The Turks had paid no heed to its maintenance and it had been left to crumble. Its destruction was completed by the earthquakes, which afflicted Rhodes from time to time. Neglected as it was, however, the palace still retained a semblance of its original appearance until around the middle of the 19th c. The final blow was dealt in 1856 when the gunpowder stored in the vaults of the nearby church of St. John of the Collachium blew up; only the ground floor of the palace survived.

At the beginning of 1937 the Italian Governor of Rhodes, Cesare Maria de Vecchi, decided to restore the ruined Palace. Major and drastic interventions were made in order to serve as a luxury residence for himself and government headquarters.

he new Hospital of the Knights (Archaeological Museum)
This is one of the most handsome and best-preserved buildings from the time of the Knights, built diagonally opposite the church of the ‘Panayia tou Castrou’ (“Our Lady of the Castle”). Although the character and mission of the Order of the Knights had changed since its founding in Palestine, it neverceased to regard tending the sick and the poor as one of its main duties. Consequently the Hospital was one of the Knight’s most important buildings. Today this building houses the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes.

he First Hospital
The first hospital is the only example f the early architecture of the Knights, dating before 1480 and gives a picture of the period that preceded the architecture of the late 15th and mainly the early 16th c., with its distinctly Renaissance and markedly militaristic spirit.

It is highly likely that this was the residence of the first Grand Master in the early 14th c., before the completion of the building of the Kastello.