CHiFA has been in discussions with the Jewish Community of Rhodes, Greece, regarding the possibility of participating in projects to restore to productive use a number of the properties in the Old Town currently owned by the Greek state, which had been owned by Jewish families prior to the deportation to the Auschwitz death camp of the entire Jewish population of Rhodes – some 1,650 souls - on 23 July, 1944. The small Jewish community of Rhodes is currently preparing for the 80th anniversary commemoration of that terrible event.  

Derek Moore, CHiFA Senior Technical Advisor, made a scouting visit to Rhodes in May and was able to trace some 40 of these properties, including a notable cluster of three that have been returned to the Jewish Community. The community intends to restore these dwellings as a small hotel or perhaps some other use. Two fine marble plaques with inscriptions (one in Italian and Judeo-Spanish and rendered in Hebrew characters, the other in Hebrew) record the donation of this group of houses by the Notrica family for the benefit of the Jewish Community. These houses sit at a quiet corner within 100 meters of the square that was the center of the Juderia, now named Jewish Martyrs Square. They form a cluster around a central courtyard with mature trees. One of the two entrances is up several steps, but the other is level and therefore would be considered accessible. Vehicle access for supplies and for taxis is possible, unlike for large swaths of the Juderia. While the structures will require considerable reconstruction and refurbishment to meet modern codes, they form a unique and potentially very compelling enclave for a variety of uses. In addition to use as a restaurant or tourist accommodation, the suite of spaces could house a range of cultural institutions, perhaps even reconstructions of Jewish life in the Juderia.

Inscription recording the Notrica Donation, in Italian and Judeo-Spanish, rendered in Hebrew characters

Notrica Donation Houses at Perikleous, 25 (formerly El Datilar)

Courtyard between the three Notrica Donation Houses

During WWII the area suffered not only the expulsion of the Jews, but sustained Allied bombing aimed at dislodging the occupying Nazi forces. Throughout the Old Town bomb damage has been an excuse to uncover the ancient Roman and Greek periods of settlement, with these excavations left open and creating discontinuities in the urban fabric. Of the 40+ houses in the former Juderia still owned by the Greek government, a number have been leased and restored. The condition of the unoccupied structures runs the gamut from an apparent state of good repair to ruinous, with only ground floor walls partially surviving.  

Inscription over entrance on side street

Room interior showing a surviving decorative pebble stone floor

But this is true of a surprising number of structures throughout the Old Town. The swarms of tourists stick mainly to a handful of principal pedestrian routes, which are equally clogged with restaurants and tourist-oriented shops. Most streets at the western end of the Old Town, closer to the Street of the Knights and the Palace of the Gran Master, are in a better state of repair. Even so, there is considerable scope for refurbishment. More disturbing is the fact that many home owners or renters have performed ad hoc repairs, reconstructions and expansions of historic residences without following design guidelines, let alone rigorous standards of heritage conservation.  

The Old Town is an extraordinarily rich amalgam of monumental western medieval civic structures, a dense urban residential fabric ranging from medieval to 19th-century, dotted with dozens of small Byzantine style churches and substantial Ottoman mosques - all built over the ruins of a major ancient gridded “Hippodamian” city plan and encircled by Herculean defensive structures. The city is a lithic epitome of eastern Mediterranean history. A program of diligent and sensitive reconstruction could lead to a more broadly beneficial regeneration of urban living for the local population, and possibly a more diverse economic base. We see tremendous potential in a synergy of heritage regeneration and social benefit in Rhodes Old Town.  

All photos by Derek A.R. Moore