DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5542#0060
50
OLD CHURCHES.
[Chap, xxxiv
on the land side, while a high covered way connected with
the wall by a draw-bridge led over the fosse, and an inter-
vening ravelin to a strong detached fort on the west.
We were much struck with the breadth and cleanliness of
the streets, paved with small round pebbles, which abound
in the conglomerate at this end of the island. Every house
had its garden, in which oranges and lemons grew luxuri-
antly, while the tall and graceful palms added to the Ori-
ental character of the scenery. Two churches belonging to
the knights, that of St. John, and that of the Apostles, have
been converted by the Turks into mosques. Round the
entrance of the latter are some beautiful arabesque traceries
carved in white marble, representing arms and armour,
drums and standards, cuirasses, gauntlets and greaves,
quivers, bows, and helmets, all executed with the greatest
delicacy. In this quarter we also visited the bazaars, only
moderately supplied with goods and necessaries. The Greek
quarter is without the walls to the N.W. of the fortifications,
where every house is surrounded with a garden, and where
the European consuls have established their diplomatic
coterie.
Forgetting for a while the classic interests of Rhodes, and
of which but few memorials are to be seen in the present
town, it is impossible to look upon these remains of its
chivalrous period, with the knightly houses and their ap-
propriate ornaments, the noble coats of arms, and other
paraphernalia of chivalry, as they have been left uninjured
for the last three hundred years, without a strong feeling of
interest in the events and circumstances which first founded
and subsequently destroyed these evidences of European
civilization, established so far within the limits of Eastern
"barbarism ; events which may be justly considered as the
most interesting and the most important which have agi-
tated the tranquillity of Europe since the downfall of the
Roman empire. It is also curious to observe how the style
of architecture, probably universal in Europe three hun-
dred years ago, has, by an extraordinary chance, been pre-
OLD CHURCHES.
[Chap, xxxiv
on the land side, while a high covered way connected with
the wall by a draw-bridge led over the fosse, and an inter-
vening ravelin to a strong detached fort on the west.
We were much struck with the breadth and cleanliness of
the streets, paved with small round pebbles, which abound
in the conglomerate at this end of the island. Every house
had its garden, in which oranges and lemons grew luxuri-
antly, while the tall and graceful palms added to the Ori-
ental character of the scenery. Two churches belonging to
the knights, that of St. John, and that of the Apostles, have
been converted by the Turks into mosques. Round the
entrance of the latter are some beautiful arabesque traceries
carved in white marble, representing arms and armour,
drums and standards, cuirasses, gauntlets and greaves,
quivers, bows, and helmets, all executed with the greatest
delicacy. In this quarter we also visited the bazaars, only
moderately supplied with goods and necessaries. The Greek
quarter is without the walls to the N.W. of the fortifications,
where every house is surrounded with a garden, and where
the European consuls have established their diplomatic
coterie.
Forgetting for a while the classic interests of Rhodes, and
of which but few memorials are to be seen in the present
town, it is impossible to look upon these remains of its
chivalrous period, with the knightly houses and their ap-
propriate ornaments, the noble coats of arms, and other
paraphernalia of chivalry, as they have been left uninjured
for the last three hundred years, without a strong feeling of
interest in the events and circumstances which first founded
and subsequently destroyed these evidences of European
civilization, established so far within the limits of Eastern
"barbarism ; events which may be justly considered as the
most interesting and the most important which have agi-
tated the tranquillity of Europe since the downfall of the
Roman empire. It is also curious to observe how the style
of architecture, probably universal in Europe three hun-
dred years ago, has, by an extraordinary chance, been pre-