The Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospital Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta Fra’ John Dunlap and the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni inaugurated, at the Palace of the Grand Master in Rhodes, the permanent exhibition “From the Knights Hospitaller to the Knights of Malta”.

The exhibition is dedicated to the history of the Sovereign Military Hospital Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta. The previous exhibition at the Palace was inaugurated in October 1993. Given the use of high technology, the new exhibition is already attracting the interest of visitors, especially young people.

As the Minister said, “Rhodes, a place where many cultural traditions have been indelibly imprinted in the countless monuments of all historical periods, welcomes the modern descendants of the medieval Knights as an integral part of its historical and cultural heritage“.

The exhibition is divided into four sections arranged in corresponding rooms. The first, “Holy Land, 1050-1291”, presents the history of the Order in Crusader Palestine and Cyprus. Visitors are greeted by the founder of the Order, Gerard, speaking from a life-size screen, while a chronology of the Order’s history during the Crusades is developed through visual aids and characteristic objects.

In the second section, “Knights of Rhodes, 1309-1523”, the history of the Order in Rhodes is presented through digitized portraits of three Grand Masters. Each of them narrates historical events, while a copy of the image of the Order’s icon of Panagia Filerimos Palladios is on display.

In the third section, “Knights of Malta, 1530-1798”, the document of the cession of Malta to the Order by Charles V of Spain is shown on a digital screen-analogue and relics of the Order from the period 1530-1798 are exhibited, while the digital narrative of the history of the Order during the period of their settlement in Malta is shown.

In the fourth section, “Sovereign Military Hospital Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta”, the current activities of the Order are presented.