ABSTRACT
This chapter determines the principal vectors of development in the gradually changing urban matrix of the Hospitaller capital. It concentrates on the interpretation of written sources, with the assistance of surviving topographical elements, in order to locate important administrative buildings in the zone of interaction within and alongside the defences of the medieval port. It is clear that, in the first years after the conquest of 1309, the Knights reused the existing buildings in the town, laying the foundations for the development of the principal functions of the Order. Rhodes has always been a nexus for travellers and a meeting point on the great pilgrimage road to the Holy Land. Vivid descriptions by Giacomo Bosio, the historian of the Order, gives a powerful impression of the medley of races that passed through the marketplace of the Hospitaller capital, moving all kinds of goods between East and West, North and South.
