In 1309 the Order of St. John of Jerusalem settled in Rhodes for more than two centuries (until 1523), gradually transforming the city into a stronghold. In the so-called “Upper Town” a number of monuments of that period have been preserved: the Palace of the Grand Masters, the Great Hospital and the Street of the Knights. They lend this part of Rhodes the charm of a true gothic city. Later during the Late Middle ages numerous mosques, public baths and other buildings were constructed in the “Lower Town”, and their muslim architecture wonderfully coexists with the earlier Gothic architecture.