Rhodes (city)

This article is about the Greek city of Rhodes. For other uses, see Rhodes (disambiguation).

Rhodes Ρόδος
Settlement
View of the harbour
Country	Greece
Administrative region	South Aegean
Government
• Mayor	Hatzis Hatziefthimiou (ND; since Jan 2007)
Area
• Total	19.5 km2 (7.5 sq mi)
Highest elevation	25 m (82 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population  (2001)
• Total	54,802
• Density	2,800/km2 (7,300/sq mi)
• Metro	80,000
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code	851 00
Area code(s)	22410
Vehicle registration	PO, PK
Website	www.rhodes.gr

Rhodes (Greek: Ρόδος - Ródos) is the principal city of the Greek island of Rhodes, in southeastern Aegean Sea and the capital of the Dodecanese prefecture. Its has a population of approximately 60,000. Rhodes has been famous since antiquity as the site of Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The citadel of Rhodes, built by the Hospitalliers, is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe which in 1988 was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Geography

File:Rhodes City.jpg

Google Earth overview of City of Rhodes.

The city of Rhodes is situated in the north-east tip of the island and forms a triangle from north to south. It is the smallest municipality of the island in terms of land area and the largest in population. It borders with the Aegean Sea in the north, the east and the west and with the municipalities of Ialysos and Kallithea[1] in the south.

History

The island of Rhodes is at a crossroads between Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. This has given the city and the island many different identities, cultures, architectures, and languages over it long history. Its position in major sea routes has given Rhodes a very rich history. The island has been inhabitated since about 4000 BC (Neolithic Period).

Classical Period

The city of Rhodes was formed in 408 BC, by the cities of Ialyssos, Kamiros and Lindos. Following its founding the city prospered for three centuries during its Golden Age. This was when sea trade, skilled shipbuilders, and open-minded politicians of the city kept it prosperous until Roman times. Between 304 and 293 BC the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was built by the Lyndian sculptor Hares. The construction took 12 years and was completed in 282 BC. The statue represented their sun god Helios, which stood at the harbour entrance. The ancient city had a well-constructed sewage system as well as a water supply network as designed by Hippodamus. A strong earthquake hit Rhodes about 226 BC, badly damaging the city and toppling the Colossus. For the next eight centuries it lay in ruins until it was sold to a Jewish merchant, reputed to require 900 camels to haul it away.

Roman Period

In 164 BC, Rhodes became a province of the Roman Empire. It was able to keep its beauty and develop into a leading center of learning for arts and science. Many traces of the Roman period still exist throughout the city and give us an insight into the level of civilization at the time. According to Acts 21:1, the Apostle Paul stopped at Rhodes near the end of his third missionary journey.

Knights' Period

The Knights Hospitallers captured and established their headquarters on Rhodes when they left Italy after the persecution of the Knights Templar in 1307. Pope Clement V confirmed the Hospitallers possession of the Island in 1309. The Knights remained on the Island for the next two centuries, harassing Muslim shipping.

After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 the Ottoman Empire began a rapid expansion and in 1480 Sultan Mehmet launched and invasion of Rhodes commanded by Mesic Pasha. The defenders repelled Turkish attacks from both landward and seaward sides and the invaders left the Island in defeat. The defeat halted a concurrent invasion of the Italian peninsula by Ottoman forces and prevented possible Muslim incursion and control of Western Europe.

After the Ottoman defeat in 1480 the Knights Grand Master, Fabrizio Del Carreto, oversaw the strengthening of the cities over the next few decades. By the time of his death in 1521 Rhodes possessed the strongest fortifications of any Christian Bastion in the World. The continued Naval attack launched from Rhodes on Muslim Merchants until 1522 the newly enthroned Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent led a second Siege of Rhodes (1522).

The vastly outnumbered Knights made a spirited defense of the city and inflicted heavy casualties upon the Ottoman besiegers. In December 1522 the Knights and Suleiman came to terms and the Knights were allowed to leave the city with all the wealth they could carry, in return there would be no retribution upon the inhabitants of the city and they would be allowed to continue to freely practice Christianity. On January 1st, 1523 the Knights departed from the island, leaving it to Ottoman control.

