The House of the Knights of Rhodes is the oldest settlement in Rome of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, who took possession of it in the 13th century, making it the seat of the Priory of Rome from 1312. The origins of the building, which overlooks the area of the Roman Forum in Rome, are traced back to the 9th century, when the monks of St Basil built a church and monastery, using part of the existing wall structures dating back to Roman times. Since 1946 it has been the headquarters of the Association of Italian Knights of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

The € 1.25 stamp depicts a view of the building, framed from Via dei Fori Imperiali. The well-known loggia with its characteristic arches stands out: dating back to the 1400s, it was commissioned by the then administrator of the Priory of the Knights – at the time called the Knights of Rhodes – Venetian Cardinal Marco Barbo.

The € 1.30 stamp depicts a detail of the Sala delle Cariatidi, which houses the reconstruction of part of the marble frieze that was to decorate the portico of the Forum of Augustus: the statues of two Cariatidi are interspersed with a round Greek shield or clypeus, with the large head of Jupiter Ammon in the centre.

The € 2.45 stamp depicts the Italian peninsula, a detail of one of the two maps, made in 1946 by Professor Di Girolamo, that adorn the Sala delle Bandiere. The maps represent, one the Knights’ possessions in the Mediterranean and the other the Islands of Rhodes and Malta.

The € 3.20 stamp depicts the Palatine Chapel, which is on the ground floor of the ‘House’. Dedicated to St. John the Baptist, its shape and architectural features reveal its ancient Roman origins, on which the building was later developed.

Each stamp also bears the inscriptions ‘SOVRANO MILITARE ORDINE DI MALTA’, ‘POSTE MAGISTRALI’, and the coat of arms of the Order’s activities.

Photographs by the Association of Italian Knights of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.