Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki is a port city and the 2nd largest in Greece. It has a rich history, being one of the oldest cities in all of Europe and during Byzantine times second only to Constantinople in terms of culture and art. Agora-like ruins were visible right from the street. Many of them were from the Roman period. Having been built hundreds of years ago, the ruins were usually several layers below us, as things have built up considerably since then. Here, the ancient world is integrated into the modern one.

Church of St. Demetrius

The church of St. Demetrius was one of the few early Roman basilicas, built in the 4th-5th c. AD. A Roman basilica originally was a large roofed hall erected for transacting business and disposing of legal matters. Such buildings usually contained interior colonnades that divided the space, giving aisles or arcaded spaces at one or both sides, with an apse at one end (or less often at each end), where the magistrates sat, often on a slightly raised dais. The central aisle tended to be wide and was higher than the flanking aisles, so that light could penetrate through the clerestory windows. Basilica construction was later used for opulent palaces, and finally, with the introduction of Christianity, were easily transformed into churches. Interesting is the idea that the architectural standard for churches was not always meant as a gathering place for Christians, but as a place for conducting business by pagans.

St. Demetrius was a general of the Roman army and patron saint of the city of Thessaloniki. He was martyred for being a Christian, only to see Christianity become one of the official Roman religions twenty years later. The church was built directly on the spot where he was martyred, and several churches have been built there over the centuries (some were also destroyed by fire.) In more recent history the crypt underneath the church was discovered after a fire in 1917 destroyed the church. Ironically, the crypt was once a Roman bath, and also the place they decided to kill Demetrius. A holiday is celebrated in his honor on October 26th.

Highlights from Thessaloniki