Thessaloníki

 

(thĕ'sälōnē'kē) or Salonica (sălənē'kə, səlŏn'ĭkə) , also known as Thessalonike, Thessalonica, Salonika, and Saloniki, city (1991 pop. 383,967), capital of Thessaloníki prefecture, N Greece, in Macedonia; on the Gulf of Thessaloníki, an inlet of the Aegean Sea, at the neck of the Khalkidhikí Peninsula. It is the second largest city in Greece, a major modern port, and an industrial and commercial center. Exports from the port (opened in 1901) include grain, food products, tobacco, manganese and chrome ores, and hides. The city's industries produce refined oil, steel, petrochemicals, textiles, machinery, flour, cement, pharmaceuticals, and liquor. Thessaloníki is also a transportation hub. It is the site of an annual trade fair.

Although largely rebuilt in modern style, Thessaloníki still retains its famous white Byzantine walls, the 15th-century White Tower, and a Venetian citadel. The city is famous for its many fine churches, notably those of St. Sophia (modeled after its namesake in Istanbul and including fine mosaics), of St. George, and of St. Demetrius. The ruins of the triumphal arch of Emperor Constantine are there, in addition to Aristotle Univ.

History

An old city, rich in history, Thessaloníki was founded (c.315 B.C.) by Cassander, king of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma, and was named for his wife. The city was located on the Via Egnatia, an important Roman road that linked Byzantium to Durrës (Dyrrhachium) on the Adriatic. It flourished after 146 B.C. as the capital of the Roman province of Macedon. Thessaloníki had from early times a sizable Jewish colony, and it was an early Christian diocese. To the infant church there, St. Paul addressed his two epistles to the Thessalonians.

Under the Byzantine Empire Thessaloníki was second only to Constantinople. The massacre (A.D. 390) of the rebellious citizens of Thessaloníki by order of Theodosius I led to the emperor's temporary excommunication. The city was occupied by the Saracens in 904 and by the Normans of Sicily in 1185. When in 1204 the leaders of the Fourth Crusade created a Latin empire (see Constantinople, Latin Empire of), the kingdom of Thessaloníki, comprising most of N and central Greece, was its largest fief. It was given by Baldwin I to his rival Boniface, marquis of Montferrat, but it was seized (c.1222) by the Greek ruler of Epirus, who had himself proclaimed emperor.

The kingdom of Thessaloníki fell into anarchy in the struggle between the Greek rulers of Epirus and the Greek emperors of Nicaea. In 1246 the city fell to the Nicaeans, who in 1261 restored it to the Byzantine Empire. Thessaloníki was conquered by the Ottoman Sultan Murad I in 1387, was restored to the Byzantine Empire c.1405, was bought by Venice in 1423, and was reconquered by the Ottoman Turks (under Murad II) in 1430. Thessaloníki remained in Ottoman hands until it was conquered by Greece in 1912 during the Balkan Wars. The city was the birthplace of Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, and was the headquarters of the Young Turk movement in the early 20th cent.

In World War I the Allies landed (1915) at Thessaloníki, thus beginning the Thessaloníki campaigns, and in 1916 Venizelos established his pro-Allied provisional government of Greece there. A great fire in 1917 destroyed much of the city. Thessaloníki suffered considerable damage in World War II, and its large (c.50,000) Jewish population, which had been greatly increased in the late 15th and early 16th cent. by an influx of Jews from Spain, was nearly liquidated by the Germans. In 1978 an earthquake destroyed part of the city.

Bibliography

See study by M. Mazower (2005).

Thessaloniki  (Θεσσαλονίκη)
The White Tower of Thessaloniki was used as a prison during the era of the Ottoman Empire. Today it is a museum and the landmark of the city.
Location
Coordinates	40°38′N 22°57′E / 40.633, 22.95Coordinates: 40°38′N 22°57′E / 40.633, 22.95
Time zone:	EET/EEST ([[UTC+2]]/[[UTC+3|3]])
Elevation (min-max):	-  m (0 - 66 ft)
Government
Country:	Greece
Periphery:	Central Macedonia
Prefecture:	Thessaloniki
Districts:	16
Mayor:	Vassilios Papageorgopoulos  (ND) (since: January 1, 1999)
Population statistics (as of 2001)
City Proper
- Population:
- Area:[1]	km² ( sq mi)
- Density:	/km² ( /sq mi)
Metropolitan
- Population:
- Area:	km² ( sq mi)
- Density:	/km² ( /sq mi)
Codes
Postal codes:	53x xx, 54x xx, 55x xx, 56x xx
Area codes:	2310
License plate codes:	Ν
Website
www.thessalonikicity.gr

