THESSALONIKI WALLS

These fortifications (Τείχη Θεσσαλονίκης/Tichi Thessalonikis) are among Thessaloniki's 15 Unesco World Heritage monuments. They include not only 4 km of well-preserved walls reaching up to 10.50 m in height, but also defensive works such as the emblematic White Tower and the Heptapyrgion fort. Encircling the historic center, they were erected as soon as the city was founded by the Macedonian king Cassander in 316 BC, then reinforced by the Romans, Byzantines and Venetians to counter the successive threats from Goths, Avars, Slavs, Saracens, Normans, Bulgarians and Ottomans. After the capture of Thessalonica in 1430, the Ottomans made a number of additions, including the Vardar fortress (^16th century) to the southwest, near the harbor. But it was above all they who tore down the 2 km wall along the seafront: until the end of the ^19th century, the lower quarters had no view of the Thermaic Gulf! The two best-preserved large sections of wall are to the northeast (near the Rotunda and up to the Heptapyrgion) and along the entire northern section of Ano Poli. They reveal the same Byzantine assemblage as on the walls of Constantinople/Istanbul: cut stone blocks held together by mortar with brick strata to resist earthquakes. To the northeast of Ano Poli, the Triangular Tower (Pyrgos Trigoniou) offers grandiose views over the town and the gulf.