The Palace of the Grand Master, at the western, uphill end of the Street of the Knights, has a stout wooden gate flanked by two high, castellated towers, which have become one of Rhodes' most identifiable features. Situated at the highest point of Old Town, The Palace is prominently visible from the harbor by incoming ships. Completed in 1346, it was built on the ruins of the Temple to Helios. It is also a possible site of the Colossus of Rhodes (Tradition says that when the statue fell, it demolished some buildings.).
The Palace was the first big building project of the Knights. Destroyed by an explosion in 1856, it was restored by the Italians in 1939. It had been the administrative center of the Dodecanese.
Now it is a museum housing artifacts from Ancient Rhodes, from the Byzantine era, and from the era of the Knights.
