Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BC by Cassander, King of Macedonia. That it was named for his wife, Thessaloniki, who was the daughter of Philip II and the sister of Alexander the Great. History later brought the Romans to Thessaloniki, and they left their mark on the city with the Arch of Galerius.
History, too, was to bring to Thessaloniki the Apostle Paul, who had journeyed into Macedonia to found the first Christian churches. There is a folk tradition that the Gentiles in the city pelted him with stones. And that the Apostle to the Nations lost his Christian patience and pronounced a curse on Thessaloniki: that the stones should never be removed from its streets. And from that day on tradition has called the people of Thessaloniki “Paul-accursed”, and the streets of the city have never yet been cleared of those stones.
Half a century later, she sent the city boatloads of persecuted Jews from the Iberian Peninsula. And when, after another three and a half centuries, the opening shots in the struggle for liberation were fired in the Morea in 1821, history brought their echo to Thessaloniki to give wings to the hopes of the enslaved. But their uprising was quenched in their own blood, and another ninety years had to pass before that same history, escorted by the Makedonomachoi, brought freedom to the ancient but still vital city of Saint Demetrius. And it was 26 October 1912, the feast day of the saint.
The visitor who sees the contemporary city with its broad straight streets and tall modern buildings will have trouble imagining what it looked like seventy years ago.
BYZANTINE FORTRESS
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE FORTRESS
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements.
BYZANTINE FORTRESS
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE FORTRESS
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE FORTRESS & MUSEUM
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE CHURCH
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE MONASTERY & MUSEUM
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE CHURCH
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE CHURCH
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE CHURCH
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE BATHS
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE CHURCH
The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE CHURCH
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE CHURCH
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE CHURCH
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE CHURCH
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
BYZANTINE CHURCH
The frescoes found in the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi belong to the masterpieces of Palaeologian icon-painting. The figures are characterized by their elegance, their gentleness and the grace of their movements. They are related to the works in Constantinople, and they seem to have been largely influenced by the spirit and the artistic expression of the capital city. The depiction of the Tree of Jesse covers the eastern end of the south colonnade.
