What I can see

This eclectic oblong building today houses the services of NATO’s 3rd Military Force. It has always been a military space and remains so to this day, therefore free visiting, photography and video recording of its premises are prohibited. It is a two-storey building with a rectangular ground plan, with a three-storey central part in slight projection, as well as its two edges. The entrance is monumental, there is an enclosed balcony above it and it is crowned with a pediment with baroque influences. The facades are organized according to the neoclassical principle: base-main body- crowning and also renaissance and baroque elements are combined.

What I can't see

It was the newest building in a series of military buildings of the Ottoman army, designed by Vitaliano Poselli. There are roof paintings of rare beauty in its interior. The building was built with a fundraiser from the citizens of Thessaloniki at the request of the Turkish governor, because the state could not cover this expense. But why were ancient Greek and European architectural standards applied to an Ottoman military building? At that time, Thessaloniki and the Ottoman Empire as a whole were trying to acquire a more Western profile, with which it would be more systematically integrated into Western capitalism and markets, while the decline of the empire had already begun decades ago in political, economic and social level.

Info

• Address: 1 Stratou Av.

Bibliography