Shiny Greece
- Jan 25, 2020
- 3 min read

Archaeological Museum of Rhodes | The Medieval Gothic Renaissance Treasure of the Dodecanese

Updated: Sep 24

Author

George Papadellis, SG Head

The Archaeological Museum of Rhodes, constructed between 1440 and 1503, is situated in the Medieval City of Rhodes and it is housed in the medieval gothic style building with renaissance elements of the old hospital of the Knights of Saint John (which was built on the ruins of an old Roman building).

Photo by: Bernard Gagnon, Archaeological Museum of Rhodes (exterior) 01, CC BY-SA 4.0

The collection of Rhodes Archaeological Museum consists of findings from excavations during the Italian occupation of the Dodecanese islands. These include Mycenaean jewelry, vases and other small objects from the Geometric to the Classical period (9th-4th century BC), sculptures from the Classical and Hellenistic periods, and coins from the Hellenistic period.

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The construction of the Archeological Museum of Rhodes begun by the Grand Master de Lastic and was completed after 49 years by the Grand Master D'Aubusson. The visitors enter the Museum from a late-Gothic door, opposite of which there is the inner courtyard, where you can see a seated lion with a bull's head at its feet, from the Late Hellenistic period. In front of the lion lies the mosaic floor from the early Christian basilica of Arkasa in Karpathos. A second mosaic of the courtyard lies in front of the storerooms.

Photo by: Georg Karl Ell, Rhodos, Archaeological Museum - Minor courtyard 01, cropped by Shiny Greece, CC BY-SA 4.0

The first floor hosts the large patient room, the dining room (with late antiquity tombstones from Nisyros) and the rooms of the archaeological collection. In the patient hall, the visitor can see tombstones of the knights, knightly emblems and a Roman sarcophagus that was used as tomb of the Grand Master Corneyan. In the rooms on the south side, there are two kouros, the Kamiro perirantrium, the tombstone of Kritus and Timarista from the 5th century BC, the statue of Aphrodite with the supernatural size, the colossal head of Helios, the statuette of Aphrodite, the Roman portrait of Menandros, the poet of the New Comedy.

Photo by: in the public domain

In the fifteen rooms on the north and west side of the Archaeological Museum Rhodes, there are burial collections from the 9th to the 4th century BC (from the Italian excavations in the necropolises of ancient Ialysia and Kamiro), amphorae of Fikellour type with the representation of animals, the Vroulia goblets with engraved and written jewels, products of Rhodian workshops of the Archaic period, black- and red-figure vessels of the 6th, 5th and 4th centuries BC, jewelry from the Mycenaean period and a treasure of Rhodian silver coins from the Hellenistic period.

Museum of Rhodes Tickets

Source: Greek Ministry of Culture

Full: €6 - Reduced: €3

Special ticket package: Full: €10 (combined with: Palace of the Grand Master, Medieval Town of Rhodes, Decorative Arts Collection and Our Lady of the Castle)

Free admission days: 6 March (in memory of Melina Mercouri), 18 April (International Monuments Day), 18 May (International Museums Day), The last weekend of September annually (European Heritage Days) and National Holidays

Museum of Rhodes Opening

Source: Greek Ministry of Culture

Summer:

Daily: 08.00 - 20.00 Epigraphic Collection and Vilaragut Mansion: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (09:00 - 17:00) Prehistoric Collection: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday (09:00 - 17:00) Small display of archaic pithoi: Sunday (12:30 - 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