Aspects of Significance in the “Dark Heritage” of Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract

Located in the north of Greece and boasting an interrupted history of over 2.300 years, Thessaloniki has a wide array of architectural monuments to display. Hellenistic residences, Roman administrative centers, Byzantine churches, and Ottoman communal buildings have shaped for decades the city’s historical profile, leaving limited space for a nonetheless widely acknowledged architectural grouping, namely its “dark heritage”.

Comprising buildings and sites that have over the years been related to rare phenomena and curious events, Thessaloniki’s “heritage of darkness” fascinates the imagination of its residents, in addition to providing a frequent subject for the writings of local journalists and researchers, and a focal point in the work of the services and bodies involved in monument protection. The above players evidently evaluate its constituents in different manners, thus leading to the emergence of multiple aspects of significance in the appraisal of the city’s “dark heritage”.

This paper aims to identify these aspects and determine their interrelation and impact on the preservation of the buildings and sites involved. To this end, based on bibliographical research and on-site examination, it begins with a comprehensive overview of the dreaded built assets, followed by the identification of the players involved in their treatment and their respective attitudes. From there on, a discussion of the interaction of these attitudes is pursued, culminating in original conclusions as to the consequences of this interaction for the safeguarding of the tangible and intangible qualities of the city’s “heritage of the dark”.