923


plans and photographs, stating that it was inhabited by Jewish families.

German Occupation Forces of the WWII

In 1944, the eastern part of the Hospice was destroyed by a bombardment of the Anglo-American ones.

1942 1944

Low Income local communities of the post war time

Until 1987 was inhabited by 1low-income households living in appalling conditions one of the most acute social problems in the post-war medieval town.

1945 1987

Alhadeff Family This period of the Hospice being inhabited by memebers of the Jewish Community was vividly brought to life during the restoration 1987-1997 through the emotional recollections of an octogenarian descendant of the Alchadeff banking family, who had lived there as a child in 1916 and revisited the site in 1987.

1987

EUROPA NOSTRA Awarded the restoration of the Hospice

1997

Notes on Associations:

_________________________________________________________________________


DESCRIPTION

A. OVERARCHING SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MEDIEVAL TOWN OF RHODES (1306-1522).

Outstanding sole example of walled town in Europe

Rhodes is an outstanding example of an architectural ensemble illustrating the significant period of history in which a military hospital order founded during the Crusades survived in the eastern Mediterranean area in a context characterized by an obsessive fear of siege. Rhodes is the only European walled town with its landscape maintained intact in 1522 that still shows the transition between the classical medieval fortification and the modern ones.

The fortifications of Rhodes, a 'Frankish' town long considered to be impregnable, exerted an influence throughout the eastern Mediterranean basin at the end of the Middle Ages.

The strongest Military Order in all Christendom

The medieval city is located within a wall 4 km long. It is divided according to the Western classical style, with the high town to the north and the lower town south-south-west. Originally separated from the town by a fortified wall, the High Town (Collachium) was entirely built by the Knights Hospitallers who, following the dissolution of the Templars in 1312, became the strongest military order in all Christendom.

Important Traditional Human Settlement with successive acculturation in the High Town (Collachio) and the Lower Town (Burgo)

With its Frankish and Ottoman buildings the old town of Rhodes is an important ensemble of traditional human settlement, characterized by successive and complex phenomena of acculturation.

The outstanding Example of Gothic Urbanism and the political particularity of the Street of the Knights

The order was organized into seven 'Tongues', each having its own seat. The inns of the Tongues of Italy, France, Spain and Provence lined both sides of the principal east-west axis, the famous Street of the Knights, one of the finest testimonies to Gothic urbanism. Somewhat


removed to the north, close to the site of the Knights' first hospice, stands the Inn of Auvergne, whose facade bears the arms of Guy de Blanchefort, Grand Master from 1512 to 1513.

Located north-west of the Collachium are the Grand Masters' Palace and St John's Church. At the far eastern end of the Street of the Knights, built against the wall, is St Mary's Church, which the Knights transformed into a cathedral in the 15th century. After 1523, most were converted into Islamic mosques, like the Mosques of Suleiman, Kavakli Mestchiti, Demirli Djami, Peial ed Din Djami, Abdul Djelil Djami, and Dolapli Mestchiti.

Outstanding example of Gothic Urbanism in the Lower Town (Burgo)

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. In the Lower Town, Gothic architecture coexists with mosques, public baths and other buildings dating from the Ottoman period. The lower town is almost as dense with monuments as the Collachium. In 1522, with a population of 5,000, it was replete with churches, some of Byzantine construction.

Throughout the years, the number of palaces and charitable foundations multiplied in the south-south-east area: the Court of Commerce, the Archbishop's Palace, the Hospice of St Catherine, and others. The ramparts of the medieval city, partially erected on the foundations of the Byzantine enclosure, were constantly maintained and remodeled between the 14th and 16th centuries under the Grand Masters Giovanni Battista degli Orsini (1467-76), Pierre d'Aubusson (1476-1505), Aiméry d'Amboise (1505-12), and Fabrizio del Carretto (1513-21). Artillery firing posts were the final features to be added. At the beginning of the 16th century, in the section of the Amboise Gate, which was built on the north-western angle in 1512, the curtain wall was 12 m thick with a 4 m high parapet pierced with gun holes.

The Great Hospital of the Knights in Rhodes and its social particularity

The original hospice was replaced in the 15th century by the Great Hospital, built between 1440 and 1489, on the south side of the Street of the Knights. It is used today as the archaeological museum.


B. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HOSPICE ST. CATHERINE (1391 and 1516)

The Hospice St. Catherine built in 1391-92 and re-build in 1516 is "first class" monument of the Hospitaller period in the Medieval Town of Rhodes Greece, with particular historic, architectural, artistic and social importance:

C. LOCATION IN THE MEDIEVAL URBAN PLAN

The Hospice is located in a key place of the urban plan, in the centre of one of the largest archaeological sites of the Lower Town. The Hospice was erected near the east end of the Medieval High Street (Magna et Comunis Platea), towards the mole of the commercial harbour, reached through a gate already known as the "Gate of St. Catherine" from 1465. The foundation charter of the Hospice in 1391 states that it was "founded in the Burgus of Rhodes, near the Walls at the Gate leading to the Mole", apparently after the extension of the defences of the Lower Town and the Mole of the Windmills in the second half of the 14th century.

D. LOCATION IN THE MEDIEVAL HIGH STREET and HIGHT STREET ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

The location of the Hospice ensures the visibility of the built structure in the landscape and attracts the attention of the viewer, as it projects into the axis of the Medieval High Street. The projecting part carries the Coats of Arms of Grand Master Fabrizio del Caretto and the Admiral of the Oder Constanzo Operti, 1516.

The north façade typifies High Street architectural design including the typical ground floor shop frontages with workbenches and awnings, whose form is easily recoverable from surviving traces.

The building is pictured in several of the miniatures illuminating Codex of Caoursin (Par. Lat. 6067) depicting that part of the Medieval Town.


E. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FOUNDATION CHARTER TO THE BUILDINGS FUNCTION

In 1391-92, under Grand Master Heredia, the Admiral of the Order admiral of the Order of the Knights of St. John in Rhodes, Domenico d' Allemagna, built the Hospice. The founder, an important personage, is disposing of considerable means, and plays an important role in politics and in military matters in the last quarter of the 14th century and up to 1410. He endowed his foundation with lands and various revenues, and brought important relics from Constantinople to embellish its chapel.

The Hospice is exclusively intended for eminent guests of the Order. In 1394-95 the traveler Niccolo de Martoni describes St. Catherine as "beautiful and splendid, with many handsome rooms containing many and good beds".

After d’ AIIemagna’s death the foundation passed into the hands of the Order, but it appears that the Italian admirals continued to be responsible for it. The building was apparently destroyed in the siege of 1480 and the earthquake of 1481. Its rebuilding, as testified by the heraldry on the west façade, was completed by Costanzo Operti in 1516, when Fabrizio del Caretto was Grand Master.

F. EXEMPLARY TYPOLOGY AND AESTETICAL UNIQUENESS OF THE EARLY RENAISSANCE PERIOD

I. FUNCTION

The function of the Hospice as an Inn for distinguished guests laid in the foundation Charter. It is laid in the Foundation Charter of the Hospice, that the building is exclusively intended to house noble pilgrims and eminent guests of the Order. The building was used more as an inn for the distinguished visitors of the Order who placed them there during their stay in Rhodes. Until the 2nd Siege of Rhodes (1522) a series of travelers and pilgrims that testify the foundation as a high quality services to its guests, most notably


Niccolo de Martoni (1394) Roberto da Sanseverino (1458) and Nicolo d’Este (1468).

II. STRUCTURE

The two-storey Hospitaller structure displays uniformity of conception and construction. It demonstrates the aesthetic success of the second Hospitaller building period (1481-1522), when Western architects were active in Rhodes. It is distinguished by the developed technique of the late 15th early 16th century with highly finished ashlar masonry, narrow joins, deliberate use of stone of variable resistance for different parts of the structure and perfect stereotomy in the openings. The south façade of the first floor displays early Renaissance features and must be assigned to the last Hospitaller alteration to the building.

III. ARCHITECTURAL TYPOLOGY AND FEATURES

The typology of the building is representative of the period:

· The main entrance opened onto a vaulted space, giving access to the four ground floor vaulted rooms and, through an open-air staircase, to the first floor.

· The first floor portico was supplied with three doors: one led to the east wing, comprising three rooms; another door served a small porter's cubicle near the third -and principal- entrance, leading to the reception hall.

· Round this large room, 5.5 X10.5 meters, were arranged two large bedrooms, another room, and the kitchen with its large fireplace.

· It is likely that the kitchen had its own direct access to the portico, but this has not survived.

