Kos Town and Environs

KOS TOWN and ENVIRONS
Kos has been again and again shaken by earthquakes throughout its history, and the city’s buildings have been destroyed many times over—in 412 bc, in 5 bc; in 142, 334, 469, 554, 1493 and 1933 ad, to name just a few of the major occasions. And all this, in addition to the usual destruction at the hands of invaders and passing conquerors. Nonetheless, the town of Kos is immensely rich in archaeological remains; in fact the last catastrophe of 1933 was responsible for revealing many of the large areas which now remain as open-air archaeological enclosures, and which are such a memorable feature of the town’s landscape today. The chronological ‘landscape’ of Kos is equally rich and extended, with important re mains from Ancient and Early Christian times, and from the periods of occupation by the Knights of Rhodes , the Ottoman Turks, and the Italians—all in close proximity to one another. To make clarity out of this complexity for the reader, two itineraries are proposed below, which begin and end in the same place and cover similar topographic territory: the first looks only at the monuments of Mediaeval, Ottoman, Italian and modern Kos, while the second studies only the Ancient and Early Christian material, and the finds displayed in the museum. Both itineraries begin in the shade of the giant Ficus magnoliae trees across the road from the quirky Albergo Gelsomino building on the south promenade, 250m south of the castle and port, which today houses the Municipal Tourist Information Service.