Italian Period

In 1912 Italian troops took the island over with the rest of the Dodecanese Islands, and established an Italian colony known as Isole Italiane del Egeo in 1923.

The Italians would later demolish the houses that were built on and around the city walls during the Ottoman era. They also turned the Jewish and Ottoman cemeteries into a green zone surrounding the Medieval Town. The Italians preserved what was left from the Knights' period, and destroyed all Ottoman buildings. They also reconstructed the Grand Master's Palace. Furthermore, an Institute for the study of the History and Culture of the region was established, and major infrastructure work was done to modernize Rhodes.

Government

Rhodes is the capital of the island of Rhodes as well as of the Dodecanese Prefecture and should also be the regional capital as it is the only recognized urban center in the Aegean by central government. The city hosts both the City Hall and the Prefecture Hall and as a form of recognition holds also a regional office.

Mayors

The current mayor, Hatzis Hatziefthimiou, is newly elected and is in charge as of Jan 1st of 2007. Below are the mayors of the city from 1912 till now:

• 1912-1913 | Pavlides Savvas
• 1913-1919 | Brizzi Attilio (Italian Occupancy)
• 1919-1920 | Saccorotti Francesco (Italian Occupancy)
• 1920-1937 | Biliotti Alfredo (Italian Occupancy)
• 1937-1938 | Masseri Girolamo (Italian Occupancy)
• 1938-1939 | Turkato Ugo (Italian Occupancy)
• 1939-1943 | Secchi Pietro (Italian Occupancy)
• 1943-1945 | Macchi Antonio (Italian Occupancy)
• 1945-1946 | Kazoulis Athanasios
• 1946-1950 | Charitos Gavriil
• 1950 | Lambadarios Symeon
• 1950 | Iliopoulos Nikolaos
• 1950-1951 | Vrondakis Emmanouil
• 1951 | Teliakos Lazaros
• 1951-1954 | Fotaras Fotis
• 1955-1964 | Petrides Michael
• 1964 | Chiotakis Georgios
• 1964-1966 | Petrides Michael
• 1966-1967 | Zachariades Elias
• 1967-1974 | Vrouchos Georgios
• 1974-1975 | Tzavaras Charalambos
• 1975-1978 | Avgoustakis Stavros
• 1979-1982 | Venetoklis Dimitrios
• 1983-1990 | Karayiannis Savvas
• 1991-1994 | Kokkinos Manos
• 1995-2006 | Giannopoulos Georgios
• 2007-now | Hatziefthimiou Hatzis

Landmarks

Medieval City of Rhodes

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Criteria	Cultural: ii, iv, v
Reference	493
Inscription	1988 (12th Session)

The city has many landmarks. Some of them date back to antiquity and most of the others remain from the Knights' Period.

• Grand Master's Palace
• Medieval City of Rhodes

Demographics

Both city and island population continue to grow contrary to national levels; the city has an official population of 54.000 but the actual population is estimated between 75 and 80.000 (see below the paradox section)

Population Data

Year	Population	Change +/-
1951	24,280	-
1961	28,119	+3,839
1971	33,100	+4,981
1981	41,425	+8,325
1991	43,558	+2,133
2001	53,709	+10,151

Statistical Paradox

The paradox of the all the conducted census is that many permanent residents of the city prefer to visit the places of their descent on the census day, thus city's total population is much more less than the every day one. Currently it is estimated that top 80.000 people reside permenently in the city although last census shoed only 54.000. This issue was and still is critisized by the city mayors as permanent population burden the munipality with costs that can not be justified by the official numbers.