On the north face of the ground floor, isolated from the rest of the structure, were five shops. The typical Hospitaller ground floor shop frontages with workbenches and awnings, whose form is easily recoverable from surviving traces. The shops possess storage rooms. Of those, the second from the east gave access to two other vaulted rooms, on the east side of the Hospice. The form of this side, almost completely destroyed, cannot be reconstructed with any accuracy.


At the same time excavation in the ground floor discovers part of an ancient sand stone quarry and a large cistern probably older that the Hospice, although incorporated within the rainwater-collecting system fed by the roof.

IV. INTERIOR DECORATION

The surviving timber roofs in the first floor apartments carried painted decoration with geometric and floral motifs, which survives in pan. The remnants of the first building· phase, incorporated into the later structure, may be seen on the north and east sides of the ground floor and a re distinguished by less well finished masonry with smaller courses, wider joins and simpler openings. To this first phase of the building probably belongs the richly decorated tile floor in a repousse design, a fragment of which was discovered when the ground floor was excavated. The furniture

G. HISTORY The Hospice of St. Catherine was built in 1391-92, under Grand Master Heredia, by the Italian Domenico d' Allemagna, admiral of the Order of the Knights of St. John (Knights Hospitaller). The founder was an important personage, disposing of considerable means. He played an important role in politics and in military matters in the last quarter of the 14th century and up to 1410. He endowed his foundation with lands and various revenues, and brought important relics from Constantinople to embellish its chapel. The Hospice, exclusively intended for eminent guests of the Order, was already in use from 1394-95; at this date traveler Niccolo de Martoni described it as "beautiful and splendid, with many handsome rooms containing many and good beds". After d’AIIemagna’s death the foundation passed into the hands of the Order, but it appears that the Italian admirals continued to be responsible for it. The building was apparently destroyed in the siege of 1480 and the earthquake of 1481. Its rebuilding, as testified by the heraldry on the west façade, was completed by Costanzo Operti in 1516, when Fabrizio del Caretto was Grand Master. The Hospice was erected near the east end of the medieval high street (Magna et Comunis Platea), towards the mole of the Commercial Port, reached through a gate already known as the "Gate of St. Catherine" from 1465. The foundation charter of the Hospice in 1391 states that it


was "founded in the Burgus of Rhodes, near the walls at the gate leading to the mole", apparently after the extension of the defences of the lower town and the mole of the Windmills in the second half of the 14th century. The location of the building draws the eye, as it projects into the axis of the high street; the projecting part carries the Coats of Arms of Constanzo Operti and Fabrizio del Carretto in 1516. The north façade typifies high street architectural design; it includes the typical ground floor shop frontages with workbenches and awnings, whose form is easily recoverable from surviving traces. The building is pictured in several of the miniatures illuminating the Caoursin codex (Par. Lat. 6067) depicting that part of the medieval town. In the period of the Ottoman occupation (1523-1911) the area was the center of the Jewish Quarter, with schools and other important public buildings surrounding the now destroyed Old Synagogue. Information on the use and condition of the Hospice of St. Catherine during the first two centuries of Turkish rule, after the Ottoman conquest of 1522, is almost inexistent. Remarkably, the building is not mentioned by any of the travelers who visited Rhodes between the 17th and the 19th century nor it is depicted in their drawings. Colonel Rottiers, in his Monuments de Rhodes (Brussels 1830), says that Jews lived there and draws the heraldry of the south façade. In 1900 Belabre, in his book Rhodes of the Knights mentions that it was a Jewish School for Girls and draws its coats of arms. In 1923 A. Gabriel in his monumental La cite de Rhodes, vol. II, gives an extensive description of the Hospice, publishing a summary of its foundation charter, architectural plans and photographs, stating that it was inhabited by Jewish families. This period of the Hospice was vividly brought to life through the emotional recollections of an octogenarian descendant of the Alchadeff banking family, who had lived there as a child in 1916 and revisited the site in 1987, when the Hospice was under restoration. Information from the period of the Italian occupation is provided by G. Gerola in 1914. Gerola leaves photographs of the building before and after the restoration of the windows on the west and north façade of the first floor in 1927, as described by A. Maiuri in the annual Clara Rhodos in 1928. The neighborhood was evacuated under the German occupation in 1944, where the Jewish Community was deported. The allied bombings in the same year completely destroyed many other buildings in the heart of the


