The Mosaics of Rhodes, Greece (or How To See Mosaics)
The conversation went a bit like this:
D: There are some really good off-season deals on flights to the islands. Shall we go?
Me: Yes!
D: Santorini or Rhodes?
Me: (Inner musing: Santorini = the whole Greek thing. White washed houses set on cliffs over looking azure seas. Rhodes = mosaics) Answer: Rhodes!
Visiting the Mosaics of Rhodes
And so off we went to Rhodes. As it happens, Rhodes is a perfect place to really see mosaics, not just the tarted up ancient variety which now hang on museum walls.
Indeed, pebble mosaics, characteristic of many of the Greek islands, are everywhere in the medieval town of Rhodes covering pavements, shop entrance ways, hotel foyers and cafe floors.
What a delight not to crane your neck to see mosaics plucked from their original settings and displayed like works of art in hushed settings. Nor is there any need to lean precariously over a barrier to get a closer view of them at archeological sites. In Rhodes, they are all over the place. Neither revered or disregarded. They are just there.
Mosaics being useful
It’s refreshing to reconnect with the utility of mosaics. When mosaics become mere objects, they lose some of their fundamental qualities. Principally, the fact that they were made to to be walked on and seen from above*. Moreover, they were designed as an intrinsic, carefully thought out addition to the overall structure of a building.
A tidied up museum-worthy mosaic gives the impression that mosaics are always perfectly presented like Victorian children brought into the drawing room after tea. In fact, of course, mosaics come in all shapes and sizes, both well executed and roughly finished, intricate and plain, luxurious and crude.
What’s particularly gratifying about seeing the mosaics of Rhodes is that the experience gives you the chance to see the children (pardon me for extending the analogy) with grass stains on their frocks and earth under their fingernails.
Notably, it’s not just the pebble mosaics which you can enjoy while sipping your coffee or strolling down the street. There are fragments of late Roman mosaics in the Archeological Museum which are incorporated into paths and left out to the elements.
Less than perfect mosaics
It’s rare to get a chance to see less than perfect examples of this ancient art. Poorer samples are mostly locked away in museum store rooms never to see the light of day.
Sometimes they are abandoned in situ with no signposts or fanfare like the fragments near Atalanti, Greece. Quietly left to the waves and the odd fisherman who might use them as a platform to cast his line.
Outrage at neglect
When I posted these fragments on Facebook some people expressed outrage that things of such antiquity were treated so casually. But the resources to preserve everything and put it on display simply don’t exist. Consequently, it is surely better to leave mosaics where they are or to re-purpose them, rather than stuff them in the back of a proverbial cupboard.
After all, even the most humble of mosaics are intended to decorate and delight so why not allow non-museum quality pieces to fulfil this simple function? The Archeological Museum of Rhodes is housed in a 15th century military hospital and has a number of carefully preserved mosaics in a covered cloister.
These include pebble mosaics from the 4th century BC depicting mythological scenes. Interestingly, these look remarkably similar in style and execution to some of the pebble mosaics at Pella in Northern Greece:
In addition, there is a 2nd century BC aquatic scene with ducks, a 3rd century AD depiction of Europa being abducted by Zeus in the form of a bull as well as this lovely one of Eros on a dolphin:
Ancient mosaic in the gardens
Wonderful of course but – dare I say it? – not wildly exciting. Seeing a mosaic on a museum wall with a plaque explaining its origins is a bit like seeing a polar bear in a glass tank. There is much to appreciate but you have a strong impression that things are not as they should be. However, that feeling is rapidly dissipated by wandering through the museum’s slightly unkempt gardens. Here you will find sections of ancient mosaics, leaf strewn and collecting puddles, waiting in the shadows to be stumbled across.
I know that ancient things need to be looked after and having tourists tramping all over them isn’t the best way to preserve mosaics. But these simple, damaged, broken and ignored pieces got my heart beating faster than the ones deemed worthy of being put on the wall.
The museum is stunning in its own right …
…and also has two full size mosaics in the open air. They dont have the finery of the ones on the walls and are somewhat the worse for wear but again they pleased me much more than their fancy counterparts:
Part of the mosaic is unfenced obliging you to walk over it to get to the toilets:
Mosaics, mosaics everywhere
It’s clear that Rhodes simply has too many mosaics to be able to look after them all. Peering through a fence I saw others unprotected and unloved:
And a stroll down the back streets revealed the ruined walls of a early church with frescoes still visible and patches of mosaic lying undisturbed:
Palace of the Grand Masters
The urge to take mosaics out of their original settings both for good reasons (to preserve them for future generations) and bad (to hog them for oneself) is a long established one. The other mosaics of Rhodes still left to mention are examples from the island of Kos. They were brought to Rhodes between 1937 and 1940 to decorate the badly damaged medieval Palace of the Grand Masters during Italian occupation.
The palace was a summer residence for the King of Italy and later for the fascist dictator Mussolini. The mosaics are now in state rooms which still retain the feel of fascist pomposity.
Their transposition to these clinically grand spaces takes away their intimacy and makes them almost impossible to enjoy. I tried to photograph them. The light was poor and my photographs don’t do them justice but you can see that something is missing. The surfaces are too uniform, the varnish is too shiny and the lighter grout colour is wrong.
Appreciating mosaics in situ
Overall, it was a relief to get back outside and to wander through the narrow backstreets of the old walled town. Particularly, it see mosaics in their rightful habit, serving a utilitarian and decorative function:
…And even being a little disgusting:
*Here’s a brilliant short video by the John Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California about the conservation of mosaics on Roman North Africa which talks about some of the problems involved in removing mosaics from their original settings. http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/video/399939/conservation-of-mosaics-in-roman-north-africa/