Our Lady of the Burgh

Identity

Site & dates

Museum › Junction of Alhadeff & Pindarou Streets, the Burgh

Our Lady of the Burgh (Panagia tou Bourgou) stands at the site of the marketplace of the Burgh, the walled lay commercial and residential quarter of the medieval town, outside the fortified Collachium reserved for the Knights. Today it survives as a roofless, open-air archaeological monument, freely open to the public and adjoining the public Alhadeff Park.

1310–1346

Construction, attributed to Grand Master Hélion de Villeneuve; first securely attested via Bosio’s chronicle, in connection with Villeneuve’s death in 1346.

1480

A Caoursin miniature depicts Grand Master Pierre d’Aubusson addressing the Knights in front of the church during the siege of Rhodes in 1480, where liturgies were held.

1522

Rhodes falls to Suleiman the Magnificent; uniquely among the island’s three great Hospitaller churches, Our Lady of the Burgh is never converted into a mosque.

1955 – 1997

A new road, the “Gate of the Virgin,” is cut through the ruins, splitting the church in two; archaeological reunification and restoration follow, completed in 1997.

Parish

A parish church and community anchor of the Burgh

1310–1522 › the everyday religious life of the lay town

Unlike the Order’s conventual church of St John, seat of its General Chapters and governance, Our Lady of the Burgh served the everyday religious life of the lay Latin community and of Order members living outside the Collachium — a parish-type role reflected in its associated hospital or charitable foundation and in the several private burial chapels added by lay and Hospitaller patrons over the 14th and 15th centuries. The church’s role extended beyond ordinary worship in moments of crisis as a rallying point for the defenders of the lay town.

Beata Maria Misericordia Burgi Rodi

“Our Lady of Mercy of the Burgh of Rhodes” — one of the church’s recorded historic epithets, alongside Beata Maria de Metropoli, “Our Lady of the Metropolis.”

A community identity that has persisted

Locally nicknamed the “split church” after the 1955 road-cutting, the reunified monument again serves as a focus for the surrounding neighbourhood, hosting open-air cultural events and adjoining the public Alhadeff Park.

Local children at play among reused stone drums in the open square before the ruined church — Children at play in the square before the church today — the parish’s historic community role, still visible in the reunited monument’s modern life.

Fabric

What survives

Gothic basilica › roofless, reunited, and legible

Our Lady of the Burgh was built as a three-aisled, timber-roofed basilica with twin colonnades, the same basic plan-type used at St John of the Collachio. The sanctuary comprises three five-sided apses, a more elaborate arrangement than either of the other two great Hospitaller churches of Rhodes, originally roofed by Gothic cross-vaults with ribs of composite cross-section. No roof survives today; the nave stands open to the sky as a partially restored archaeological ruin.

West facade: a rhomboid oculus

As at Our Lady of the Castle and St John of the Collachio, the west facade carries no buttresses or strong verticals — a plain, flat-walled treatment the principal academic source states is, to its author’s knowledge, otherwise found only in Italy. Distinctive to this church are a rhomboid (diamond-shaped) skylight and a pointed-arch (ogival) niche set into the facade.

Buttressing

Externally, buttresses are present on all sides of the church except the west facade, providing structural support to the flanking walls and apses.

The ‘Gate of the Virgin’ and the split church

A road cut through the ruins in 1955 to connect Alhadeff Street with the port still crosses the footprint of the building, physically separating its two halves even after their archaeological reunification in the 1990s — giving the monument its enduring local nickname.

Materials and the 1994–1997 reunification

The surviving fabric is of coursed local stone, with dressed stone at the apses, window openings and surviving vault ribs; drainage works begun in 1994 opened the way for archaeological investigation and a partial restoration reuniting the two long-separated halves of the church, completed by 1997.

History

Persons & events

1319–1997 › from a Grand Master’s church to a reunited ruin

A monument whose biography runs from its Hospitaller-period foundation, through nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule that left it uniquely unconverted, to a strikingly modern story of encroachment, division by a 1955 road, and successful archaeological reunification.

Hélion de Villeneuve, Grand Master 1319–1346

Traditionally credited with the church’s construction, placed between 1310 and 1346; first attested via Bosio’s chronicle in connection with his death in 1346, corroborated by fresco evidence of the Order’s earliest coat-of-arms.

Pierre d’Aubusson, Grand Master 1476–1503

Depicted in a Caoursin miniature (Cod. Lat. 6067, f.33) giving instructions to the Knights in front of the church during the siege of Rhodes in 1480, where liturgies were held.