Jewish Quarter, altering the street plan and severely affecting living conditions in the surviving structures. In the following years the surviving part stood forlorn in a deserted neighborhood. Its occupation by poor squatters during the great immigration wave of the post-war period was thus a natural development. These people continued to inhabit the building until 1986. After the end of World War II and the annexation of Rhodes by Greece, the State reserved bomb ·sites in the old town for systematic archaeological research. Excavation, still under way, has revealed to the east of the Hospice a section of the Hellenistic wall of the Great Harbor measuring about 80 meters in length. This wall continued under the Hospice and has been rediscovered to the west of it. In the south-east side of the Hospice have been discovered the ruins of a Byzantine church of cruciform plan and an underlying Early Christian basilica. The Byzantine church may possibly have been the chapel of the Hospice often mentioned in the sources. In 1981 in spite of the difficulties caused by the fragmentation of interior spaces, architect I. Diakostamatiou recorded features that were later destroyed- such as the beautiful painted ceiling of the reception hall on the first floor. In October 1985 the Office of the Medieval Town of Rhodes was set up to implement the contract signed between the Ministry of Culture, the Archaeological Receipts Fund and the City of Rhodes; its aim was to study and help resolve the multiple problems besetting the historic center of Rhodes. The Hospice of St. Catherine was one of the 20 state-owned properties under the management of the Archaeological Receipts Fund entered in the restoration programme of the Office of the Medieval Town. It easily fulfilled both the positive and negative requirements for architectural restoration, as these were later to be formalized in the text entitled Restoration Principles and Regulations of the Office of the Medieval Town of Rhodes- i.e.:

· It is a "first class" monument of the Hospitaller period, of particular historic and artistic importance, located in a key place of the urban plan, in the center of one of the largest archaeological sites of the Lower Town

· Its state of preservation was "bad", requiring immediate and drastic intervention in the Ioad-bearing structure.

· It was inhabited by 16Iow-income households living in appalling conditions -one of the most acute social problems in the post-war Medieval Town.

· It belonged to a residential area downgraded by abandonment and bomb damage; nevertheless, the percentage of State owned properties there amounts to 80% in a location suitable for large-scale intervention capable of upgrading the urban plan, near the limits of the commercial district.


H. OUTSTANDING DECORATION

1986 Sections of masonry collapse in the south-east part of the building. Immediate measures were taken to contain the damage (supportive scaffolding-fencing) pending restoration. Dangerous parts of the first floor were evacuated. However, full-scale restoration was initially hindered by the occupation of the building by a number of separate households, most of which have been resident there for over 30 years. Prefabricated portable homes were set up in the cleared bomb site opposite the Hospice known as Peisidorou Square. Their establishment was approved by the Ministry of Culture on the understanding that they will form part of the works, to be removed as soon as restoration is complete.

1986-1987 After lengthy negotiations with distrustful residents emotionally attached to the building, restorers succeed in relocating them to the portable homes and the works gradually spread through the Hospice. The portable homes were a temporary measure, pending completion of small houses currently under restoration by the Office of the Medieval Town. The clutter of jerry-built partitions and additions was removed from the building, revealing its original typology and spaciousness. The earth-filled rooms in the ground floor were cleared. The excavation revealed that the foundations of the Hospice rest on the natural bedrock, in places just below the present level of the ground. Recent coats of whitewash were stripped from the walls and damage on the fabric of the building is recorded. At the same time excavation in the ground floor were discovered:

· part of an ancient sand stone quarry · a large cistern probably older that the Hospice, although

incorporated within the rainwater-collecting system fed by the roof · Concealed architectural features of the Hospitaller period like fireplaces

and doorways were brought to light. This process has revealed the damages caused by the passage of time and World War II on both the masonry and the timber elements Ioad bearing or otherwise; the widespread erosion of the building materials and the great cracks have required immediate attention to avert further deterioration .

1988- 1989: The faithful reconstruction


It was thought necessary, due to the urgency of the case, for the restoration to advance in two stages:

· The first stage will comprise the restoration of Hospitaller masonry using traditional materials and techniques, a task that may be carried out simultaneously with progress in the exploration of the building's condition, a process necessary for the full recording of damages to derelict and dangerous parts of the building.

· The second stage will include, after completion of the definitive architectural study, the consolidation and reinforcement of the standing building, the conservation of the painted ceilings and the rebuilding of those parts of the building which were leveled by World War II bombs.

