White Tower (Thessaloniki)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The White Tower of Thessaloniki

The White Tower ( Greek Λευκός Πύργος , Lefkos Pyrgos ) is an architectural monument and museum in the city of Thessaloniki . Since its construction in the 15th and 16th centuries, the White Tower has served as a fortification, garrison, prison and museum.

location

The White Tower stands immediately south of the port of Thessaloniki on the banks of the Thermaic Gulf . From northwest to southeast the promenade passes Thessalonikis Leoforos Nikis , the White Tower.

Building structure

Ascent in the White Tower.

The White Tower consists of two stepped cylindrical components with a total height of 31 m. The first component has a diameter of 23 m and a height of 27 m above ground. The second component that sits on top of this and closes at the top, which could also be called a tambour , has a diameter of 12 m and a height of 6 m. Due to the difference in diameter and circumference, there is a 5 m wide walkway between the first and the second component, which is bordered on the outside by a battlement wall . The second, narrower component ends with a platform with a diameter of 10 m, which is also bordered on the outside by a battlement wall. In both components are in the outer wall loopholes inserted. Inside the tower there are six floors, each with a central room, which allowed access to the loopholes. Some of the loopholes can also be reached via a spiral staircase.

The shape of the White Tower has changed substantially over the years since its creation. Illustrations from the early days of its existence show the tower with a conical tapered roof. When the roof was removed or destroyed is not known for sure. A wall surrounded the White Tower until 1917. This was used to cover the heavy artillery used to defend the port and enclosed an area three times the size of the White Tower in its current form. In 2007 and 2008, parts of the wall that enclosed the White Tower until 1917 were exposed again.

history

The White Tower in 1912. The surrounding wall was demolished in 1917.

The White Tower and its forerunners originally served to close off and guard the eastern and southeastern end of the sea walls of the city of Thessaloniki. At the same time, the White Tower was also the end of the eastern city wall of Thessaloniki. In the place of the White Tower stood a Byzantine tower as part of the city fortifications of Thessaloniki, the second largest city of the Byzantine Empire at the time. It was first mentioned by Archbishop Eustathios of Thessalonica in his description of the Norman conquest of Thessaloniki in 1185.

In its current form, the White Tower is of Ottoman origin. After the Ottoman conquest of Thessaloniki in 1430 by Sultan Murad II , the White Tower was built. Suleyman the Magnificent had two towers built at the western and eastern ends of the sea wall of Thessaloniki. The eastern tower is the White Tower, the western tower no longer exists. By 1912, an inscription in Ottoman Turkish over the entrance door dated the building to the year 942 of the Islamic calendar (1535–1536 according to the Christian calendar). The historian Franz Babinger put forward the thesis that the architect of the White Tower was the Ottoman master builder Sinan , and supports this thesis with the port fortifications in Vlora , which Sinan built in 1537. The Ottomans used the tower as a fortification, troop accommodation and as a prison. In 1826, on the orders of Sultan Mahmud II , the prisoners were killed in the White Tower. As a result of this act and its use as a prison, including the use of torture, the White Tower was referred to as the "Tower of Blood" or "Red Tower"; this name lasted in the 19th century.

The White Tower not only limited the sea walls of Thessaloniki to the east and southeast, but it was also the southern corner point of the eastern city wall. Outside the eastern city walls were the cemeteries of the Muslim and Jewish population of Thessaloniki. The eastern city wall was demolished in 1866.

After the conquest of Thessaloniki in October 1912 as part of the First Balkan War by troops under the command of the Greek heir to the throne Constantine I , the tower was whitewashed (whitewashed or colored) as part of a symbolic act and thus received its current name.

In the early 1990s, the depiction of the White Tower on an unofficial and illegal banknote from neighboring Macedonia became the subject of a heated political dispute between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia against the backdrop of the name dispute over Macedonia.

Today the tower has a grayish color - it has kept its name "White Tower" unchanged since 1912. The tower houses an exhibition by the Museum of Byzantine Culture on the history of Thessaloniki and is one of the city's tourist attractions. The White Tower is administered by the 9th Ephoria for Byzantine Antiquities of the Greek Ministry of Culture.

swell

  1. ^ Machiel Kiel: A Note on the Exact Date of Construction of the White Tower of Thessaloniki . In: Balkan Studies . 14, 1973, pp. 325-357.
  2. ↑ James D Tracy: City Walls: The Urban Enceinte in Global Perspective . Cambridge University Press , 2000, ISBN 0521652219 , pp. 303-307.
  3. ^ A b Mark Mazower: Salonica: City of Ghosts. Christians, Muslims, and Jews , 1430-1950. Vintage Books, New York 2004. p. 94, ISBN 978-0-375-72738-2
  4. ^ Mazower, Mark: Salonica: City of Ghosts. Christians, Muslims, and Jews , 1430-1950. Vintage Books, New York 2004. p. 127, ISBN 978-0-375-72738-2
  5. ↑ a b Misha Glenny : A maze of conspiracy . In: The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers , 1804-1999 , Penguin 2001 softcover . Edition, Penguin , New York, New York 2001, ISBN 0140233776 , p. 181.
  6. ^ Victor Roudometof: Toward an Archeology of the Macedonian Question . In: Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict . Greenwood Publishing , 2002, ISBN 0275976483 , p. 64.
  7. ↑ Donald Sassoon: Looking Left: European Socialism After the Cold War . IB Tauris, 1997, ISBN 1860641806 , p. 77.
  8. ↑ Helena Smith: Gamble of the Macedonia gambit . In: The Guardian , Guardian Newspapers , Jan 31, 1992, p. 23. 
  9. ↑ Anastasia Karakasidou, R Brian Ferguson: The State, Identity and Violence . Routledge, 2003, ISBN 0415274125 , p. 202.
  10. ^ Eugene N. Borza, Frances B. Titchener, Richard F. Moorton Jr .: The Eye Expanded: Life and the Arts in Greco-Roman Antiquity . University of California Press , 1999, ISBN 0520210298 , p. 256.
  11. ^ Michael P. Marks, Peter J. Katzenstein: Tamed Power: Germany in Europe . Cornell University Press , 1997, ISBN 0801484499 , p. 149.
  12. ^ Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki ( Memento of March 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

Commons : White Tower (Thessaloniki)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 40 ° 37 ′ 34.9 ″  N , 22 ° 56 ′ 54.3 ″  E