Ἀνταλλάξιμα κτήρια, σιωπηλὲς κληρονομιές: Ἡ προσωρινὴ ἐγκατάσταση τῶν Μικρασιατῶν προσφύγων καὶ τὰ ἰσλαμικὰ τεμένη τῆς Θεσσαλονίκης

Abstract

At a transitional phase in the history of Thessaloniki, many public buildings
were requisitioned to cover the urgent housing needs of the Asia
Minor refugees who kept arriving to the city. The mosques of the city provided
an instant means of shelter for refugees, as did the various Christian
Orthodox churches that had been turned into mosques in Ottoman times
and returned to the Greek community and to their initial usage following
the incorporation of Thessaloniki in the Greek Kingdom. The changes in
the usage of the buildings, which are documented in detail in the present
article, played a part in the gradual obliteration from public space of the
Muslim community and the recent Ottoman past, while they also attested
and contributed to the refugee heritage of Thessaloniki.
A crucial but little explored dimension of the aforementioned changes
concerns the sonic mark of religious buildings on public space. The present
study focuses on this historical moment of transition for Thessaloniki,
through the history of sound in the everyday life of these buildings.
Through archival sources, oral testimonies and references in the press, we
seek to document and uncover the aural dimension, which forms also an
important aspect in the history of the refugee settlement in Thessaloniki.