The Ministry of Culture is implementing its strategic planning for the promotion of the archaeological site of the ancient youth and the medieval gardens of the Grand Master’s Palace, with the inclusion of an open-air sculpture gallery in “Pervola”, in the Medieval City of Rhodes.
A unique tour is created, combining archaeological remains with an exhibition of movable monuments and green areas. The disorganized texts found in the upper part of the Medieval City are classified, organized into sets and linked to the ancient remains of the Neorios and the Governor’s gardens, offering, during the tour, a clear picture of the history and archeology of Rhodes since ancient times. until today.
Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni stated: “The project, with a total budget of 4,500,000 euros, is financed by the Ministry of Culture with resources from the Recovery Fund, shapes and highlights the particularly important, but still unrevealed, archaeological site of the ancient youth, the Roman Quadrangle and the Governor’s Gardens, known as “Pervola”. It documents the history of Rhodes over time, as it was a vital point of the ancient city, whilst also being organically linked to the Grand Master’s Palace and in use during the period of Italian occupation. The new unified archaeological site serves as a timeless historical body of the medieval city of Rhodes, a UNESCO world cultural heritage site. The interventions implemented by the Ministry of Culture, through the competent Ephorate of Antiquities of the Dodecanese, respect the peculiarities of the area and aim to highlight the existing archaeological remains, through characteristic exhibitions, linked to the original function of the monuments, which in turn represent important periods of ancient city, from the Hellenistic and Roman years to the age of chivalry. The visitor’s route is structured around a set of thematic units, which constitute exhibition islands, with original pieces and informative material, functioning as stops along the tour. Thematic sections and related exhibitions take on the role of narrators of tales with spatio-temporal relevance to the environment where they are displayed. Our aim is that this archaeological site in the heart of the city – more than 20 hectares – which captures the long history of Rhodes, with its important monuments, functionally integrated, equipped with modern infrastructure and accessible to disabled and disabled people, be attributed to the local community and visitors to the island”.
In addition to highlighting the archaeological site of the ancient neorivers and the Roman Tetrapylos, the gardens of the Grand Master’s Palace, a leisure area that combines, according to the Renaissance model, rich vegetation, exotic fauna and sculptures, are being restored and revived. The exhibition units are created from the numerous funerary monuments and scattered ancient architectural members from rescue excavations of the Ephorate of Antiquities over the last 80 years in the city of Rhodes and in the interior of the island.
The exhibition unfolds in stages across three configured levels, occupying an area of 18 hectares, starting at the lowest level, with the old youth level and ending at the highest level, in the “Gardens of the Governor”. . The first level is developed in the area defined by the archaeological site under construction of the city’s ancient naval port (today Mandraki) and the Roman Tetrapylos complex. There are no exhibition units on the second level. It extends to the plateau today occupied by the so-called “tennis court”, probably built during the period of the British Military Administration (1945-1947). On three distinct levels – with a small difference in height between them – connected by low stairs, the so-called Governor’s Gardens are located, which until today were not open to visitors. They were formed during the Italian occupation (1936-1940). The objective of the study is to make this new archaeological site – an area that as a whole constitutes the largest green area in the Medieval City – into an attractive place to raise visitor awareness of the architectural and physical significance of the monument and the exhibitions.
The tour includes 18 themed sections. The principles that dictate museum-space planning are respect for space, safety of exhibitions through appropriate exhibition structures, universal accessibility for all categories of visitors, with special care for specific groups (children, people with disabilities, visitors with vision difficulties, etc.), the playful, educational and informative nature of the exhibitions, the planning of a coherent and attractive route, the framing of the exhibitions with modern interpretative means. The exhibitions include around 700 objects from all eras, which come from or are linked to the archaeological remains of each country. A special category are stone sarcophagi and coats of arms from the period of Italian rule (1912-1943), as well as bronze statuettes from the same period, in the form of armored emperors, which adorned the city’s public spaces. .
Physical accessibility to all points of the archaeological tour is ensured by gentle ramps along the proposed route, two elevators and an elevator, located at points with large differences in level. The sensorial accessibility of the exhibition is guaranteed by the use of a certain number of pieces as tactile and by the provision of audio content on the exhibition’s information panels using QRCodes technology. For visitors with hearing difficulties, the richness of the signage’s visual material and the ease of reading the texts, both in printed and digital formats, guarantee a minimum level of accessibility.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Diligence:George Koulouvaris
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