Education

The city has old and inadequate educational facilities with most of them being sheltered in buildings of the early 1900s. Facilities by category:

• Primary Education: 21 primary schools
• Secondary Education: 7 high schools and 7 lyceums
• Higher Education: Some departments of the Aegean University, Higher and Lower Tourism Schools and some private institutes

The last years two private schools were also established and offer classes from primary to lyceum education

Transportation

Road Network

The road network of the city is becoming insufficient as the car fleet expands at a rate of 5,500 per year thus both traffic and parking is horrible especially during the season (about 70,000 cars move from/to the center per day). The Medieval Town closes for vehicles during the summer so all the traffic gathers outside the walls and towards the modern city center which has narrow and one wayed streets. Finding a parking space is difficult and moreover it is under payment. Direction signings on the streets are sufficient but not perfect, traffic lights brake down often and pedestrian crossings usually are not respected. From the south end of the city begins the E-95, the national road that connects the city with Lindos.

Bus Service

Bus service within the city is currently inefficient as the local municipal transport comany (RODA [2]) is almost in bankruptcy. Its fleet is old and small, the routes are incovinient and without specific timetables and finally lack of serious management over the years undermine a probable future return in reliability and profits. Note though that during tourism season the company serves as good as possible all the main resorts and attractions contrary to winter time when services are below standard.

Taxi Service

Taxis in the city are more than enough during winter but in the summer are rare due to high tourism. About 400 taxis serve the city and can be either found in specified taxi ranks or by phone.

Sea Service

The city hosts four harbors; the central serves national and international traffic (ferried and cruise ships), Akandia harbor is currently in construction servicing mainly cargo ships and cruise ships on busy days, Kolona serves in-prefecture traffic and private yachts and finally Mandraki harbor services daily trips around the island and small yachts. The new Marina of the island is being constructed in the Zefyros area and is expected to be operational by 2009.

• Central Harbor

Routes to:

• Major Dodecanese islands
• Piraeus
• Crete (Agios Nikolaos and Heraklio)
• Thessaloniki (seasonal)
• Alexandroupoli
• Turkey
• Cyprus
• Akandia Harbour

Routes to:

• not in operation yet
• Kolona Harbor

Routes to:

• Major and minor Dodecanese islands
• Mandraki Harbor

Routes to:

• daily excursions around the island and in nearby islands

Air Service

Diagoras International Airport of Rhodes serves both city and the island. It is situated 14km south west of the city. It is connected to all major Greek airports and Cyprus allover the year and during tourism season accepts heavy charter traffic.

Media

The city is served by many media companies that provide adequate and spherical briefing on different aspects of modern life.

Television

Some 25 stations broadcast freely while 2 charge subscription fees;they are divided to local, national, satellite and pay-tv stations and are the following:

Local Stations (based within the city-(A to Z)

• Irida TV
• Maik Channel
• Omega TV
• TV4
• Rodos Channel (defunct last 2 years)

Local Stations (based on the island-broadcasting in the city)

• Cosmos TV (based in Ialysos)
• Master TV (based in Archangelos)
• Tharri TV (monastery channel)

National Stations

• ET1 (State/Athens based)
• NET (State/Athens Based)
• ET3 (State/Thessaloniki based)
• ANT1 (Private/Athens based)
• Mega Channel (Private/Athens based)
• Alpha TV (Private/Athens based)
• Star Channel (Private/Athens based)
• Alter Channel (Private/Athens based)
• TeleAsty (Private/Athens based)
• 902 TV (Private/Athens based)
• Skai TV (Private/Athens based)
• Vouli Tileorasi (State/Athens based)

Satellite/Pay TV Stations

• Filmnet (Athens based)
• Nova (Athens based)
• Rai Uno (Italian)
• ZDF (German)
• TV5 Monde (French)
• CNN International (American)
• TRT1, 2, 3 (Turkish)

Newspapers

There are three daily newspapers issued that concern both the city and the whole region. Moreover two are issued every Monday and there are few others with specific themes.

