The Order of St John of Jerusalem occu­pied Rhodes from 1309 to 1523 and set about trans­form­ing the city into a strong­hold. It sub­se­quent­ly came under Turk­ish and Ital­ian rule. With the Palace of the Grand Mas­ters, the Great Hos­pi­tal and the Street of the Knights, the Upper Town is one of the most beau­ti­ful urban ensem­bles of the Goth­ic peri­od. In the Low­er Town, Goth­ic archi­tec­ture coex­ists with mosques, pub­lic baths and oth­er build­ings dat­ing from the Ottoman peri­od.