Top Historic Sights in Thessaloniki, Greece
Explore the historic highlights of Thessaloniki
White Tower of Thessaloniki
The White Tower is a monument and museum on the waterfront of the city of Thessaloniki. The present tower replaced an old Byzantine fortification, known to have been mentioned around the 12th century, that the Ottoman Empire reconstructed to fortify the city"s harbour sometime after Sultan Murad II captured Thessaloniki in 1430. The tower became a notorious prison and scene of mass executions during the period of Ott ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki
The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is one of the largest museums in Greece and the central museum of northern Greece. It holds and interprets artifacts from the Prehistoric, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods, mostly from the city of Thessaloniki but also from the region of Macedonia in general. The museum is housed in a building designed by architect Patroklos Karantinos and is an examp ...
Founded: 1912 |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Church of Saint Panteleimon
The Church of Saint Panteleimon is a late Byzantine church in Thessaloniki and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The church lies in the eastern part of the old city, near the Tomb of Galerius, at the junction of Iasonidou and Arrianou streets. Its current dedication to Saint Panteleimon was given to the church after the end of Ottoman rule in 1912, and its original dedication is therefore disputed. In Ottoman times, it was c ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Arch of Galerius and Rotunda
The Arch of Galerius and the Rotunda are neighbouring early 4th-century AD monuments in Thessaloniki. The 4th-century Roman emperor Galerius commissioned these two structures as elements of an imperial precinct linked to his Thessaloniki palace. Archeologists have found substantial remains of the palace to the southwest. These three monumental structures were connected by a road that ran through the arch, which rose abov ...
Founded: 298-306 AD |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Hagios Demetrios
The Church of Saint Demetrius, or Hagios Demetrios, is the main sanctuary dedicated to Saint Demetrius, the patron saint of Thessaloniki. It is part of the site Palaeochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO since 1988. The first church on the spot was constructed in the early 4th century AD, replacing a Roman bath. A century later, a prefect named Leontios replaced ...
Founded: 629-634 AD |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Church of the Saviour
The Church of the Savior is one of the 15 Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki that were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1988. Archaeological investigation and restoration work following the 1978 earthquakes, in which the church was badly damaged, have brought to light new evidence that has led to a radical review of our knowledge of the structure. The original position of the holy altar h ...
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Church of Panagia Chalkeon
According to the founder's inscription above the west entrance, the The Church of Panagia Chalkeon was built in 1028 by the protospatharios Christopher, katepano of Longobardia, and his wife, son, and two daughters. The ground plan is that of a classic 'cross-in-square-form' typical of Macedonian-period architecture, with four columns and three domes, one central and two over the narthex. The entire building is built ...
Founded: 1028 |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Bey Hamam
Bey Hamam, alternatively known as the 'Baths of Paradise', is a Turkish bathhouse in Thessaloniki. Built in 1444 by sultan Murad II, it was the first Ottoman bath in Thessaloniki and the most important one still standing throughout Greece. For this reason, it is a part of those few important vestiges of Ottoman culture remaining in Thessaloniki and Greece in general. It is a double bath, with two separat ...
Founded: 1444 |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Museum of Byzantine Culture
The Museum of Byzantine Culture was opened in 1994. It was established with the aim of creating a centre in which aspects of Byzantine culture surviving in Macedonia in general and Thessaloniki in particular may be kept, researched, and studied. The museum has collections of sculpture, frescoes, mosaics, icons, and inscriptions from the Byzantine period. It has permanent exhibitions, rooms for temporary thematic exhibiti ...
Founded: 1994 |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Hagia Sophia
The Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki is one of the oldest churches in the city still standing today. It is one of several monuments in Thessaloniki included as a World Heritage Site on the UNESCO list. Since the 3rd century, there was a church in the location of the current Hagia Sophia. In the 8th century, the present structure was erected, based on the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey). In 1205, ...
