Thessaloniki was founded in 315 b.C. by Cassander and since then it has been a meeting point of civilizations, still echoing around the city, along the streets, among the buildings, in the surviving human customs.
The Triumph Arch, known as Kamara – Galerius’ Palace on Navarino Square and the imposing Rotunda reflect Roman times. The defensive city walls, St. Demetrius church and various other Byzantine and early Christian churches still holding mass through the centuries – twelve UNESCO monuments within a walking distance of half an hour (!) reveal the significance of the city for the Byzantine Empire.
The narrow lanes of the quaint Upper City, Kemal Ataturk’s house, Yeni Cami, Alatza Imaret are some of the traces left from the Ottoman period. At the Synagogue and the Jewish Museum, Allatini’s Villa, Caza Bianca and Modiano Mansion visitors can be informed through a lot of visual material about the history of the Jews of Thessaloniki.
Today, at the city with the largest University Campus in Greece and the largest Exhibition Centre in the Balkans, the history of exchanging ideas continues uninterrupted: Thessaloniki is full of youthful energy and keeps on filling its historical mosaic.