Thessaloniki or Salonica (Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη) is Greece's second-largest city and the capital of Macedonia, the largest Region of Greece. The Thessaloniki Urban Area extends around the Thermaic Gulf for approximately 17 km and comprises 16 municipalities. According to the 2001 census, the municipality of Thessaloniki had a population of 363,987, while the metropolitan population approximates one million inhabitants.

Thessaloniki is Greece's second major economic, industrial, commercial and political centre. It is a major transportation hub for rest of southeastern Europe. Its commercial port is of a great importance for Greece and its southeast European hinterland. The Prime Minister gives his annual governmental speech outlining plans for the year to come from Thessaloniki.

Thessaloniki retains several Ottoman, and Jewish structures, as well as a large number of Byzantine architectural monuments. The city hosts an annual International Trade Fair, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, and the largest bi-annual meeting of the Greek diaspora.

Name

The alternative name Salonica, formerly the common name used in some western European languages, is derived from a variant form Σαλονίκη (Saloníki) in popular Greek speech. The city's name is also rendered Thessaloníki or Saloníki with a dark l typical of Macedonian Greek .^[1][2] Names in other languages prominent in the city's history include سلانيك in Ottoman Turkish and Selânik in modern Turkish, Solun (Cyrillic: Солун) in the Slavic languages of the region, Sãrunã in Aromanian, and Selanik in Ladino (see other names).

Thessaloniki is commonly called the 'Συμπρωτεύουσα' 'Symprotevousa' (lit. co-capital) of Greece since the National Schism, in much the same way as it was called the 'συμβασιλεύουσα' 'symbasileousa' (co-queen) of the Byzantine Empire.

History

Hellenistic era

Further information: Hellenistic Greece and Ancient Greece

The city was founded circa 315 BC by the king Cassander of Macedon (Μακεδονία), on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and twenty six other local villages. He named it after his wife Thessaloniki, a half-sister of Alexander the Great. She gained her name from her father, Philip II, to commemorate her birth on the day of his gaining a victory (Gr. Nike, pronounced Niki) over the Phocians, who were defeated with the help of Thessalian horsemen, the best in Greece at that time. Thessaloniki means the "victory of Thessalians". Thessaloniki developed rapidly and as early as the 2nd century BC the first walls were built, forming a large square. It was an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Macedon, with its own parliament where the King was represented and could interfere in the city's domestic affairs.

Roman era

Further information: Roman Greece

After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, Thessalonica became a city of the Roman Republic. It grew to be an important trade-hub located on the Via Egnatia, a Roman road that connected Byzantium (later Constantinople), with Dyrrhachium (now Durrës in Albania), facilitating trade between Europe and Asia. The city became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia. It kept its privileges but was ruled by a praetor and had a Roman garrison. For a short time in the 1st century BC, all the Greek provinces came under Thessalonica (the Latin form of the name). Due to the city's key commercial importance, a spacious harbour was built by the Romans, the famous Burrow Harbour (Σκαπτός Λιμήν) that accommodated the town's trade up to the eighteenth century; later, with the help of silt deposits from the river Axios, it was reclaimed as land and the port built beyond it. Remnants of the old harbour's docks can be found nowadays under Odos Frangon Street, near the Catholic Church.

Thessaloniki's acropolis, located in the northern hills, was built in 55 BC after Thracian raids in the city's outskirts, for security reasons.

It had a Jewish colony, established during the first century, and was an early center of Christianity. On his second missionary journey, Paul of Tarsus preached in the city's synagogue, the chief synagogue of the Jews in that part of Thessaloniki, and laid the foundations of a church. Opposition against him from the Jews drove him from the city, and he fled to Veroia. Paul wrote two of his epistles to the Christian community at Thessalonica, the First Epistle to the Thessalonians and the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians.