An initial small team of four craftsmen, almost ·completely new in the restoration of historic buildings, but skilled in the dressing of stone, were installed in the Hospice and begin conservation of the western façade in the ground floor, where the building material has been considerably eroded. They next proceed to the interior of the ground floor, following a programme dictated by the needs of the loadbearing structure of the building and the presence of sufficient data for the restoration of their original aspect. The restoration of the north face proves particularly interesting because it is a survival of the original building phase and, at the same time, a commercial façade. The faithful reconstruction of the Hospitaller shops was assisted by traces left on the doorsteps and doorposts of the openings of all five shops. Archaeological research advanced south of the building, where a medieval rubbish pit dating from the period of the Hospice yields many interesting finds. In spring 1990 the restorers proceeded with the restoration of:

· The Hospitaller Period openings in the first floor; · the three medieval fireplaces, following traces left on the masonry; · the walls were restored to their medieval aspect, a process involving the

blocking of later openings, thus augmenting their strength.

In the autumn 1990 The Renaissance Arcade of the south face, aesthetically the most important part of the building, is taken down piece by piece and re-erected; it is the collapse of masonry here that has led to the restoration of the Hospice.

1991 While the first stage of the intervention was in progress, the following were also completed:

· the architectural plans for the restoration of the standing building and the reconstruction of the missing part and


· the research project entrusted to the Athens Polytechnic University for the analysis of the loadbearing structure and proposals for the consolidation of the Hospice -a pilot project whose results might be applied to other Hospitaller monuments in Rhodes.

At a conference organized by the Athens Polytechnic School on the 18th of April 1991 (Advanced Classes in the History of Architecture) the proposal to tum the Hospice of St. Catherine into a Ministry of Culture Heritage Centre is heard for the first time.

1992 The completion of the architectural study initiates the second stage of the work. The roof timbers are treated and the wooden ceilings restored, decayed parts being replaced by new cedar wood; the roof is bound within a concealed girdle of reinforced concrete.

1993 It was decided to partially rebuild the large vault of the ground floor, which has suffered heavily from weathering. This necessitated the removal of two layers of traditional pebble mosaic lying on top of the vault, using a method normally employed in the preservation of ancient mosaic pavements. The pebble mosaics, belonging to different periods, were re-laid after the restoration of the vault:

· the older one, less complete, is installed on the ground floor · the more ornate neo-classical design, is replaced in its original location.

1994-1995

Work in the interior of the building and the façades was completed. The replacement of wooden casements, the reconstruction of a medieval tiled floor, the restoration of the painted ceilings and pebble mosaics, pointing, distempering, plumbing and were completed. Special wall sconces were designed and made by hand for the interior of the building and period furniture from the collection of the Grand Master’s Palace brought to furnish it. In all this the 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities is also actively involved with its expert staff in the conservation of wooden artifacts, the removal and replacement of pebble mosaic pavements and the general reinforcement of the working team as well as the supply of materials and tools.


1996

The last portable homes were removed from the area, after the translocation of the last residents of the Hospice (as well as a number of squatters who, meanwhile, had occupied some of the homes). Restoration of the eastern part of the ground floor was in progress, as well as the construction of toilet facilities. At the same time operations for the installation of new underground sewers and water supply pipes in the neighborhood of the Hospice were completed by DEPOS (special contract between the City of Rhodes, the Ministry of Culture and the City Water Supply & Drains Company). The Hospice is one of the first buildings to be linked to this network; and the surrounding area is resurfaced. In December the Central Archaeological Council and the Ministry of Culture pass the project to restore the part of the Hospice demolished by bombs. This will allow integration of the building to the surrounding archaeological sites with special landscaping and suitable planning of access routes.

Designations

World Heritage Ref. UNESCO 12COM XIV.A/1988

European Label Ref. ___________________________________

National Ref. ___________________________________

Regional/local Ref. ___________________________________


CONDITION

Historic Integrity:

The Hospice St. Catherine built in 1391-92 and re-build in 1516 is "first class" monument of the Hospitaller period in the Medieval Town of Rhodes Greece, with particular historic and artistic importance:

A. LOCATION OF THE IN THE MEDIEVAL URBAN PLAN AND ITS PROXIMITY TO THE COMMERCIAL PORTS

The Hospice is located in a key place of the urban plan, in the center of one of the largest archaeological sites of the Lower Town. The Hospice is erected near the east end of the Medieval High Street (Magna et Comunis Platea), towards the mole of the Commercial Harbor, reached through a gate already known as the "Gate of St. Catherine" from 1465.