Guillaume Caoursin, vice-chancellor

Eyewitness chronicler of the 1480 siege; his miniature records the church’s role during the defence of the lay town.

Ottoman period: uniquely not converted

Following 1522, the church was, uniquely among Rhodes’ three great Hospitaller churches, never made a mosque — unlike Our Lady of the Castle (Kantouri Djami) and St John of the Collachio (the city’s Main Mosque, destroyed 1856); instead it fell into slow ruin, shown roofless already in an 1828 engraving.

Italian clearance and the 1955 ‘Gate of the Virgin’

The Italian administration demolished the six houses built over the ruins and partially restored the church in the 1930s; in 1955 a new road was cut directly through the ruins, splitting the building into two separated halves.

Ephorate of Antiquities of the Dodecanese, 1994–1997

Carried out the archaeological investigation, partial restoration and reunification of the church following the 1994 drainage works, recovering the coin hoard discussed below.

Testimony

Eye witness: a hoard and a split church

1522 – 1994 › two moments recorded in coin and stone

The Hoard of Our Lady of the Burgh, 1522

On 17 October 1994, drainage works uncovered a hurried mass grave of more than thirty skeletons in the church’s south chapel. On the waist of one, a purse of some five hundred silver coins survived; 471 were catalogued by numismatist Anna-Maria Kasdagli, overwhelmingly Ottoman akce of Mehmed II, Bayezid II, Selim I and Suleiman I, alongside five Western coins. Two maydin of Suleiman I, minted December 1521, give the burial a terminus post quem of spring 1522 — the year Rhodes fell.

Kasdagli, Anna-Maria. “Ο θησαυρός της Παναγίας στο Μπούργκο στη Ρόδο (1522).” Οβολός [Το Νόμισμα στα Δωδεκάνησα και τη Μικρασιατική τους Περάια, Πρακτικά Συνεδρίου της Δ′ Επιστημονικής Συνάντησης] 8 (2006): 325–38.

The “split church,” 1955 to today

The road cut through the ruins in 1955 to connect Alhadeff Street with the port still crosses the footprint of the building today, even after the church’s two halves were archaeologically reunited in 1994–1997 — giving the monument the local name, “η ‘κομμένη εκκλησιά’” (the split church).

Local place-name tradition, corroborated by the 1955 municipal road works and the 1994–1997 restoration record.

Narrative

Rich Merchant or Spy?

1522 › a purse of coins and an unanswered question

Rich Merchant or Spy?

The excavation of the largest Latin church in the Medieval Town revealed a chapel with over thirty skeletons in a mass grave. The hurried nature of the burial is evident from the position of the skeletons, piled one over the other, showing a complete absence of post-mortem care. A purse with five hundred silver coins remained on the waist of one skeleton: five European coins from Milan, Venice and Rhodes between 1476 and 1521, and four hundred and sixty-four Ottoman coins minted between 1481 and 1522, spanning the reigns of great-grandfather to grandson — Mehmed II, Bayezid II, Selim I and Suleiman I.

The siege of 1522 explains the disturbed conditions behind the mass burial. The purse’s owner must have been a Roman Catholic, to be buried in the largest Latin church of Rhodes. The Ottoman coins indicate that he arrived in Rhodes from Ottoman territory in 1522; most are minted at Novar in Serbia and at Constantinople, and the hoard was assembled across the reign of Selim and into the early reign of Suleiman. But where, and who was he? A merchant with strong ties to Asia Minor and the Balkans — or a double agent, who left Constantinople in a hurry because he knew Suleiman was preparing to attack Rhodes? The answer, if it is ever found, promises to be thrilling.

Coin hoard as catalogued in Kasdagli, Anna-Maria (2006) — see Section 04. The “merchant or spy” reading offered here is this project’s own speculative narrative built on that find, not a documented identification of the purse’s owner.

Gallery

Photo gallery

Twelve views › the ruin, its road, its place in the living town, and a 1480 manuscript scene

Assessment

Significance criteria

Nine-criteria framework › National importance

Rarity

One of only three surviving examples of large Hospitaller Gothic ecclesiastical architecture on Rhodes; further distinguished as the only one of the three never converted to a mosque, and one of very few Rhodian monuments physically bisected by a modern road and subsequently reunited through archaeological restoration.

High

Representativeness

Identified by the principal academic study of Rhodes’ three great Hospitaller churches as, in its own words, “the most representative” of the type — the clearest and most legible surviving impression of this building type on the island.