Thessaloníki acquired a patron saint, St. Demetrius, in 306. He is credited with a number of miracles that saved the city. He was the Roman Proconsul of Greece under the anti-Christian emperor Maximian and was martyred at a Roman prison, where today lays the Church of St. Demetrius, first built by the Roman sub-prefect of Illyricum Leontios in 463. Other important remains from this period include the Arch and Tomb of Galerius, located near the center of the modern city.

Byzantine era

Further information: Byzantine Greece and Medieval Thessalonica

When in 379 the Roman Prefecture of Illyricum was divided between East and WestRoman Empires, Thessaloníki became the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum (now reduced in size). Its importance was second only to Constantinople itself. In 390 it was the location of a revolt against the emperor Theodosius I and his Gothic mercenaries. Botheric, their general, together with several of his high officials, were killed in an uprising triggered by the imprisoning of a favorite local charioteer for pederasty with one of Botheric's slave boys.^[3] 7,000 - 15,000 of the citizens were massacred in the city's hippodrome in revenge – an act which earned Theodosius a temporary excommunication.

The quiet era followed until repeated barbarian invasions after the fall of the Roman Empire, while a catastrophic earthquake severely damaged the city in 620 resulting in the destruction of the Roman Forum and several other public buildings. Thessaloníki itself came under attack from Slavs in the seventh century; however, they failed to capture the city. Byzantine brothers Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius were born in Thessaloníki and the Byzantine Emperor Michael III encouraged them to visit the northern regions as missionaries; they adopted the South Slavonic speech as the basis for the Old Church Slavonic language. In the ninth century, the Byzantines decided to move the market for Bulgarian goods from Constantinople to Thessaloníki. Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria invaded Thrace, defeated a Byzantine army and forced the empire to move the market back to Constantinople. In 904, Saracens based at Crete managed to seize the city and after a ten day depredation, left with much loot and 22,000 slaves, mostly young people.

The city recovered, and the gradual restoration of Byzantine power during the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries brought peace to the area. The population of the city expanded, and according to Benjamin of Tudela, the city even had a Jewish community some 500 strong by the twelfth century. It also hosted the fair of Saint Demetrius every October, which was held just outside the city walls and lasted six days.

The economic expansion of the city continued through the twelfth century as the rule of the Komnenoi emperors expanded Byzantine control into Serbia and Hungary, to the north. The city is known to have housed an imperial mint at this time. However, after the death of the emperor Manuel I Komnenos in 1180, the fortunes of the Byzantine Empire began to decline, and in 1185 the Norman rulers of Sicily, under the leadership of Count Baldwin and Riccardo d'Acerra attacked and occupied the city, resulting in considerable destruction. Nevertheless, their rule lasted less that a year, since they were defeated in two battles later that year by the Byzantine army and forced to evacuate the city.

Thessaloniki passed out of Byzantine hands in 1204, when Constantinople was captured by the Fourth Crusade. Thessaloníki and its surrounding territory—the Kingdom of Thessalonica—became the largest fief of the Latin Empire, covering most of north and central Greece. It was given by the emperor Baldwin I to his rival Boniface of Montferrat but in 1224 it was seized by Theodore Komnenos Doukas, the Greek ruler of Epirus. The city was recovered by the Byzantine Empire in 1246 for the rulers of Thessaloníki in the Middle Ages.

At that time, despite the various invasions, Thessaloniki had a large population and flourishing commerce. That resulted in intellectual and artistic endeavors that can be traced in the numerous churches and their frescoes of that era and also by the scholars that taught there^[4] Examples of Byzantine art survive in the city, particularly the mosaics in some of its historic churches, including the basilica of Hagia Sophia of Thessalonki, and the church of St George.

In the 14th century though, the city was appalled by the Zelotes social movement (1342-1349). It began as a religious conflict between bishop Gregorios Palamas, who supported conservative ideas and the monk Barlaam, who introduced progressive social ones. Quickly, it turned into a political commotion, leading to the prevalence of the Zelotes, who for a while ruled the city, applying progressive social policies.

