DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5542#0059
Chap, xxxiv.]
THE KNIGHTS OF RHODES.
■1'.)
during the day either for curiosity or business; but woe
betide the unhappy Christian who should be discovered to
have passed the night within the walls. Here we at once
found ourselves walking amidst the ancient habitations of
the knights of Rhodes, which produced the effect of having
been suddenly transported into a former age, rather than into
a different place. Many of the houses were in ruins ; some
were inhabited by Turks; but all presented the same ex-
terior that they did three or four hundred years ago. Built
in the peculiar architecture of the feudal times, a strange
combination of the contrary qualities of the gay and the som-
hre—massive, yet not devoid of elegance, and constructed
entirely of stone, they have equally resisted the corroding
influence of time, and the mischievous effects of Turkish
violence and ignorance : the escutcheons and coats of arms
of the knights likewise, of different countries, several some-
times occurring in the same house, remain fixed in the walls
uninjured.
The principal street led up a gentle rise to the west:
it was broader than is usual in the towns of the Levant,
and could boast a footpath on each side. On our left we
passed a massive building, now converted into barracks
for the new troops: it was formerly a college, used as a re-
sidence for the poorer knights, and containing rooms for the
despatch of public business. On our right were ancient
houses, inhabited by Turks or left to decay, built in a florid
gothic style, with ornamented headings, and borders of
flowers round the windows and along the walls. Amongst
the numerous escutcheons with which they were adorned
were the royal arms of England, three lions passant, quar-
tered with those of France, three fleurs de lis. At the
top of the street we reached the ruined palace of the Grand
Master: near it was the principal church, dedicated to St.
John, a long, gothic edifice, now converted into a mosque.
Here the fortifications were of great strength, forming, as
it were, the key to the whole defence. The wall was very
lofty, defended by a deep ditch extending round the fortress
VOL. II. E
THE KNIGHTS OF RHODES.
■1'.)
during the day either for curiosity or business; but woe
betide the unhappy Christian who should be discovered to
have passed the night within the walls. Here we at once
found ourselves walking amidst the ancient habitations of
the knights of Rhodes, which produced the effect of having
been suddenly transported into a former age, rather than into
a different place. Many of the houses were in ruins ; some
were inhabited by Turks; but all presented the same ex-
terior that they did three or four hundred years ago. Built
in the peculiar architecture of the feudal times, a strange
combination of the contrary qualities of the gay and the som-
hre—massive, yet not devoid of elegance, and constructed
entirely of stone, they have equally resisted the corroding
influence of time, and the mischievous effects of Turkish
violence and ignorance : the escutcheons and coats of arms
of the knights likewise, of different countries, several some-
times occurring in the same house, remain fixed in the walls
uninjured.
The principal street led up a gentle rise to the west:
it was broader than is usual in the towns of the Levant,
and could boast a footpath on each side. On our left we
passed a massive building, now converted into barracks
for the new troops: it was formerly a college, used as a re-
sidence for the poorer knights, and containing rooms for the
despatch of public business. On our right were ancient
houses, inhabited by Turks or left to decay, built in a florid
gothic style, with ornamented headings, and borders of
flowers round the windows and along the walls. Amongst
the numerous escutcheons with which they were adorned
were the royal arms of England, three lions passant, quar-
tered with those of France, three fleurs de lis. At the
top of the street we reached the ruined palace of the Grand
Master: near it was the principal church, dedicated to St.
John, a long, gothic edifice, now converted into a mosque.
Here the fortifications were of great strength, forming, as
it were, the key to the whole defence. The wall was very
lofty, defended by a deep ditch extending round the fortress
VOL. II. E