The Ministry of Culture and Sports has been granted by the Public Real Estate Company the listed Ottoman mansion Hassan Bey in Rhodes, under a Concession Agreement signed by the Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni, and the CEO of the EBRD, Stefanos D. Vlastos.

The purpose of the concession is the complete restoration and renovation of the emblematic monument in order to enhance its historical and aesthetic value and its reuse as a Centre for the Promotion of the Timeless History of the City of Rhodes. The restoration project of the mansion has been included by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for funding from the Recovery and Resilience Fund with a budget of 1,800,000 euros and a completion date of 2025.

Immediately after the signing of the concession agreement, the Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni said: “The restoration of the historic Hassan Bey Mansion is another important step, one more of the interventions launched by the Ministry of Culture and Sports in the city of Rhodes, along with the restoration of the National Theatre and the Neoclassical School, as well as the overall strategy programme of the ODA for the management of properties in the Medieval City. The Medieval Town of Rhodes, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an extremely popular destination, needs a new approach, a different strategy, which we are creating through steady steps and cooperation with the relevant institutions and organisations. The concession of the Hassan Bay Mansion to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism by the Hellenic Development Bank, in order to operate as a Centre for the Promotion of the Timeless History of the City of Rhodes, contributes to the restoration of an important monument of Rhodes, is an intervention in the urban fabric, upgrading the area, but also fills the gap in the information of visitors to the island about the different historical phases of Rhodes. I thank the EBRD and the Managing Director for the continuous, good cooperation we have, aiming at the promotion of monuments and their return to the local communities. The restoration project of the mansion has already been included in the Recovery Fund with a budget of 1,800,000 euros, while the Dodecanese Ephorate of Antiquities is ready to start the necessary work in order for the project to be completed by the end of 2025.”

For his part, the CEO of ETAD S.A. Stefanos D. Vlastos made the following statement. All the more so when it is a historic building, such as the Hassan Bay Mansion, which, through our close cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, after years of neglect, will be developed and promoted, as befits its historical and architectural value and especially the Old City of the Knights’ Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We firmly believe that culture is a driving force for development and it is our will, wherever it is deemed beneficial and feasible, to exploit the properties of the Greek State in cooperation with all institutional bodies, bringing back to life historical buildings that had been abandoned and creating poles for the promotion and promotion of the rich history of Greece. I would like to personally congratulate the Minister of Culture, Mrs. Lina Mendoni for her initiative and I would like to assure her that the EBRD will continue to support the Ministry of Culture’s efforts to revive iconic historical buildings that had been forgotten and to create cultural cells throughout the country.

The Ottoman mansion of Hassan Bey is located at the entrance to the medieval city of Rhodes in front of the tourist port, on Argyrokastro Square, and has been designated a preserved medieval monument. It is a stone-built building and its construction dates back to the beginning of the 19th century, while it is a typical example of the mansions of the era, which underwent many modifications and additions during the period of Italian rule in the Dodecanese. Today, the mansion is facing significant problems, with collapses, deterioration of the wooden elements and loss of the original architectural phase, after repeated interventions.