• "I Rodiaki" [3] (trnsltd "The Rhodian"/daily)
• "I Proodos" [4] (trnsltd "Progress"/daily)
• "I Dimokratiki" [5] (trnsltd "The Democrat"/daily)
• "I Gnomi" (trnsltd "The Opinion"/weekly)
• "I Drasi" (trnsltd "Action"/weekly)

There are also a couple of weekly papers concerning yellow pages and lately a weekly sports paper was introduced. Finally all national and international press can be easily purchased in kiosks and press agencies.

Health Structures

The city hosts more than adequate health related facilities that serve both island's and region's needs.

• "Andreas Papandreou" Rhodes General Hospital [6] is the state hospital of the island. It was relocated to a newly constructed building in Agioi Apostoloi area and is the biggest in the Aegean Sea.
• Euromedica Clinic [7] is a private hospital that recently opened.

Sports

The city after a long dark period of almost 15 years is reviving in many team sports. Football and basketball are the most famous but a wide variety is also in development during the last years with the most noticable in rugby.

Football

The city has two major football teams; PAO Diagoras Rhodes and AS Rodos after a long period are back in national level and compete in Greek National Third Division (Gamma Ethniki) while the rest of the city based teams compete in the local Amateur Divisions.

Basketball

The last 15 years basketball is represented in national level by Colossus BC which currently won promotion to National A1 Ethniki just one year after being relegated. Other notable teams are AS Diagoras Rhodes which just gained promotion in National Third Division and AS Dodekanisos, the pride of the Aegean that competes and stars in the national basketball league for handicapped people.

Other

A variety of other sports is also avialable and in development in the city. In volleyball AS Diagoras Rhodeslost third division and returns to local leagues; in rugby the recently formed Colossoi of Rhodes achieved for the second time in a row to reach the top league's finals were they lost the title. The Nautical Club of Rhodes and Ygros Stivos of Rhodes keep water polo teams in low level national divisions; the Rhodian Tennis Club develops tennis and ping-pong in its privately owned facilities; AS Diagoras Rhodes keeps competitive teams also in cycling and in track and field athletics. Finally ziu zitsu, karate, tae-kwon-do and other Eastern oriented sports are available from local teams that enjoy sporadic national success.

Sports Venues

The city has three major sports venues; the Rhodes Municipal Stadium and the Kallipateira National Athletic Center serve all outdoor activities while the Municipal Indoor Hall of "Venetokleio" serves indoor sports.

Consulates

The city of Rhodes is also home to many foreign consulates.

• Austria: 33 March 25th St., Rhodes Tel: (0030) 2241020833
• Belgium: 35 Kos St., Rhodes Tel: (0030) 2241024661
• Denmark: 63A Dimokratias Av., Ialysos Tel: (0030) 2241094488
• Finland: 25 G. Leontos St., Rhodes Tel: (0030) 2241035780
• France: Ippoton St., Medieval City, Rhodes Tel: (0030) 2241022318
• Germany: 12-14 Artemidos St., Monte Smith, Rhodes Tel: (0030) 2241063730
• Hungary: 13 D. Theodoraki St., Rhodes Tel: (0030) 2241027108
• Italy: Ippoton, Medieval City, Rhodes Tel: (0030) 2241027432
• Netherlands: 27 Aleksandrou Diakou St., Rhodes Tel: (0030) 2241031571
• Spain: 13 D. Theodoraki St., Rhodes Tel: (0030) 2241025698
• Sweden: 20 D. Theodoraki St., Rhodes Tel: (0030) 2241031822
• Turkey: 10-12 Iroon Polytehneiou St., Rhodes Tel: (0030) 2241023362
• United Kingdom: 29 Gr. Lampraki St., Rhodes Tel: (0030) 2241022005

Photo Gallery

• 
  Fortifications in the Old Town
• 
  Cannonballs
• 
  The Mosque of Suleyman
• 
  Meander
• 
  Main road
• 
  Old town of Rhodes
• 
  Acropolis of Rhodes
• 
  Amboise Gate
• 
  Grand Master's Palace
• 
  Interior of Kahal Shalom Synagogue

External links

• City of Rhodes website
• Prefecture website
• Region website
• Hotels in Rhodes