The foundation charter of the Hospice in 1391 states that it was "founded in the Burgus of Rhodes, near the walls at the gate leading to the mole”, apparently after the extension of the defences of the lower town and the mole of the Windmills in the second half of the 14th century. The building is pictured in several of the miniatures illuminating the Caoursin codex (Par. Lat. 6067) depicting that part of the Medieval Town.

B. HIGH STREET ARCHITECURAL DESIGN · The location of the Hospice is enforcing the visibility of the building in the

landscape and attracts the attentions of the viewer, as it projects into the axis of the Medieval High Street.

· The projecting part carries the Coats of Arms of Grand Master Fabrizio del Carretto and Grand Admiral of the Order Far Constanzo Operti in 1516.

· The north façade typifies High Street architectural design, including the typical ground floor shop frontages with workbenches and awnings, whose form is easily recoverable from surviving traces.

C. FUNCTION OF THE BUIDING AS AN INN FOR DISINGUISEHED GUESTS DEFINED IN THE FOUNDATION CHARTER

In 1391-92, under Grand Master Heredia, the Admiral of the Order of the Knights of St. John in Rhodes, Domenico d' Allemagna, built the Hospice. The Hospice is exclusively intended to house noble pilgrims and eminent guests of the Order. The building was used as an inn for the distinguished visitors of the Order, who placed them there during their stay in Rhodes.


There are a series of travelers and pilgrims that testify the foundation as a high quality services to its guests. In 1394-95 the traveler Niccolo de Martoni describes St. Catherine as "beautiful and splendid, with many handsome rooms containing many and good beds".

Among those known to have stayed in St Catherine’s Hospice (Casa di Santa Caterina) are:

· Nicolo de Martoni in 1394 and 1395, · Roberto da Sanseverino in 1458 and · Nicolo d’Este in 1468,

all of whom mention this in their writings.

D. EXEMPLARY TYPOLOGY AND AESTETICAL UNIQUENESS OF THE EARLY RENAISSANCE PERIOD STRUCTURE

The two-storey Hospitaller building displays uniformity of conception and construction; and shows the aesthetic success of the second Hospitaller building period (1481-1522), when Western architects were active in Rhodes.

It is distinguished by the developed technique of the late 15th early 16th century with highly finished ashlar masonry, narrow joins, deliberate use of stone of variable resistance for different parts of the structure and perfect stereotomy in the openings.

The south façade of the first floor displays early Renaissance features and must be assigned to the last Hospitaller alteration to the building.

TYPOLOGY

The typology of the building is representative of the period:

· GROUND FLOOR: the main entrance opened onto a vaulted space, giving access to the four ground floor vaulted rooms and, through an open-air staircase, to the first floor.

· FIRST FLOOR AND DOORS: The first floor portico was supplied with three doors:

o one led to the east wing, comprising three rooms; o another door served a small porter's cubicle near o the third -and principal- entrance, leading to the reception hall.

· THE ROOMS: Round this large room, 5.5 X10.5 meters, were arranged o two large bedrooms,


o another room, o and the kitchen with its large fireplace. It is likely that the kitchen

had its own direct access to the portico, but this has not survived. · THE SHOPS: On the north face of the ground floor, isolated from the rest

of the structure, were five shops; of those, the second from the east gave access to two other vaulted rooms, on the east side of the Hospice. The form of this side, almost completely destroyed, cannot be reconstructed with any accuracy.

INTERIOR DECORATIONS

Concealed architectural features of the Hospitaller period like fireplaces and doorways are brought to light. Furniture suited to the Hospice has been granted by the Inventory of the Palace of the Grand Master.

E. VALUE OF THE INTERVENTION AS AN ACT OF FAITHFUL RECONSTRUCTION

The restoration of the Hospice a pioneering project for Greece, because it displayed all the social problems besetting the historic center. The basic restoration rules of the Hospice follow:

· the Charter of Venice for this specialist operation of "exceptional character" · the basic tenets of the Amsterdam Declaration (1975) · the Granada Convention of October 1985.