Very High

Aesthetic value

A coherent, legible Gothic composition of twin colonnades, a three-apse sanctuary, and a distinctive rhomboid oculus and ogival niche, set within the open, landscaped Alhadeff Park with the 1955 road still visibly crossing its footprint.

High

Integrity

Substantially authentic medieval masonry, fragmented by 19th-century housing and the 1955 road rather than replaced; the 1994–1997 project successfully recovered and rejoined this fabric without substantial new construction, though the roofless state and the road across its plan remain visible reminders of its fragmented history.

High (successfully reunified)

Historical value

A rare Hospitaller-period parish foundation in continuous Latin use from 1310–1346 to 1522, the recorded gathering point of the Order during the 1480 siege, and an unusually well-documented modern history of encroachment, bisection and reunification.

Very High

Symbolic, spiritual & social value

The parish church of the lay Latin community, embodying the religious life of the wider medieval town; its vivid local nickname, the “split church,” and its continuing role as a venue for open-air cultural events sustain this identity today.

High

Scientific value

Fresco documentation corroborating the construction date, and a numismatically dated coin hoard of 471 catalogued coins establishing a secure terminus post quem of spring 1522 for the mass grave — with skeletal remains still awaiting anthropological analysis.

Very High

Interpretive potential

A freely accessible, always-open site offering a single, walkable monument through which visitors can trace Gothic ecclesiastical design, the 1480 siege, and a vivid, easily grasped modern narrative of division and reunification.

Very High

Importance level

A significant contributing element of the wider fortified medieval town rather than one of the UNESCO property’s three individually named principal monuments; the best-preserved and most representative of Rhodes’ three surviving Hospitaller Gothic churches.

National

Statement of significance

“Beata Maria Misericordia Burgi Rodi.” (“Our Lady of Mercy of the Burgh of Rhodes.”)

History gives Our Lady of the Burgh distinctive and well-founded significance. It is of very high representativeness, identified by the principal academic study of Rhodes’ three great Hospitaller churches as, in its own words, “the most representative” of the type — the best-preserved and most legible surviving example of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture on the island. Its integrity, while qualified by its roofless, open-air state and by the road that still crosses its plan, is high in the specific sense that its surviving fabric is substantially authentic medieval masonry, fragmented over centuries and then carefully and successfully reunited through modern restoration, rather than replaced by later reconstruction. It is of very high historical value both for its documented Hospitaller-period role and for its unusually distinctive and well-recorded modern history of encroachment, division and reunification. Our Lady of the Burgh should be understood as a significant contributing element of the wider fortified medieval town rather than as one of its headline monuments. Within that qualification, the church merits an Importance Level of National significance: the best-preserved and most representative of Rhodes’ three surviving Hospitaller Gothic churches, and, through its vivid modern story of the “split church” and its successful reunification, one of the most interpretively engaging smaller monuments of the medieval town.

National

Protected under Greek Archaeological Law by Ministerial Decision ΥΑ 23084/737 (25 August 1948), ΦΕΚ 10 (23 September 1948), confirmed under Law 3028/2002 on the Protection of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage in General.

UNESCO

Medieval City of Rhodes (ref. 493), inscribed 1988, criteria (ii), (iv) and (v). Our Lady of the Burgh is not itself individually named as one of the property’s three principal component monuments, but contributes materially to its Outstanding Universal Value as one of the surviving Hospitaller-period ecclesiastical monuments of the wider fortified town.