Ottoman era

Further information: Ottoman Greece

The Byzantine Empire, unable to hold the city against the Ottoman Empire's advance, sold it in 1423 to Venice. Venice held the city until it was captured after a three-day-long siege by the Ottoman Sultan Murad II on 29 March 1430. The Ottomans had previously captured Thessaloniki in 1387, but lost it in the aftermath of their defeat in the Battle of Ankara against Tamerlane in 1402, when the weakened Ottomans were forced to hand back a number of territories to the Byzantines.

During Ottoman times, the city received an influx of Muslims and Jews. By 1478, Thessaloniki had a population of 4,320 Muslims and 6,094 Greek Orthodox, as well as some Catholics, but no Jews. By ca. 1500, the numbers had grown to 7,986 Greeks and 8,575 Muslims, briefly making the latter the majority. Around the same time, Jews began arriving from Spain, fleeing persecution. In ca. 1500, there were only 3,770 Jews, but by 1519, there were 15,715, 54% of the city's population. The invitation of the Sephardic Jews that had been expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella, was an Ottoman demographic strategy aiming to prevent the Greek element from dominating the city.^[5] The Sephardic Jews, Muslims and Greek Orthodox remained the principal groups in the city for the next 4 centuries.^[5]

The city remained the largest Jewish city in the world for at least two centuries, often called "Mother of Israel". Of its 130,000 inhabitants at the start of the 20th century, around 60,000 were Sephardic Jews.^[6] Some Romaniote Jews were also present.^[7]

Thessaloníki, called Selânik in Turkish, became one of the most important cities in the Empire, being the foremost trade and commercial center in the Balkans. The railway reached the city in 1888 and new modern port facilities were built in 1896-1904. The founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was born here in 1881, and the Young Turk movement was headquartered here in the early twentieth century.

Selânik was a sanjak center in the Rumeli eyalet from 1393 to 1402 and again from 1430 to 1864, when it became a vilayet (province). The Ottoman vilayet of Selânik province included the sanjaks of Selânik (Thessaloniki), Drama, and Serres (Siroz or Serez).

Architectural remains from the Ottoman period can be found mainly in the Ano Poli (Upper Town) which has the only traditional wooden houses and fountains that survived the great fire. In the city center, a number of the stone mosques survived, notably the "Hamza-Bey Camii" on Egnatia (under restoration), the "Alatza Imaret Camii" on Kassandrou Street, "Bezesteni" on Venizelou Street, and "Yahoudi Hamam" on Frangon Street. Almost all of the more than 40 minarets collapsed in the fire, or were demolished after 1912; the only surviving one is at the Rotonda (Arch and Tomb of Galerius). There are also a few remaining Ottoman hammams (bathhouses), particularly the "Hamam Bey" on Egnatia Avenue.

During 19th century Thessaloníki became one of the cultural and political centres of the Bulgarian revival movement in Macedonia. According to Bulgarian ethnographer Vasil Kanchov around the beginning of the 20th century there were approximately 10,000 Bulgarians, a substantial minority in the city.^[8] In 1880 a Bulgarian Men's High School was founded, followed later by other educational institutions of the Bulgarian Exarchate. In 1893 a group of Bulgarian intelligentsia created a revolutionary organization, which spread its influence among Bulgarians throughout Ottoman Balkans and became the strongest Bulgarian paramilitary movement, best known under its latest name Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. In 1903 a group of Bulgarian leftists and anarchists, tied to IMRO, organized series of terrorist acts. After the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 Thessaloniki became major centre of Bulgarian political activity in the Ottoman Empire and seat of the two largest legal Bulgarian parties, the rightist Union of the Bulgarian Constitutional Clubs, and the leftist People's Federative Party (Bulgarian Section).^[9]

Balkan Wars and World War I

Further information: Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917

During the First Balkan War, the Ottoman garrison surrendered Salonika to the Greek Army on November 9 November [O.S. 27 October] 1912. This was a day after the feast of the city's patron saint, Saint Demetrios, which has become the date customarily celebrated as the anniversary of the city's liberation. The next day, a Bulgarian division arrived, and Bulgarian troops were allowed to enter the city in limited numbers. Although officially governed by the Greeks, the final fate of the city hung in the balance. The Austrian government proposed to make Salonika into a neutral, internationalized city similar to what Danzig later became; it would have had a territory of 400-460 km² and a population of 260,000. It would be "neither Greek, Bulgarian nor Turkish, but Jewish".^[10]

