Byzantine and Knightly Times
During the medieval period, the order of the Knights of St. John from Jerusalem, during the Crusades, settled in Rhodes after a siege that ended around 1309. The Knights landed in Rhodes and occupied two key castles, the castle of Feraklou and the castle of Filerimos . Gradually, they occupy the rest of the Dodecanese. From now on the Knights of St. John are called "Knights of Rhodes". Their stay in Rhodes was particularly turbulent as after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the expansion of the Ottoman Empire they had to face the successive attacks of the Ottoman Turks. The attempt of Mohammed I the Conqueror in 1480 to capture Rhodes fails and the Knights of Rhodes prevail, extending their stay on the island. They will not, however, achieve the same success in 1522 during the second attempt to conquer the island by Suleiman the Magnificent. Since then Rhodes was handed over to the Turks and remained under occupation until the time of Italian occupation in 1912.
Suleiman in order to commemorate his conquest of the island in 1522 built a mosque, which muslims from all over the world visit yearly. The building was reconstructed in 1808 and since then it serves as a museum.
We would like to thank our teachers, mr Georgios Gaitanos (Theologian) and mr Vassilios Savvas (Physics) for their company and support, as well as Hodja Hassan for his hospitality. We would like also to thank Hodja Hassan for the interesting conversation we had with him, talking about the turkish community in Rhodes and his permission to take photos and do the filming.
Text and Narration: Maritina Gkougkoustamou
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