page_title: Fortifications of Rhodes
section_title: Tower and Fort of Saint Nicholas
hierarchical_section_title: Fortifications of Rhodes / Bastions and towers / Tower and Fort of Saint Nicholas
caption_attribution_description: English: As seen from the sea, the fort Saint Nicolas (and lighthouse), 14th century, entrance of the old harbour of Rhodes, Greece. Français&#160;: Depuis la mer, le fort Saint-Nicolas et son phare, XIVème siècle, à l'entrée du vieux port de Rhodes, Grèce.
context_page_description: The fortifications of the town of Rhodes are shaped like a defensive crescent around the medieval town and consist mostly in a modern fortification composed of a huge wall made of an embankment encased in stone, equipped with scarp, bastions, moat, counterscarp and glacis. The portion of fortifications facing the harbour is instead composed of a crenellated wall. On the moles towers and defensive forts are found.
  They were built by the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John by enhancing the existing Byzantine walls starting from 1309, the year in which they took possession of the island after a three-year struggle.
  Like most of the defensive walls they were built with a technique called rubble masonry which allows for a great mass capable of withstanding the gunshots with smooth external stone faces to avoid climbing.
  The defence of different portions of fortifications was assigned to different Langue of Knights. The North face was under the rule of the Grand Master, then moving West and South the posts were held by the Langue of France and Alvernia, the Langue of Spain, the Langue of Germany, and the Langue of Italy. Bastions and terrepleins still hold the name of the langue involved.
context_section_description: The Mandraki (in Greek Μανδράκι) was the military harbour and was guarded by a tower built between 1464 and 1467 by the Grand Master Zacosta at the end of the natural mole. After the siege of Rhodes in 1480 the Grand Master d'Aubusson added a bastion around the tower transforming it into a guard fortress on the sea.
caption: The Fort of Saint Nicholas that guards the Mandraki harbour
exif: {"Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSLR-A550", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.6.8", "Image DateTime": "2011:05:01 12:46:04", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "198", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "566", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4300", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/800", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:04:13 12:43:23", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:04:13 12:43:23", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "2838078/349517", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "55"}