The Greeks' emotional attachment to the city was increased when King George I of Greece, who had settled there to emphasize Greece's possession of it, was assassinated on 18 March 1913 by Alexandros Schinas. After the Greek and Serbian victory in the Second Balkan War, which broke out among the former allies over the final territorial dispositions,^[11] the city's status was finally settled by the Treaty of Bucharest on August 10, 1913, becoming an integral part of Greece. In 1915, during World War I, a large Allied expeditionary force landed at Thessaloniki to use the city as the base for a massive offensive against pro-German Bulgaria. This precipitated the political conflict between the pro-Allied Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos, and the the pro-neutral King Constantine. In 1916, pro-Venizelist army officers, with the support of the Allies, launched the Movement of National Defence, which resulted in the establishment of a pro-Allied temporary government, headed by Venizelos, that controlled northern Greece and the Aegean, against the official government of the King in Athens. Ever since, Thessaloniki has been dubbed as symprotévousa ("co-capital").

Most of the old town was destroyed by a single fire on 18 August [O.S. 5 August] 1917 which was accidentally caused by some French soldiers that were camping there. The fire made some 72,000 people homeless (most of them were Turkish) out of a population of approximately 271,157 at the time. Venizelos forbade the reconstruction of the town center until a full modern city plan was prepared. This was accomplished a few years later by the French architect and archeologist Ernest Hebrard. The Hebrard plan, although in the event never fully carried out, swept away the Oriental features of Thessaloníki and transformed it to the modern, European style metropolis that it is today. One consequence of the great fire was the fact that nearly half of the city's Jewish homes and livelihoods were destroyed leading to a massive Jewish emigration. Many went to Palestine, others stepped onto the Orient Express to Paris and still others found their way to America. Their numbers, however, were quickly replaced by a considerable number of refugees from Asia Minor following the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, after the defeat of the Greek forces in Anatolia during the Greco-Turkish War. With these new refugees, the city expanded enormously and haphazardly, and was nicknamed "The Refugee Capital" (I Protévoussa ton Prosfýgon) and "Mother of the Poor" (Ftohomána).

World War II Era

Further information: Axis occupation of Greece during World War II

Thessaloniki fell to the forces of Nazi Germany on April 9 1941 and remained under German occupation until 30 October 1944. The city suffered considerable damage from Allied bombing, and almost its entire Jewish population was exterminated by the Nazis. Barely a thousand Jews survived. However, Thessaloniki was rebuilt and recovered fairly quickly after the war. This recovery included both a rapid growth in its population, as well as an impressive development of new, modern infrastructure and industrial enterprizes throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Most of the urban development of that period was, however, without a proper plan, causing traffic and zoning problems that remain to this day.

Modern Era

At 23:04 (local time) on 20 June, 1978, the city was hit by a powerful earthquake registering a moment magnitude of 6.5. The tremor caused considerable damage to several buildings and even to some of the city's Byzantine monuments. Forty people were crushed to death when an entire apartment block collapsed in the central Hippodromio district. Nonetheless, the city quickly recovered from this natural disaster.

Early Christian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1988. Thessaloniki became the European City of Culture for 1997.

Thessaloniki is one of the most important university centers in Southeastern Europe and it hosts a student population coming from all over the country. The city features two state universities — the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the largest university in Greece (founded 1926) and the University of Macedonia, as well as the Technological Education Institute of Thessaloniki. In addition, there are several private institutions that are either affiliated with universities in other nations, or accredited abroad.

In June 2003, the Summit meeting of European leaders, at the end of the Greek Presidency of the EU, was hosted at the Porto Carras resort in Chalkidiki, instead of within Thessaloniki itself (as originally planned) due to some security concerns. In 2004, the city hosted some of the football events of the 2004 Summer Olympics. Thessaloniki unsuccessfully bid for the 2008 World EXPO, won by Zaragoza, Spain. However, another planned bid for 2017 was announced in September 2006 away from the previous bid that has been made and was clarified as unsatisfactory.

