What I can see

In Agia Sophia Square, we see a sculpture by Elisavet Valvi, which consists of a bronze female figure on a marble base. The woman has a strong expression of pain and next to her, there is a bundle with memories and a few objects she managed to take with her. The bronze relief of the base is also dramatic. A woman mourns a dead man and a woman runs to save herself and her child. On the base is also written “To the martyrs, heroes, fighters of Pontus, the memory is eternal”. The base’s lack of simplicity “cancels” the sculpture and its purpose, making it more decorative and less monumental.

What I can't see

Thessaloniki received a large number of Greek refugees from Pontus (Black Sea). The Pontic Greeks began to be systematically persecuted by the Turks in 1915, but the situation worsened after the landing of the Greek army in Izmir in 1919 and the atrocities it committed in Asia Minor. The estimated number of executed Greeks is not scientifically accurate. Some sources say 100,000-150,000 and others 350,000. The only thing that is certain is that the massacre is a fact and happened at the same time with massacres of other populations in the region, such as the Assyrians and the Armenians, also known as the Armenian Genocide.

Info

• Address: Ermou & Ag. Sophias St.

Bibliography