Agias Sofias metro station

What I can see

During the construction of the metro, ancient Thessaloniki was discovered, starting from the time of its founding (316 BC) until the Byzantine period. It had initially been designed according to the Hippodamian system (see Roads and Houses of Ancient Piraeus), following the model of the great Hellenistic cities. The course of the central road of the Hellenistic period was revealed, which maintained the same layout during the Roman era. On both sides of the road, there were luxurious buildings with marble coatings and mosaics. The road was paved with marble after 350 AD and at the crossroad with the vertical road (southeast end of the square – north exit of the metro) a monumental fountain/nymphaeum was erected and was used from the 4th to the 7th century AD. After 500 AD, marble-paved squares and public spaces were developed on the ruins of older buildings, but these (squares and the nymphaeum) were also later (10th – 13th century) occupied by workshops and shops of the Byzantine market, which lasted until the Ottoman years. At the northern exit of the Agias Sofias station, we can admire an elaborate archaeological complex (4th – 14th century AD). These antiquities have been preserved as in-situ monuments, which ensures their authenticity, in contrast to the antiquities of the southern entrance, which were detached and part of them (a stone-built stylobate and 2 restored marble columns) were re-installed in the same place, at a higher level. On the western part of the archaeological site of the northern entrance, we see the traces of a single-aisled funerary small church (late 14th-early 15th century). In the eastern part of the same archaeological site, we see the marble-paved square of the 6th century AD, which was elevated in relation to the colonnade that probably housed shops. The northern square, in combination with the findings of the southern entrance, testify to the urban change of the 6th century, the burial and leveling of magnificent buildings and therefore the elimination of the building blocks of the Hippodamian design. This sweeping change was implemented with imperial sponsorship. On the walls of the station entrances, the stratigraphic boundaries of the eras from the founding of the city to the present day have been imprinted. The metro user has the opportunity to cross the layers of history by using the escalators. On the first level of the station, photographs, projections related to antiquities, informative inscriptions and the impressive stratigraphic representation of archaeological research are exhibited, through objects of every historical layer, such as ceramics, glass, stone and metal ones, which testify the historical course of the city and its people. The floors of the station are black, as in some other stations, an unusual colour choice, while there are also slabs with decorative patterns that refer to the historical and architectural past of the city. The station’s platform is central with security doors on both sides.

What I can't see

Here was the centre of late Roman and Byzantine Thessaloniki. The nymphaeum was a two-storey building with a Π-shaped ground plan. The lower zone was decorated with relief marble slabs, while the upper zone consisted of alternating rectangular and semicircular niches. The water flowed through carved lion heads. These public spaces and large squares, as well as the squares in front of Our Lady Achiropiitos and the church of Hagia Sophia, which were developed in the 6th century AD, served the Christian rituals of the time. The arcades were richly decorated with mosaics and frescoes. Furthermore, during the excavation, ruins of the 19th century buildings, which were destroyed by the fire of 1917, were discovered. The excavation was carried out gradually, as it was limited by the planning of the construction works of the station. In contrast to the Venizelou metro station, where the removal of the monuments was total, the northern semicircular square is preserved in-situ, while the rest of the antiquities were removed, without provoking the strong reactions, as was the case with the Venizelou station. According to the then head of the ephorate of antiquities in charge, the antiquities of the Venizelou station were a single archaeological unit, while those of the Agias Sofias are fragmentary buildings. For both in-situ conservation and removal/ re-installation works, many studies were carried out by 5 directorates of the Ministry of Culture, in order to achieve optimal coexistence between antiquities and the metro.

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