Government

Main article: List of mayors of Thessaloniki

Since Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece, and an influential city in Northern Greece, it is the capital of the Central Macedonia Periphery, Thessaloniki Prefecture, and Thessaloniki Municipality.

Many countries have consulates in Thessaloniki as all major embassies are located in the capital of Greece, in Athens except the Culture office of the Italian Embassy located in Thessaloniki:

Albania, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Chile, Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Federal Republic of Germany, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Hungary, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Mexico, The Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America (consulate general).

Urban Landscape

Architecture

The architectural face of Thessaloniki was always an interesting and special case because it was in constant flux due to the city's position at the center of all historical developments in the Balkans. Besides its commercial importance, Thessaloniki was, for many centuries, the military and administrative hub of the region, and also the transportation link between Europe and the Levante.

The city layout changed after 1870, when the seaside fortifications gave way to extensive piers. During the following 47 years, a period of great economic growth, the city's population exploded by 70%, reaching 135 thousand in 1917. The city became a commercial attraction for economic refugees, businessmen and traders from across Europe, including many Jews. The authorities tore down part of the city's Byzantine fortifications to allow it to expand, which it did, to the east and the west, along the coast.

The need for commercial and public buildings in that new era of prosperity led to a marked shift in architectural direction and led to the construction of large edifices in the city center in lots formerly occupied by small, shabby one-family homes. During this time, Thessaloniki saw the building of banks, large hotels, theaters, warehouses, and factories.

The expansion of Eleftherias Square (today's Venizelou Square) to the sea completed the new commercial center of the city. The rest of the city's neighborhoods, within the old fortifications, remained unchanged. The western districts were the working class section, near the factories, and Thessalonikis' new industrial activity. The middle and upper classes moved east of the city and built a new suburb, then known as "Exohes", or "country retreats". The new district soon acquired schools, public buildings and also some manufacturing plants. Today, the city's most important public buildings are to be found between the historic center and those eastern suburbs, next to the White Tower.

The most important year in the city's history was 1917, a landmark year that shaped Thessaloniki into its present form. The devastating fire that swept through the city that year and burned uncontrollably for 32 hours, destroyed the city's historic center and a large part of its architectural heritage. Many buildings of rare beauty were completely demolished.

The city that was designed between 1917 and 1950 was a modern and functional urban center whose layout and feel had little in common with what preceded it. The team of architects and urban planners that designed the new Thessaloniki was led by Ernesr Hebrard, a french architect. The team chose the Byzantine era as the basis for their designs of the buildings that would adorn the new city. The new city plan included axes, diagonal streets and monumental squares, with a street grid that would channel traffic smoothly.

The plan of 1917 included provisions for the future population explosion and an adequate street and road network that would have been sufficient even today. It contained sites for public and important buildings, the restoration of important Byzantine churches and landmarks and Ottoman mosques, whereas the whole of the Upper City, near the fortifications, was declared a heritage site. The plan also included a site for the campus of the future University of Thessaloniki, which was never realized, although today's University campus incorporates some of Hebrard's ideas.

An important element of the plan was to achieve a fine balance between contemporary urban planning and architectural ideas and the city's rich tradition and history. The main feature of all proposed buildings was the perfect symmetry of all sides and the emphasis on the center of each.

The plan also included provisions for the building of an administrative center with the city hall, the courts building and a series of secondary buildings to house all other civic functions. Unfortunately, those plans were never implemented and the city lacks an administrative district to this day. Nevertheless, this part of the plan influenced a lot of building and planning decisions throughout the 20th century, with the inevitable adaptations to service the population explosion of the last 50 years.

Although Thessaloniki is one of the most attractive cities in Greece and quite interesting for the student of architecture, today it bursts at the seams and presents its residents with a full menu of modern urban inconveniences. Traffic is the most important problem, with new car registrations increasing by about 20 thousand annually, and the volume of cars quintupling in the last 15 years. Thessaloniki is the only major European urban center that is served by only one mode of public transportation; buses. In addition, the city center has limited public parking spaces. A subway line and an underwater tunnel are currently under construction in an effort to decongest the city center.