These principles were adapted to the requirements of the monuments of the Medieval Town of Rhodes and particularly the multi-faceted problem of the Hospice's restoration. The aim of the intervention was always to preserve as much as possible the original fabric of the building (walls, plasters, timbers etc.) A general principle was the improvement in situ structural elements, the redistribution of loads on the masonry and the avoidance of adding new structural elements and systems, generally ensuring that interventions were reversible. Following Article 5 of the Charter of Venice, is explicitly expressing the desirability of allocating to monuments a function useful to the public, the new use chosen for the Hospice of St. Catherine did not alter the structure and aesthetics of the building preserving, at the same time, the social character it had in the six centuries of its history. The principle expressed in Article 4 of the Charter of Venice that the conservation of monuments requires first of all the permanence of their maintenance cannot be realized unless they are revitalized by their integration into contemporary life.


The Heritage Educational Centre, in the wider sense expressed in the Granada Convention of 1985, is eminently suitable for the building and the surrounding archaeological site, particularly in view of the close proximity to neighboring schools. Such a building, in this location, may play a leading role in the rehabilitation of the area, transforming it into an attraction for the visitor of the Medieval Town.

Physical Condition:

The physical condition of the Hospice St. Catherine is excellent and fully accessible to large numbers of visitors.

Notes on Condition: ___________________________________________________________________

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | SECTION II: ASSESSMENT

52

SECTION II: ASSESSMENT Significance of the asset (tick for each value):

Assessment of Significance Very High/ Very good

High/ Good

Medium/ Moderate

Low/ Poor

None

Rarity

Representativeness

Aesthetic Value

Integrity

Historical Value

Symbolic, Spiritual and Social Value

Scientific Value

Interpretive Potential

Importance:

· Global

· European

· National

· Regional

· Local


53

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Final Statement of Significance (free text): OVERARCHING SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MEDIEVAL TOWN OF RHODES (1306-1522). Rhodes is the only European walled town with its landscape maintained intact in 1522 that still shows the transition between the classical medieval fortification and the modern ones. HOSPICE ST. CATHERINE (1391 and 1516) The Hospice St. Catherine built in 1391-92 and re-build in 1516 is "first class" monument of the 1st and 2nd Hospitaller Period in the Medieval Town of Rhodes Greece, with particular historic and artistic importance: The unique position of the Hospice in a key place of the Lower Town and its proximity to the Commercial Port and its High Street Architectural Design, dictated by its use as a guest house for the prominent guests of the Order of the Knights Hospitallers in Rhodes, as it is laid by its foundation charter in 1392. The two-storey Hospice is distinguished by the developed masonry technique of the late 15th early 16th century, the deliberate use of stone of variable resistance for different parts of the structure and perfect stereotomy in the openings. The Renaissance Arcade of the south face, aesthetically the most important part of the building, demonstrates the style of early Renaissance being is a proof of western architects working in Rhodes. The north face is particularly interesting because it is a survival of the original building phase and, at the same time, a commercial façade. The faithful reconstruction of the Hospitaller shops was assisted by traces left on the doorsteps and doorposts of the openings of all five shops. Interior decorations and functionalities of the Hospitaller period like fireplaces and doorways, painted ceilings and pebble mosaics, are brought to light during restoration. The restoration of the Hospice is a pioneering act social act that solved different the social problems besetting the historic center and a master act in regards to technical solutions, all of which follow the Charter of Venice, the Declaration of Amsterdam and the Convention of Granada.

Name: Dorothea Papathanasiou-Zuhrt

Affiliation: University of the Aegean

Date: 14. 03.2013

Signature:


