Panayia tou Kastrou

Chrysa Savvidou

The Panayia tou Kastrou is situated in the east part of the fortified town of Rhodes, at the end of Ippoton Street. The church was the Metropolis of the Byzantine town, and the principles of Byzantine architecture were applied to its erection. After the establishment of the Knights of St John on the island, it became their cathedral. Subsequently, during the Ottoman period, it was converted into a mosque called Enderum or Kandouri Çami. Despite the modifications it underwent at the hands of the Knights of St John and its later conversion into a Muslim house of worship, it still provides evidence for the architecture of the most important period in the history of the island.

The Panayia tou Kastrou is an interesting example of Byzantine architecture as introduced and developed on Rhodes. In the Middle Byzantine period, particularly from the end of the 10th century down to the arrival of the Knights in 1309, it was the predominant architecture of the island. Almost all the architectural types are found on Rhodes: aisleless and three-aisled basilicas, and cross-in-square, cruciform, and tetraconch churches. Examples are also found of a transitional cruciform type and an aisleless cross-in-square church with a dome.

The distinctive features of the ecclesiastical architecture of Rhodes are due mainly to the climate and materials available on the island.¹ Extensive use was made of the local soft poros, and isodomic masonry was often employed. Baked bricks were avoided, both as building material and as decorative elements. The vaults of the churches, usually constructed of local poros, are characteristic. Poros was used so extensively that marble members were shunned in the churches, and the aisles were separated by pillars built of poros. Windows are few in number and small. Another distinctive characteristic of the local architectural school is its avoidance of the use of tiles on the vaults, which were covered with hydraulic plaster. All the above features give the Byzantine churches of Rhodes a sense of austerity and simplicity that contrasts with the plasticity and morphological variety of the corresponding churches in mainland Greece.