Salonica - Town Walls

It is certain that the town of Thessalonikeia founded by Kassandros in 315 B.C. was very soon afterwards surrounded by defensive walls, for it was able to withstand attacks by King Pyrrhos of Epirus in 285 and by the Celts in 279. In Roman times no substantial alterations were made to the old Greek walls, but they were extensively developed and strengthened by Constantine the Great, particularly on the seaward side. Under the Byzantine Empire the town's defenses were frequently reinforced, as many inscriptions on the wall record. The final phase of construction was in the 14th and 15th centuries, when the Turkish authorities built further defensive structures (particularly towers), sometimes employing Venetian military engineers. Until the second half of the 19th century the old town was still surrounded by a complete circuit of walls, with bastions, forts, towers and gates. From 1869 onwards, however, with the declared intention of "modernising" and "beautifying" the town, the Turkish authorities pulled down the walls along the seafront between the Vardar Fort and the White Tower. Later the stretch of walls between the White Tower and the southeast corner of the upper town was demolished to make way for a new street, originally called the Boulevard Hamidiye, later Queen Olga Avenue and now Leofóros Ethnikís Amínas. The rest of the walls, including the citadel, have been preserved and in recent years have been restored section by section.

The walls, which originally had a total length of 8km/5mi and enclosed a large square area, consist mainly of alternating courses of stone and brick and incorporate considerable numbers of ancient remains (fragments of statues, columns, altars, gravestones, etc.). They range in thickness between 3m/10ft and 4.6m/15ft and stand to a height of 10-12m/33-39ft.

A good starting-point for a tour of the walls is the Evangelistria cemetery to the north of the University campus. From here we can walk up outside the walls to the massive 15th century round tower known as the Trigonion (or Alysos Tower; Turkish Zincirli Kule, Chain Tower). Beyond this is the Tower of Anna Palaiologina, with a gateway through which we enter the Citadel, on the site of the ancient acropolis. The interior of the citadel is fully built up, and on the highest point is a fortress, the Heptapyrgion ("Seven Towers"; Turkish Yedi Kule), formerly used as a prison. At the south corner of the acropolis stands the Tower of Andronikos II, with numerous inscriptions relating to the different phases of construction built into the walls. From the Citadel it is possible to continue westward following the walls, either inside or outside, to the position of the old Letaia Gate (Turkish Yeni Kapu, "New Gate"), near the church of the Holy Apostles, and then down to the spacious Democracy Square (Platía Dimokratías), formerly Vardar Square, on the site of the former Golden Gate or Vardar Gate. From there the walls continue down towards the harbor, ending at the Vardar Fort.