Pointed arches and Andalusian ornament
Among the finest surviving facades on the avenue.
Kyriaki Balta — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tilemahos Efthimiadis — CC BY 2.0 · Tilemahos Efthimiadis from Athens, Greece — CC BY 2.0 · PLAKLE — CC BY-SA 4.0
A late nineteenth-century mansion on Vasilissis Olgas avenue built for the Kapandji family, working today as a cultural centre of the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation. The building is among the finest surviving on this avenue: an eclectic facade of pointed arches and Andalusian-style ornament, interior halls with decorated ceilings, and a surrounding garden. The Kapandjis were Dönmeh — a community that arose in Thessaloniki in the seventeenth century from the followers of Sabbatai Zevi, a Jew who declared himself the awaited messiah and then converted to Islam under Ottoman pressure, his followers converting outwardly after him while keeping some Jewish practice. In Thessaloniki they formed a very influential merchant and professional class. This community was deported to Turkey in the population exchange of 1923 as Muslims, although its identity was far more complicated than that. It is visited today during exhibitions and events.
Among the finest surviving facades on the avenue.
A community arising from Sabbatai Zevi's followers in the seventeenth century.
Deported in 1923 as Muslims despite a far more complex belonging.
Vasilissis Olgas avenue, Thessaloniki
An agreement between Greece and Turkey after the war between them, providing for a compulsory exchange of populations on the basis of religion rather than language or origin: about 1.2 million Orthodox Christians were moved from Anatolia to Greece, and about four hundred thousand Muslims from Greece to Turkey. Many of those moved did not speak the language of their new country. The agreement changed both countries' demography permanently, and its effect is plain in many Greek cities whose districts grew from the refugees.
Clearly yes. The Byzantine churches alone are on the World Heritage list and need a day, the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of Byzantine Culture another, and the Upper Town and walls half a day. Add that it is unquestionably Greece's food capital — its markets and restaurants are reason enough to stay. Three days suit it, and Vergina and Pella can be visited from it as day trips.
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