D’ Amboise Gate

Set in the north-western flank of the fortification walls encircling the Medieval City, this Gate bears the name of Grand Master Emery d’Amboise (1503-1512), since it was under his rule that this particular project was developed. As a matter of fact, construction works on the Gate had already been launched at the time Grand Master d’Aubusson, whose initial idea had been to incorporate two earlier Gates – namely those of the Overseer and St. Anthony.
Under the pressure of the havoc, sawn by the devastating earthquake that shook the island in 1513, Grand Master del Carretto (1513-1521) commissioned reconstruction works that were to come to completion under the rule of the last Grand Master of the Order while in Rhodes, namely Villiers de l’Isle-Adam (1521-1522), before Rhodes was taken over by the Ottomans (1522).
Bearing more than one similarities to the Gate of Apostolos Pavlos (Paul the Apostle), the d’Amboise Gate is the most elaborate of any other module of the fortification system of the Medieval City. Proportionate to the vital character of its role as the protector of the very important yet so vulnerable entrance to the city from the west and given its proximity to the Palace of the Grand Master, the edifice of this Gate also featured number of sizeable halls destined for use as emplacements or mustering and development of the Guard. Niched above the arched entrance of the Gate, there appears an angel brandishing the coats of arms of the Order as well as those of the House of d’Amboise, along with an inscription reading “D’AMBOISE M. DXII (1512)”. Definitively of a more modern concept, this part of the fortification bears witness to the opulence and power of the Order.