Album about Rhodes during the Italian occupation [Εικόνες] 2024-03-05 21:20:59

The last period of foreign occupation in the Dodecanese, known as the Italian occupation, seems to have created a particularly charged field in the field of restoration and management of monuments in Rhodes, as revealed through the extremely interesting and evidence-rich publication of the Piraeus Group Cultural Foundation (PIOP ) with the title “Rhodes 1912-1947.

East view of the main east facade of the Knights Hospital from 1912.

The policy for the planning of the site and the management of the monuments during the Italian Occupation” of the architect and specialist in the restoration of monuments, who works at the Acropolis Monuments Maintenance Service, Konstantinou Caranasou.

Unknown Aspects

Historical internal and foreign policy data, photographic evidence, maps and letters decode the imperialist dream of the Italians who landed their Army on the island at dawn on May 4, 1912, but also illuminate the unknown aspects of the spirit of the time that indelibly marked the image of the island until 1947, until the year of the integration of the Dodecanese into Greece.

In this magnificent volume, the medieval city of Rhodes is depicted as trying under Italian administration, between 1912 and 1947, to carve out a path that will lead it in 1960 into the future, as a monumental complex preserved by the Greek state and as a Monument to World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 1988.

Fig. 38 View from the southeast of the interior of the Gate of the Apostle Paul, following restoration (1918).

“The geographical position of the Dodecanese island complex was, without a doubt, decisive for the historical course of the place. It is remarkable that the Greek population of these islands has managed to keep its identity intact over the centuries, despite the fact that various conquerors have passed through these islands. Despite all this, the Greekness of the Dodecanese has always been the subject of debate, since many times it was questioned due to historical events that marked its fate”, states the distinguished scholar Konstantinos Karanassos in his note.

The result of many years of research, focusing on the city of Rhodes, the album delves into the issues of protecting the monuments and their surroundings, during the interwar period, when Rhodes, along with the rest of the islands of the complex, was under Italian Occupation.

View from the northeast of the Sea Gate during the work of freeing it from the newer buildings in the Commercial Port (1935).

Three sections

The publication is developed in three sections – historical periods of the Italian Occupation on the island. The Italian Army landed on Rhodes in the early hours of May 4, 1912, and since then the archaeological activity – as noted in the volume – continued alongside the military operations to occupy the island.

» In the first section “1912-1923. From Gerola to Maiuri” we encounter the archaeological activity during the first decade of the Italian Occupation, where, among other things, the great building, the Hospital of the Knights, turns into an Archaeological Museum, a place of culture! Although officially the first period had a “temporary character” – according to Mr. Caranasos – “it laid the foundations of the Italian presence in Rhodes”. The management and work of the archaeologist-medievalist Giuseppand Gerola and the historical evidence that brought the archaeologist to the city of Rhodes Amedeo Maiuri are revealed in detail and flowing narration that feels like sequences from a period film!

1923, a landmark year for the Italian presence in the region, since that year with the Treaty of Lausanne (July 24, 1923) the official occupation of the islands begins, but also the second section, which runs through the milestone events for the historical city ​​until 1936. On the pages we follow the cuts in the walls and the opening of gates, such as the Sea Gate from the northeast during the work of freeing it from the newer buildings in the Commercial Port (1935). In the same section, the arrangement of the square of Naustatmos is presented in detail, with material that is presented to the public for the first time, as well as other interventions in the context of the promotion and touristic exploitation of the new image of Rhodes.

View from the north of the sea fortification (from the Naillac Pier) following the demolition of all the newer buildings in the Commercial Port (1937).

» The second time period (1923-1936), at the beginning of which the islands essentially came under Italian Occupation – notes the author – “it is the one in which the formation of the Italian “structure” began. The preparation of the regulatory plan of the city, of decisive importance mainly in terms of the objectives it set, was the main axis of this project. During this period, the Italians realized that Rhodes might be treated equally with the other Italian (and not only) “colonies”. Besides, it is during this period that the Dodecanese became better known as the Italian “Aegean Islands”, for reasons of promoting and promoting mainly their value as a tourist destination”.

» In the third section we pass to the last phase of the Occupation, from 1936 to 1947, that is, until the year of the integration of the Dodecanese in Greece, in March 1948. In this decade “the Italians did not hesitate to treat the monuments and their surroundings as the legitimate their heirs, in order to underline the Latin identity of the “colony”, explains Mr. Karanasos and points out that in this phase “Rhodes was treated like an Italian city. Therefore, what was already true for the metropolis might very well be applied here as well.”

View from the south of the stadium on the acropolis of Rhodes (1938).

The pages of the album cover the years of the islands’ rule under the totalitarian policy of fascism. A separate chapter is “The restoration of the Palace of the Grand Master”, which began in early 1937 and was completed in the spring of 1940, being “the most important event during this time period, in terms of the way of managing the image of the cultural heritage of Rhodes”.

Impressive evidence comes from other excavations of that period, such as the stadium on the acropolis of Rhodes (1938) and the restoration of the Virgin of the Castle (1940). The pictorial and archival documentation of the publication with anecdotal archival material perfectly captures the spirit of that period of the Italian fascist administration that sought both the touristic exploitation of the monumental ensemble and the strengthening of the ideological narrative of romanità, but also the interventions of Italian archaeologists for the implementation of large-scale restoration works.

For all

To a large extent, the volume is not only addressed to the scientific community. The general public, residents and visitors of the island, derives valuable information, a panorama of knowledge and images of the restoration of monuments of the medieval city that is “read” in relation to the Italian policy of managing the monumental ensemble, as developed during the more than thirty-year Italian Occupation of the Dodecanese reaching today, in the complex form of the historical city of Rhodes.

Panagia of the Castle, arrangement plan of the surrounding area (1940).

Info

“Rhodes 1912-1947. The policy for the planning of the site and the management of the monuments during the Italian Occupation”

KONSTANTINOS KARANASOS

EDITIONS: Piraeus Group Cultural Foundation

PAGE: 342