Founded: 8th century AD |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Yahudi Hamam
The Yahudi Hamam is an Ottoman-era bath in Thessaloniki. Located at the intersection of Vasileos Irakleiou and Frangini streets, the bath dates to the 16th century. Its name means 'Bath of the Jews', as the area was predominantly settled by Sephardi Jews. It was also named Pazar Hamam, due to its location in the central market-place of the city.
Founded: 16th century |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Roman Forum
The Roman Forum of Thessaloniki is the ancient Roman-era forum of the city, located at the upper side of Aristotelous Square. It is a large two-terraced forum featuring two-storey stoas, dug up by accident in the 1960s. The forum complex also boasts two Roman baths, one of which has been excavated while the other is buried underneath the city, and a small theater which was also used for gladiatorial games. Although the in ...
Founded: 2nd century AD |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Government House
The Konak (also known as the Government House) is an Ottoman-era building in central Thessaloniki. Originally built in 1891 as the residence (konak) of the governor-general (vali) of the Salonica Vilayet and the seat of the Ottoman authorities, it now houses the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace. The Konak was built in 1891 by Italian architect Vitaliano Poselli. The architect chose eclecticism as the main style for th ...
Founded: 1891 |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki
The Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki presents the history of Sephardic Jews and Jewish life in the city. The collection of the museum was based on the documents, ritual objects, and photographic collections as well as the library that used to be housed at Vasileos Herakleiou 26. The building was built in 1904 by the Italian architect, Vitaliano Poselli. On the ground level are monumental stones and inscriptions that were o ...
Founded: 2001 |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Heptapyrgion
The Heptapyrgion, also popularly known by its Ottoman Turkish name Yedi Kule, is a Byzantine and Ottoman-era fortress situated on the north-eastern corner of the Acropolis of Thessaloniki in Greece. Despite its name, which in both languages means 'Fortress of Seven Towers', it features ten, and was probably named after the Yedikule Fortress in Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey). Although the urban core of ...
Founded: 4th century AD |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Vlatades Monastery
Vlatades Monastery was founded by the brothers Dorotheus and Markus Vlatadon, who were students of Gregory Palamas, in the latter half of the fourteenth century. It was first mention in a letter by Patriarch Matthew dated in 1400 to Metropolitan Gabriel of Thessalonica. In 1387, Thessalonica and the monastery were occupied for the first time by the Ottoman Turks. While the monastic community held together, the monaster ...
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Monastir Synagogue
The construction of the Monastir Synagogue lasted from 1925 till 1927. The funding was due to Jews from Monastir in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, chiefly by Ida Aroesti, in the memory of her late husband Isaac, and the families Camhi, Joseph Nahmias, Massot, Barouch, Halevi, Israel, Calderon, Faradji, and Meir. The consecration by the locum tenens Chief Rabbi of Thessaloniki, Haim Raphael Habib, took place on the 27th Eloul, ...
Founded: 1925-1927 |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Walls of Thessaloniki
The Walls of Thessaloniki are the city walls surrounding the city during the Middle Ages and until the late 19th century. Large parts of the walls, including the entire seaward section, were demolished as part of the Ottoman authorities" restructuring of Thessaloniki"s urban fabric. The city was fortified from its establishment in the late 4th century BC, but the present walls date from the early Byzantine perio ...
Founded: 4th century AD |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Alaca Imaret Mosque
Alaca Imaret Mosque or Ishak Pasha Mosque (literally the 'colourful mosque') was built by order of Ishak Pasha in 1484 or 1487. It consists of a mosque with an imaret (public charity kitchen). The mosque and imaret are not in use anymore. The mosque has a reverse T plan common to early Ottoman architecture, the prayer hall is covered by two large domes, it has a portico covered by five smaller domes. It had one ...