54

REFERENCES Μανούσου-Ντέλλα, Κ., Ντέλλας, Γ. 2008, 'Μεσαιωνική Πόλη-Οβριακή. Ξενώνας Αγίας Αικατερίνης', in Μεσαιωνική Πόλη Ρόδου. Έργα αποκατάστασης 2000-2008, Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού - Τ.Δ.Π.Ε.Α.Ε. Επιτροπή Παρακαλούθησης Έργων στα Μνημεία της Μεσαιωνικής Πόλς της Ρόδου., pp. 107-114. Anapolitanos, T., Kasdagli, A.M., and Manousou-Della, K. 1997, 'The restoration of the Knights Hospice of St. Catherine in the Medieval City of Rhodes', in 4th International Symposium in the Conservation of Monuments in the Meditarranesn. New concepts, technologies and materials for the conservation and management of historic cities, sites and complexes. Rhodes, 6-11 May , ed. T. C. Commerce, pp. 483-508. Μανούσου-Ντέλλα, Κ. 1999, 'Ο ιπποτικός ξενώνας της Αγίας Αικατερίνης στη Ρόδο', in Σύγρονη Ελληνική Αρχιτεκτονική, ed. Ν. Καλογήρου, Μάλλιαρης Παιδεία, Αθήνα, pp. 136-141. Κόλλιας, Η. 2001, Οι ιππότες της Ρόδου. Το παλάτι και η πόλη, Εκδοτική Αθηνών, Αθήνα. Kollias, H. 2005, The Medieval City of Rhodes and the Palace of the Grand Master, Ministry of Culture Archaeological Receipts Fund, 3rd Edition, Athens. Manousou-Della, K. 2001, 'New Uses for Monuments. Hospitaller Hospice St. Catherine', in Medieval Town of Rhodes. Restoration Works 1985-2000, ed. E. Kollias, Ministry of Culture. Works Supervision Committee for the monuments of the Medieval Town in Rhodes, Rhodes, pp. 222-223. Manousou-Della, K. 2001, 'Upper Jewish Quarter. Eastern Sector of the walled town', in Medieval Town of Rhodes. Restoration Works 1985-2000, ed. E. Kollias, Ministry of Culture. Works Supervision Committee for the monuments og the Medieval Town in Rhodes, Rhodes, pp. 138-148. Lutrell, A. 2003, The Town of Rhodes: 1306-1366, Archaeological Receipts Fund, Athens. Μανούσου-Ντέλλα, Κ. 2008, Σχέδιο Προστασίασ, Διαμόρφωσης, Ανάδεξης του Μνημηακού Συνόλου των Μεσαιωνικών Οχυρώσεων της Πόλης της Ρόδου, Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού - Τ.Δ.Π.Ε.Α.Ε. Επιτροπή Παρακαλούθησης Έργων στα Μνημεία της Μεσαιωνικής Πόλς της Ρόδου., Ρόδος. Lutrell, A. 2000, 'Rhodes Town: 1306-1350', in Ρόδος 2.400 Χρόνια. Η πόλη της Ρόδου α;πό την ίδρυσή της μέχρι την κατάληψη από τους Τούκους 1523. Ρόδος 24-20 Οκτωβρίου, Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού ΚΒ Εφορίεα Προϊστορικών και Κλασσικών Αρχαιοτήτων και 4η Εφορεία Βυζαντινών Αρχιαοτήτων, Αθήνα, pp. 309-314.


55

Τσιρπανλής, Ζ. Ν. 2000, 'Πρόδρομη παρουσίαση του υπό εκτύπωση πρώτου τόμου με έγγραφα από το αρχείο των Ιαωννιτών Ιπποτών (1421-1453)', in Ρόδος 2.400 Χρόνια. Η πόλη της Ρόδου α;πό την ίδρυσή της μέχρι την κατάληψη από τους Τούκους 1523. Ρόδος 24-20 Οκτωβρίου, Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού ΚΒ Εφορίεα Προϊστορικών και Κλασσικών Αρχαιοτήτων και 4η Εφορεία Βυζαντινών Αρχιαοτήτων, Αθήνα, p. 315-315. Nicolle, D. 2001, Knight Hospitallers I: 1110-1306, Osprey Publishing, Oxford. Spiteri, S.C. 2003, Armoury of the Knights, Midsea Books, Valetta. Sire, H. 1994, The Knights of Malta, Yale University Press, New Haven and London. Spiteri, S.C. 228, 'Castles and Fortresses of Rhodes', ARX- ONLINE JOURNAL OF MILITARY ARCHITECTURE, vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 39-48. Dellas, G., and Manousou-Della, K., . 2003, 'The transformation of the Medieval City of Rhodes to a site of culture and citizens' education', in FORTMED. EC 5th Framework Programme Inco Med and Environment Research Programme, 1st European Workshop, 27-29 September, Veroia, ed. I. Papayanni, and Theologidou, K. , pp. 219-225. Valkana, A. 2012, The Knights of Rhodes, M. Toubis, Athens.

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | This page is intentionally left blank

56

This page is intentionally left blank

D.Papathanasiou-Zuhrt | This page is intentionally left blank

57

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE. Principles, Methodology, Applications VOLUME II

Documents

Transcript of STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE. Principles, Methodology, Applications VOLUME II