References

Dellas, Giorgos. “Οι μεγάλες ιπποτικές εκκλησίες της Ρόδου: Παναγία του Κάστρου, Άγιος Ιωάννης του Κολλακίου, Παναγία του Μπούργου” [“The Large Hospitaller Churches of Rhodes: Our Lady of the Castle, St John of the Collachio, Our Lady of the Burgh”]. In 15 χρόνια έργων αποκατάστασης στη Μεσαιωνική Πόλη της Ρόδου, Πρακτικά Διεθνούς Συνεδρίου, 370–424. Athens: Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού, 2007.
Hellenic Government Gazette (ΦΕΚ). Ministerial Decision 23084/737 (25 August 1948), ΦΕΚ 10 (23 September 1948), protection of the monuments of the Medieval Town of Rhodes; Law 3028/2002 on the Protection of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage in General.
ICOMOS Australia. The Burra Charter: The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance. Burwood: ICOMOS Australia, 2013.
ICOMOS. ICOMOS Charter for the Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage Sites. Paris: ICOMOS, 2008.
Kasdagli, Anna-Maria. “Nuremberg and Other Reckoning Counters Found on Rhodes.” Nomismatika Chronika 18 (1999): 119–132. Consulted for general background on Kasdagli’s wider numismatic study of coin and counter finds from Rhodes excavations; its catalogued material comes from other sites across the town and does not itself include finds from Our Lady of the Burgh.
Kasdagli, Anna-Maria. “Ο θησαυρός της Παναγίας του Μπούργκου στη Ρόδο (1522)” [“The Hoard of Our Lady of the Borgo in Rhodes (1522)”]. In Οβολός 8: Το Νόμισμα στα Δωδεκάνησα και τη Μικρασιατική τους Περαία, Πρακτικά Συνεδρίου της Δ΄ Επιστημονικής Συνάντησης, 325–338 (English summary, 338). Athens: Ministry of Culture / Archaeological Institute of Aegean Studies, 2006. Directly consulted for this document; the primary source for the 1994 mass-grave excavation, the coin hoard’s composition and numismatic dating, and the discussion of the purse owner’s possible identity, in the Person and Event History and Secondary Criteria Justification sections above.
Kasdagli, A.M. Το νόμισμα στη Ρόδο. Από την μεταρρύθμιση του Αναστασίου Α έως την Οθωμανική κατάκτηση (498–1522). 2016.
Papathanasiou-Zuhrt, D. Act 5.2 SAGITTARIUS Significance Assessment Tool — Hospice of St Catherine. University of the Aegean, 14 March 2013.
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Papathanasiou-Zuhrt, D. “SEE/B/0016/4.3/X SAGITTARIUS Record Sheet of the Great Hospital of the Knights in Rhodes.” Southeast Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme 2007–2013. Budapest, 2013.
Papathanasiou-Zuhrt, D. Statements of Significance: Principles, Methodology, Application for the Intensive Training Course of the Profession of Tourist Guides in the Interpretation of Heritage. Rhodes: Greek Ministry of Tourism / University of the Aegean, 2014. Vol. I, 98 pp.; Vol. II, 82 pp.
Papathanasiou-Zuhrt, D. “The United States of Europe. Dress Rehearsal: Rhodes 1306–1522.” In EUROTHENTICA. Apple: Cupertino, 2017. ISBN 9788890859267.
Papathanasiou-Zuhrt, D., and Cinar, K. “Developing a Prototype for Serious Games at Places of Cultural Significance: Evidence from UNESCO-listed Heritage in Greece and Turkey.” In HERiPRENEURSHIP: Sustainable Tourism, Heritage Management and the Cultural and Creative Industries: Creating New Investment Opportunities at Places of Cultural Significance, 197–208. Bucharest: Editura Mega, 2023. ISBN 978-606-020-654-5.
Papathanasiou-Zuhrt, D., Stavrinoudis, Th., Glyptou, K., and Skoultsos, S. “QR-RHODES: From the Time Machine to the QR Code. Play Rooms for Non-Captive Audiences in the Age of Mobile Telephony — The Approach of the SEE TCP SAGITTARIUS 2011–2014.” In 5th International Scientific Conference “Tourism Trends and Advances in the 21st Century,” 1–14. 2013.
Papathanasiou-Zuhrt, D., and Weiss-Ibanez, D. “Grand Master Challenge, the Game.” COS/TOUR/699493/DIVERTIMENTO, COSME Programme 2014–2020. Apple: Cupertino, 2016. ISBN 9788890859267.
Papathanasiou-Zuhrt, D., Weiss-Ibanez, D., and Di Russo, A. “The Gamification of Heritage in the UNESCO-Listed Medieval City of Rhodes.” In Proceedings of the 1st International GAMEFIN Conference, ed. P. Tuomi and A. Pertula, 60–70. Pori: Tampere University of Technology, TUT Game Lab, 2017.
Psarologaki, Anastasia, and M. Zerlentis. “Τάφοι και ταφικές κατασκευές στην εκκλησία της Παναγίας του Μπούργκου” [“Tombs and Burial Structures in the Church of Our Lady of the Burgo”]. Paper presented at the 16th Symposium of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Archaeology and Art, Athens, 17–19 May 1996. Cited via Kasdagli’s own bibliography rather than independently consulted for this document; corroborates the excavation and dating of the church’s burial structures discussed above.
UNESCO World Heritage Centre. “Medieval City of Rhodes.” World Heritage List, ref. 493. Inscribed 1988. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/493.