Founded: 1484 |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Church of the Acheiropoietos
The Church of the Acheiropoietos is a 5th-century Byzantine church in Thessaloniki. The Acheiropoietos has been dated from its bricks and mosaics to ca. 450–470, making it perhaps the earliest of the city"s surviving churches. It was modified in the 7th and again in the 14th–15th centuries. Known as the Panagia Theotokos in Byzantine times, it is dedicated to Mary. Its current name is first attested in 1320, ...
Founded: 450-470 AD |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Church of Prophet Elijah
The Church of Prophet Elijah is a 14th-century church in Thessaloniki, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The church is located in the upper quarter of the old city, and dates to the Palaiologan period, but its original dedication is unknown. In Ottoman times, it was known as the Saraylı Mosque (Palace Mosque or Court Mosque), and through a misinterpretation of this name came about its modern dedication to the Pr ...
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Church of Hosios David
The Church of Hosios David is a late 5th-century church in Thessaloniki. In Byzantine times, it functioned as the katholikon of the Latomos Monastery, and received rich mosaic and fresco decoration, which was renewed in the 12th–14th centuries. The surviving examples are of high artistic quality. Under Ottoman rule, the building was converted into a mosque (probably in the 16th century), until it was reconsecrated as a ...
Founded: 5th century AD |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Church of Saint Nicholas Orphanos
The Church of Saint Nicholas Orphanos is an early 14th-century Byzantine church in Thessaloniki. The church"s name, 'Saint Nicholas the Orphan', is first attested in the 17th and 18th centuries, and presumably refers to its otherwise unknown ktetor (founder). From its interior decoration, the building is dated to the period 1310–1320. The church originally formed part of a monastery, traces of which (re ...
Founded: 1310-1320 |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Church of the Holy Apostles
The Byzantine church of the Holy Apostles is located at the start of Olympou Street, near the city"s western medieval walls. As evidenced by remnants of a column to the south of the church and a cistern to its northwest, it originally formed part of a larger complex. Consequently, it appears that the church was originally built as the katholikon of a monastery. The date of its construction is not entirely clear: t ...
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Byzantine Bath
The Byzantine Bath in Thessaloniki is one of the few and best preserved of the Byzantine baths that have survived from the Byzantine period in Greece. The baths date to the late 12th/early 13th century, and functioned continuously until 1940, when they shut down probably due to World War II and the German occupation of Greece. The Byzantine sources do not mention it, hence it is likely that it originally belonged to a mo ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Church of Saint Catherine
The Church of Saint Catherine is a late Byzantine church in the northwestern corner of the Ano Poli, Thessaloniki. The church dates to the Palaiologan period, but its exact dating and original dedication are unknown. From its interior decoration, which survives in fragments and is dated to ca. 1315, it has been suggested that it was the katholikon of the Monastery of the Almighty. It was converted to a mosque by Yakup P ...
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Yeni Mosque
The Yeni Mosque was built by Italian architect Vitaliano Poselli in 1902 for the city"s Dönmeh community, crypto-Jewish converts to Islam. However, when the Donmeh left the city during the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, it was used to house the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki in 1925. Today it serves as an exhibition center.
Founded: 1902 |
Location:
Thessaloniki, Greece
Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings
Photo from Flickr, copyright Mr Phil Price
Historic Site of the week
Caerleon Roman Amphitheatre
Built around AD 90 to entertain the legionaries stationed at the fort of Caerleon (Isca), the impressive amphitheatre was the Roman equivalent of today’s multiplex cinema. Wooden benches provided seating for up to 6,000 spectators, who would gather to watch bloodthirsty displays featuring gladiatorial combat and exotic wild animals.
Long after the Romans left, the amphitheatre took on a new life in Arthurian legend. Geoffrey of Monmouth, the somewhat imaginative 12th-century scholar, wrote in his History of the Kings of Britain that Arthur was crowned in Caerleon and that the ruined amphitheatre was actually the remains of King Arthur’s Round Table.
Today it is the most complete Roman amphitheatre in Britain.