Jewish Sightseeing Private City Tour in Thessaloniki

Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki Representing the historic center of Thessaloniki’s Jewish community, this museum serves to acquaint the public with the city’s Jewish historic and cultural heritage. Founded in 2001, it is housed amid a listed building dating back to 1906. In the early 20th century, it housed the Bank of Athens and the French-language Jewish newspaper “L’ Intependant”. The museum’s permanent exhibition features headstones from the old Jewish cemetery destroyed by the Nazis during the Greek Occupation, family and religious heirlooms, as well as old Jewish newspapers and costumes. The Holocaust Room, an emotionally charged space, includes items from the Nazi crematoriums, yellow stars worn by Jews in the ghettos, and the authentic metal press used to make these. INFO: 13 Agiou Mina St., Mon- Fri: 10:00-15:00, Wed: 10:00-15:00 and 17:00-20:00, Sun: 10:00-14:00, Sat: closed

Monastirioton Synagogue The official Thessaloniki synagogue, it is the city’s only synagogue that remains in its pre-Holocaust state. Unlike all of the city’s other old synagogues, the Monastirioton synagogue was not destroyed by Nazi German forces during the occupation of Greece as it was used as a warehouse by the Red Cross. It was built between 1925 and 1927, served as a religious center for Jewish refugees arriving from the city Monastiri – nowadays located in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and named Bitola – and was used as a ghetto center by Nazis forces in the densely populated Jewish Syggrou area before the eventual displacement of Jews in 1943. INFO: 35 Syggrou St, Mon- Fri: 10:00-15:00, Wed: 10:00-15:00 and 17:00-20:00, Sun: 10:00-14:00, Sat: closed

Casa Bianca, Junction of 214 Vassilissis Olgas Avenue & Th. Sofouli Street. (1912). In 1911, Dino Fernandez-Diaz, a Jew of Spanish origin, purchased the plot for his Swiss wife, Blanche. The Fernandez family was a key player in the business life of that era. The mansion was erected according to designs by Pierro Arrigoni. It came to be known as Casa Bianca from the name of his wife. Despite its eclectic temperament, it is mostly an Art Nouveau building and is one of the best known mansions of the city, both for its architecture and for a romantic story: the romance between the daughter of the family, Alina, and Second Lieutenant Alibertis, at a time when the difference between social classes and religious belief was a deterrent. It currently belongs to the Municipality and houses the Municipal Art Gallery. INFO: 180 Vas. Olgas Ave. & Them. Sofouli St, Wed.- Fri.: 10:00–17:00, Sat.: 11:00- 15:00

Villa Modiano, 84 Vassilissis Olgas Avenue. (1906). (1906). The building was constructed for Yako Modiano according to designs by Eli Modiano. It is one of the first buildings of the famous civil engineer after returning from Paris. The French influence is obvious, with dominant Art Nouveau elements. The building stands out for its trapezoid scaled roof. In 1913, the building was purchased by the Municipality and was offered to King Constantine as a palace. It was then used the residence of the governors of Macedonia, which is why it is known in the city as the Palaion Kyverneion (Old Government House). It later housed the Military Medical School. Since 1970, it has housed the Folklife and Ethnological Museum of Macedonia-Thrace, which is open to the public with occasional and permanent exhibitions.

Villa Allatini, 198 Vassilissis Olgas Avenue. Villa Allatini, designed by Italian architect Vitaliano Poselli, was built before 1888 as the country house of Charles Allatini, near the family mills. Along with the Modiano family, the Allatini family were among the most powerful business families in the city. This villa was the largest and most luxurious in the Exoches area. The building is located in the centre of a particularly large courtyard and stands out for its red brick construction. From 1909 to 1912, Sultan Abdul Hamid was exiled after the Young Turk Revolution and stayed at the villa. In 1926, it housed the newly founded University of Thessaloniki for just a year and was also used as a Military Hospital. From 1979, it has housed the services of the Ministry of the Interior, the Prefecture of Thessaloniki and, at present, the Region of Central Macedonia.

Jewish Holocaust Memorial The Jewish Holocaust Memorial, established in remembrance of the 50,000 Greek Jews exterminated at Nazi concentration camps is located at the southeastern corner of Eleftheria (Freedom) Square, nowadays transformed into a parking facility. Nazi forces had rounded up Jewish men here on July 11, 1942 for processing procedures prior to their deportation to concentration camps. The captives were tortured in broad daylight. The memorial’s monument, a bronze sculpture of a seven-branched menorah, a Jewish symbol, whose flames are wrapped around human bodies in demise, was created by Nandor Glid, a Serbian Professor of Applied Arts in Belgrade, and his son. It was unveiled in 1997 and, since 2006, has stood at the parking space opposite the port at the beginning of Nikis Avenue. The Thessaloniki Municipality plans to revamp the square to further highlight its association with the city’s Jewish heritage. INFO: Eleftherias Square, Nikis Ave. & El. Venizelou St.

Ιδρύθηκε κατά την πρώιμη Ρωμαϊκή εποχή και αναπτύχθηκε μετά την εγκατάσταση των Σεφαραδιτών Εβραίων το 1492 στη Θεσσαλονίκη. Δυστυχώς, κατά τη διάρκεια της γερμανικής Κατοχής και μεταπολεμικά, όλα τα ταφικά μνημεία καταστράφηκαν και σήμερα στη θέση του βρίσκεται το Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης, όπου το 2014 κατασκευάστηκε σχετικό μνημείο. Σήμερα η εβραϊκή κοινότητα χρησιμοποιεί το νεκροταφείο της Σταυρούπολης.