RHODES

Rhodes, combines the modern with the medieval appearance today. You can visit the medieval town and the ancient Acropolis, see Byzantine monuments, Franks and Turks on the side of the modern and hectic Rhodes

 

ACROPOLIS  - OLD STADIUM - COLOSSUS

The statue of the Colossus of Rhodes by Chares of Lindos was built, a pupil of Lysippus. After it was built the word "Kolossos" indicated only the statues of very large and it was counted among the Seven Wonders of the World. The inscription is preserved in the written and perhaps one can reconstruct the epigram of the artist. The construction work lasted twelve years, so you may think that the work was dedicated in 280 BC Helios.
From the story of Philo of Byzantium on the construction of the statue, we learn that it was 30 meters high and that the artist, after having driven firmly with big iron pins the bronze feet of the statue in a marble base, raised the rest the body in layers, taking care to prepare, in the interior of the statue, an iron, formed by horizontal bars and uprights, which followed the shape of the statue and were fixed with pins on the walls of it. The skeleton of iron was stabilized by a filling made ​​with blocks of stone. For fusion, site visits, and bronze parts had been raised all around an embankment. It is possible that it was of wood and that the amount of axles and beams needed to be taken by the huge siege tower, the helepolis, 40 meters high, employed by Demetrius Poliorcetes.
In the years 224 and 223 BC the Colossus of Rhodes fell after an earthquake, breaking his knees. According to Strabo was not restored for a ban on the sacred. The pieces were still lying on the ground in 653 AD, the Arabs were stolen during a raid and sold them to a jew of Emesa.

OLD RHODES

The ancient town, enclosed within the circle of massive walls of Medieval Castle, with large and imposing ramparts, towers which rise scattered at regular intervals and huge ditches, where it is often possible to see the little fawns. The visit to the city, where access is through the Gate of Freedom, takes a few hours. The main street is the medieval "Street of the Knights", about 200 meters long and 6 wide, leading to the Grand Master's Palace, or Castle of the Knights of the fourteenth century. Destroyed in 1856 and then rebuilt by the Italians, who decorated with beautiful mosaics dating ellinistica, Roman and Byzantine from the island of Kos, the palace became the seat of the governor, Italian and half of the official visits of Victor Emmanuel III and Mussolini. Its numerous rooms and halls with huge fireplaces evoke an atmosphere of times past.
Beautiful medieval buildings and museums of the decorative arts, the archaeological (in the building that was the Hospital of the Knights) and Byzantine. And 'a must follow Street Sokratous, full of shops and bazaars, and Via S. Fanùrio, characterized by the typical taverns, and headquarters of the old theater, where they are represented shows, concerts, songs and folk dances.
The old town is home to many mosques, including that of Suleiman, the conqueror of Rhodes, built in 1808.
In the East Pier are three mills and the Fortress of St. Nicholas, which is the lighthouse. Around the port are many buildings stand as the Archdiocese, the Church of the Annunciation, the theater, City Hall, the new market and the Institute of Marine Biology, the Aquarium housed in the basement, where you can admire the underwater world varied decoration which creates a stunning effect.