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... REGION: Macedonia ... Prefecture: Thessaloniki Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece with a population of 1,000,000 inhabitants, is one of the oldest cities in Europe. It stretches over twelve kilometers in a bowl formed by low hills facing a bay that opens into the Gulf Thermaikos. It was founded about 315 B.C., on a site of old prehistoric settlements going back to 2300 B.C., by Cassander, King of Macedonia, and was named after his wife, Thessaloniki, sister of Alexander The Great. Since then, Thessaloniki has become the chief city of Macedonia and its most important commercial port. In Roman times it was visited by Saint Paul, who preached the new religion, and who later addressed his two well-known epistles (the oldest written documents of Christian literature) to the Christians of Thessaloniki. In Byzantine times, Thessaloniki became a cultural and artistic centre second only to Constantinople in the whole empire. Great names are closely associated with the city's Byzantine past - the jurist Peter Magister, the epigrammatist Macedonius Hypatus, the Hymnographer Archibischop Joseph, Leo the Mathematician, the historian John Cameniates, the prolific Homeric scholar and humanist Eustathius ( Archibischop of Thessaloniki), the philogist Thomas M. Magister, the teacher of law and editor of the "Hexabiblus" Constantine Armenopoulos, the theologian Gregory Palamas ( Archibischop of Thessaloniki), to mention but a few prominent scholars. The missionary brothers Cyril and Methodius also have a special place in the history of the period; they invented and used the Cyrillic Alphabet to bring literacy and Christianity to the Slavs.After the fall of Thessaloniki (1430) and later of Constantinople (1453), the two major cultural centres of the East, two of Thessaloniki's greatest humanists, Theodore Gazes and Andronicus Callistus, sought refuge in the West where they transplanted the Greek language and literature. Despite the unfavourable conditions prevailing during the the Turkish occupation, there were Greek schools in Thessaloniki that struggled, successfully to a large degree, to preserve the Greek language and literature until the city was liberated in October 26, 1912, the anniversary of its patron saint, St. Demetrius. In the nineteenth century the long scholarly tradition of the city was continued by Margaritis Demetsas, a historian, archeologist, and geographer as well as headmaster of the city Gymnasium and his pupil P. Papageorgiou, later a prominent philologist.Among the numerous monuments of particular interest in the city are those from the Roman period, the Triumphal Arch of Galerius and the Rotonda. Thessaloniki is, however, above all famous for its Byzantine period, beeing second only to Constantinople itself. Its muny churches whose fine mosaics and wall-paintings are representative of various periods of Byzantine art have survive to enhance the image of the city. They include St. Demetrius, Panagia Acheiropoietus, the Holly Apostles, St. Sophia, St. Catherine, Panagia Chalkeon, St. Nicholas the Orphan, the Prophet Elijah, and the Monastery of Vlatadon. Large sections of the city-walls are also still standing, together with one of their main bastions, the well known White Tower. Noteworthly from a national, spiritual and artistic viewpoint are also the continuing strong links between the the city of Thessaloniki and Mt. Athos.The modern era of material and cultural development in Thessaloniki dates from its liberation in 1912, when Thessaloniki became the capital city of Northern Greece. The Ministry of Northern Greece, the Cathedral, the Court of Justice, in addition to other major government institutions, are situated today in the city. The town has today two quite distinct sectors: The "old town", continuously undergoing reconstruction, and the modern sector, whose many modern buildings are examples of advanced architecture.In addition to the University, there are numerous institutions that contribute to the academic and cultural life of the city. Among them are the Macedonian University, The Archeological and Byzantine museums, the Foclore museum, the State Conservatory, Theatres and Orchestras, the Society of Macedonian Studies, the Institute for Balcan Studies, and other cultural and artictic organisations.Today Thessaloniki is a thriving city and one of the most important trade and communications centres in the Mediterranean. This is evident by its financial and commercial activities, its port with its special Free Zone, which provides facilities to the other Balkan countries, its international airport, its important industrial complex, its annual International Trade Fair, etc. The obvious place to begin a wander is the White Tower, a corner of the city defences; it now looks a little stagey, isolated on the seafront, but is a graceful symbol nonetheless, and you can climb to the top for the views and pleasant café. The tower is a couple of minutes' walk from the Archeological Museum containing almost all of the finds from the tombs of Philip II of Macedon and others at the ancient Macedonian capital of Aegae (modern Vergina). They include startling amounts of gold - masks, crowns, wreaths, pins and figurines - all of extraordinary craftsmanship.Thessaloniki's other main museum, the Folklore Museum, is a fifteen-minute walk east of the archeological museum at Vassilisis Olgas 68. This is the best museum of its kind in Greece, with well-written commentaries in English and Greek accompanying displays on housing, costumes, day-to-day work and crafts. There is a sharp, highly un-folkloric emphasis on context: on the role of women in the community, the clash between tradition and progress, and the cycle of agricultural and religious festivals. The closest of the city's major churches to the White Tower is Agia Sofia, built early in the eighth century on the model of its illustrious namesake in Istanbul. Its dome, ten metres in diameter, bears a splendid mosaic of The Ascension, currently being restored. A short distance to the northwest, the eleventh-century Panayía Halkéon is a classic example of the Greek cross-in-square form, but far more beautiful is the church of Dhodheka Apostoli at the western end of Agiou Dhimitriou, built three centuries later; its five domes rise in perfect symmetry above walls of fine brickwork, though its interior no longer does it justice. Northeast of Agia Sofia, the church of Ágios Yiorgios, popularly known as the Rotunda, is the oldest and strangest of the churches. It was designed, but never used, as a Roman imperial mausoleum and converted to Christian use in the fourth century. Later it became one of the city's major mosques; the minaret remains. Sadly, the church's interior has been closed since the 1978 earthquake. Rising in the centre of Agiou Dhimitriou is the largest church in Greece, Ágios Dhimitrios. Founded in the fifth century, it's dedicated to the city's patron saint and stands on the site of his martyrdom. Amid the white plaster the few small surviving mosaics make an easy focal point. The best are grouped to the side of the iconostasis and date back to the church's second building in the late seventh century; they include the celebrated Saint Dimitrios with the Church's Founders and a contrastingly humane scene of the saint with two young children. The crypt contains the martyrion of the saint, and was probably adapted from the original Roman baths where he was imprisoned. Finally, tucked into the heart of the old Turkish quarter, there's the fourteenth-century Ágios Nikolaos Orfanos, preserving its original frescoes. Five minutes' walk northwest, Ossios David is a tiny late fifth-century church overzealously converted by the Turks. However, it has arguably the finest mosaic in the city, depicting a clean-shaven Christ appearing in a vision to the prophets Ezekiel and Habakkuk.

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