It’s a must for the city’s visitor, being the most important church, as the parton Saint’s church and one of the oldest in the world. Don’t miss the preserved original mosaics, scattered in a few and quite hidden places. Ηave a peak at the unique frescoes inside the small chapel of St. Efthymios on the right hand side almost behind the altar . The basilica is a UNESCO monument since 1988. If you are a wheelchair user, just go to the left, around the steps to the ramp where the cars go, exactly opposite the main entrance of the church. The crypt is another unique monument to visit. It is not accessible to wheelchairs though. Just follow the narrow stairway under St. Dimitrios church altar and visit the small underground exhibition. It is NOT a catacomb, as many people think.
A few metres from the port is the old area of Ladadika, where spices and oils were once traded. It has recently been transformed into a vibrant area of restaurants and tavernas. The atmosphere in that area is great, with a real buzz as people relaxed and chatted whilst musicians played traditional Greek music in the background.
A rich collection of artifacts from a plethora of historical periods. Very well aranged and labeled exhibits. You can admire pottery, coins, weapons, armor, jewellery, sarcophagi and numerous golden wreaths which are some of the highlights of the museum. Easily accessible, at the centre of the city.
The White Tower of Thessaloniki, Macedonia: The White Tower, in Nikis Street, the waterfront boulevard, is the symbol of Thessaloniki. The tower dates from the period of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1520- 1566). It was built as part of the city’s fortification, on the site of another tower, which was probably constructed by French knights, after the Crusaders conquered Constantinople.
This is a 33,90 m high, circular tower with a diameter of 22,70 m. It has six floors that connect to each other with stairs. The last floor has a terrace that offers a wonderful view of the town. The Ottomans used this tower as a fort, a garrison, and a prison. It has changed many names since its construction. In the 18th century, it was called the Kalamaria Fortress. In 1826, the Sultan Mahmud II ordered a massacre of all its prisoners and after that, the tower was named the Tower of Blood or the Red Tower.
When Thessaloniki got free from the Turks, in 1912, the tower was whitewashed as a symbolic gesture of purification and that is how it got its present name. According to another version, the tower was whitewashed by a prisoner in 1890, in exchange for his freedom. The Tower has nowadays a buff color but still maintains its name.
The White Tower has played an important role in the city’s air defense during the two World Wars and has hosted the University of Thessaloniki meteorology laboratory and, until 1983, the Sea Cadets. King George, I of Greece was murdered a few meters away from the White Tower in 1913.
In 1985, the Tower was restored and today the Byzantine Museum of Thessaloniki is being housed there, whose collection includes pieces of sculpture and pottery, fragments of mosaic floors, orthodox icons, Byzantine coins, wall paintings, and inscriptions, among others. The Museum frequently organizes exhibitions about the history of the city along centuries.
At night, the White Tower gets illuminated and stands out in the dark background. The boulevard below is the favorite beach promenade of the locals.
The Rotunda, built in the early 4th century, is an ancient impressive roman monument inscribed in the World Heritage List of Unesco. It was probably first constructed as a mausoleum for the Emperor Galerius, who had his seat at Thessaloniki at the end of the 3rd century and the beginning of the 4th. It was part of the impressive building complex which included the Galerius Palace (Navarinou Square), the Hippodrome, the Arch of Galerius (Kamara) and other buildings in Thessaloniki.
Aristotelous Square or Aristotle Square is the main city square of Thessaloniki, Greece and is located on Nikis avenue (on the city’s waterfront), in the city center. It was designed by French architect Ernest Hébrard in 1918, but most of the square was built in the 1950s. Many buildings surrounding the central square have since been renovated and its northern parts were largely restored in the 2000s.
The twelve buildings that make up Aristotelous Square have been listed buildings of the Hellenic Republic since 1950.
In the area of Nea Paralia, one of the most popular, full of energy places of Thessaloniki you’ll find the monument of one of the most famous and influential personalities of all times. A person that created a legend still heard until today. This is the monument of Alexander the 3rd, also known as ‘Alexander the Great’.
For many the most important of the city’s museums, as Thessaloniki is arguably the city that has the most intense Byzantine character and beauty. The museum is housed in modern facilities that include advanced, well-organized conservation laboratories and storerooms. Hundreds of unique exhibits and artifacts throughout the entire Byzantine period are displayed in several different rooms. It has a rather imposing atmopshere while the presentations are well organized and informative.
Eptapyrgio, the fortification on the Acropolis of Thessaloniki, was built in the early 14th century and has dominated since as the highest point of the city. It has ten towers and mezzanine towers, to supervise the area, the accommodation of the troops, and its function as a shelter in case of occupation of the city. Built on the site of an older fortification, during the reign of the Palaiologon, it is located at the southeastern end of the walls of Thessaloniki, in Upper Town.
After the conquest of Thessaloniki by the Ottomans, in 1430, the middle tower was erected and given the name “Genti Koule”, by which the fortress complex is known. The phrase is rendered in Turkish as “Seven Towers”, while in Istanbul there was a similar building called “Genti Koule”, known as one of the cruelest prisons. Eptapyrgio underwent structural changes during the Ottoman period and especially at the end of the 19th century, when it was turned into a prison, with the addition of buildings, cells, and functional spaces. With the liberation of Thessaloniki, it maintained its function as a prison, until 1989, when it was closed and returned as a monument to the Ministry of Culture. Today it is visitable, ready to tell its story to visitors, of the people who passed through its walls and especially those who lived in its humid cells.
In 2017 the Umbrellas count 20 years of presence in the public space of Thessaloniki and the citizens’ love for the sculpture has established in oral speech the title “Umbrellas of Thessaloniki”.
George Zongolopoulos exhibited the Umbrellas for the first time in 1995 on the celebration of the Venice Biennale centenary. The sculpture was mounted on a floating platform at the entrance of the exhibition and received remarkable publicity internationally. Zongolopoulos felt particularly honored with the installation of the Umbrellas in Thessaloniki in 1997, the year that the city was the European Capital of Culture, without being able to imagine – at his 96 years of age – that this sculpture would be an important reference point for the public space of Greece.
The sculpture that lives in Thessaloniki’s Seafront, actively participates in the everyday life of both citizens and city visitors either through the enjoyment that a piece of art offers, or by informing and sensitizing citizens about various social actions and campaigns that take place in the city from time to time.