Landmarks

• The White Tower of Thessaloniki (Greek: Λευκός Πύργος Lefkos Pyrgos), widely regarded as the symbol of the city. It has been known by many names and is now home to the Museum of Byzantine Cultures. The top of the tower offers excellent views of the downtown area.
• The Arch and Tomb of Galerius is more commonly known as the "Kamara", is ornately decorated and made with a reddish coloured stone.
• The Upper Town or 'Ano Poli' is what remains of Ottoman Thessaloniki, beautiful wooden houses overhang the winding streets all the way up to the Eptapyrgio at the top of the city. The Ano Poli also contains some of the city's oldest and most important churches, particularly Osios David, St. Nicolaos Orphanos and Vlatades Monastery.
• The Church of Aghios Demetrios is the most important church in the entire city. Lying above the remains of the agora and the Roman Forum, the church has three side-chapels, a museum, and underground catacombs that also include Saint Demetrios' imprisonment chamber. He is the patron saint of the city.
• OTE Tower, a TV tower is the center of the Thessaloniki Expo Center. A revolving restaurant offers great views of the city.
• The waterfront is Thessaloniki's major drawcard. The promenade of Nikis Avenue runs from the White Tower of Thessaloniki to the giant palace that is now a ferry terminal. Numerous shops and cafés line the waterfront.
• The Arch and Tomb of Galerius or the Church of Aghios Georgios, which is a circular church lacking the classic Orthodox iconostasis. The church is built upon former Roman and Greek pagan ruins.
• Aristotelous Square, extending all the way from Nikis Avenue on the waterfront to the Church of Panayia Halkeion. The square, shaped like a bottle, is lined with tall archondika, or mansions of the rich, that have now been converted to shops and hotels. A large park lies at the north end of the square, and Thessaloniki's thriving old market is just one block away to the east and west.
• The area surrounding the Church of Aghia Sofia, also located in the city center, includes the large church and paved alleyways that make the few blocks around it famous.
• The extensive Byzantine walls of the Upper City (Ano Poli) and kastro.
• The Kyvernion (little Palace); former residence of the King and Queen of Greece; in the Karabournaki area, in Eastern Thessaloniki
• The modern Concert Hall of Thessaloniki in the East side of the city, near the Posidonion sports center.
• Thessaloniki Intemational Trade Fair held every September, organised by Helexpo.

Museums

• Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki (Museo Djudio de Salonik)
• Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art
• State Museum of Contemporary Arts [1] housing an important collection of 1275 Russian avant-garde works of art, collected by George Costakis
• Macedonia-Thrace Folklore and Ethnological Museum, housed in the G. Modiano Mansion
• Museum of Byzantine Culture
• Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum
• Thessaloniki Cinema Museum
• Thessaloniki Museum of the Macedonian Struggle
• Thessaloniki Sports Museum
• Water Museum of Thessaloniki
• White Tower of Thessaloniki, museum and monument
• Thessaloniki Science Center & Technology Museum - NOESIS
• Thessaloniki Museum of Photography
• Museum of Cinematography
• Teloglion Foundation of Art
• European Center of Byzantine and Postbyzantine Monuments
• The Goulandris Natural History Museum

Archaeological sites

• Agia Paraskevi, Thessaloniki, archaic cemetery
• The Ancient Agora of Thessaloniki
• Monastery of Latomos at Thessaloniki
• The Roman Palace and Hippodrome
• The extensive city walls
• Trigonian Tower and the Castra area

Demographics

Although the population of the Municipality of Thessaloniki has declined in the last two censuses, the metropolitan area's population is still growing, as people are moving to the suburbs. Today approximate 1 million people live in the metropolitan area, making it the second largest metropolitan area in Greece after Athens.

Year	City population	Change	Metro population
1981	406,413	-	-
1991	383,967[12]	-22,446/-5.52%	-
2001	363,987[12]	-19,980/-5.20%	1,057,825[12]

The Jews of Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki's Jewish community, was largely of Sephardic background, but also included the historically significant and ancient Romaniote community. During the Ottoman era, Thessaloniki's Jewish community comprised more than half the city's population and Jews were dominant in commerce until Greece took over the city in 1912. Within the Greek state the Jews enjoyed the same civil rights as all other Greeks.^[13] As a result of the Jewish influence on the city, many non-Jewish inhabitants of Thessaloniki also spoke Ladino, the Romance language of the