1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Neoclassical architecture
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Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century. In its purest form, it is a style derived from the architecture of classical antiquity, the Vitruvian principles. In form, Neoclassical architecture emphasizes the wall rather than chiaroscuro, Neoclassical architecture is still designed today, but may be labelled New Classical Architecture for contemporary buildings. In Central and Eastern Europe, the style is referred to as Classicism. Many early 19th-century neoclassical architects were influenced by the drawings and projects of Étienne-Louis Boullée, the many graphite drawings of Boullée and his students depict spare geometrical architecture that emulates the eternality of the universe. There are links between Boullées ideas and Edmund Burkes conception of the sublime, the baroque style had never truly been to the English taste. The most popular was the four-volume Vitruvius Britannicus by Colen Campbell, the book contained architectural prints of famous British buildings that had been inspired by the great architects from Vitruvius to Palladio. At first the book featured the work of Inigo Jones. Palladian architecture became well established in 18th-century Britain, at the forefront of the new school of design was the aristocratic architect earl, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, in 1729, he and William Kent, designed Chiswick House. This House was a reinterpretation of Palladios Villa Capra, but purified of 16th century elements and this severe lack of ornamentation was to be a feature of the Palladianism. In 1734 William Kent and Lord Burlington designed one of Englands finest examples of Palladian architecture with Holkham Hall in Norfolk, the main block of this house followed Palladios dictates quite closely, but Palladios low, often detached, wings of farm buildings were elevated in significance. This classicising vein was also detectable, to a degree, in the Late Baroque architecture in Paris. This shift was even visible in Rome at the redesigned façade for S, by the mid 18th century, the movement broadened to incorporate a greater range of Classical influences, including those from Ancient Greece. The shift to neoclassical architecture is conventionally dated to the 1750s, in France, the movement was propelled by a generation of French art students trained in Rome, and was influenced by the writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann. The style was adopted by progressive circles in other countries such as Sweden. A second neoclassic wave, more severe, more studied and more consciously archaeological, is associated with the height of the Napoleonic Empire, in France, the first phase of neoclassicism was expressed in the Louis XVI style, and the second in the styles called Directoire or Empire. The Scottish architect Charles Cameron created palatial Italianate interiors for the German-born Catherine II the Great in St. Petersburg, indoors, neoclassicism made a discovery of the genuine classic interior, inspired by the rediscoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum. These had begun in the late 1740s, but only achieved an audience in the 1760s
3.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
4.
Judaeo-Spanish
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Judaeo-Spanish, commonly referred to as Ladino, is a Romance language derived from Old Spanish. Although it has no status in any country, it has been acknowledged as a minority language in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, France. Furthermore, the language is influenced to a degree by other local languages of the Balkans, such as Greek. Historically, the Rashi script and its cursive form Solitreo have been the main orthographies for writing Judaeo-Spanish, however today, it is mainly written with the Latin alphabet, though some other alphabets such as Hebrew and Cyrillic are still in use. Judaeo-Spanish is known by different names, mostly, Español/Espanyol, Judió/Djudyo, Judesmo/Djudezmo, Sefaradhí/Sefaradi. In Turkey and formerly in the Ottoman Empire, it has been traditionally called Yahudice in Turkish, in Israel, Hebrew speakers usually call the language spanyolit or Ladino. Judaeo-Spanish, once the language of the Adriatic Sea, the Balkans. Most native speakers are elderly and the language is not transmitted to their children or grandchildren for various reasons, in some expatriate communities in Latin America and elsewhere, there is a threat of dialect levelling resulting in extinction by assimilation into modern Spanish. However, it is experiencing a revival among Sephardic communities. In Israel particularly, and in America and Spain, in recent decades the language came to be referred to as Ladino, though some people who actually speak the language consider this use incorrect. The language is also called judeo-espagnol, judeo-español, Sefardí, Judío, the dialect of the Oran area of Algeria was called Tetuani, after the Moroccan town Tétouan, since many Orani Jews came from this city. In Hebrew, the language is called Spanyolit and this information does not reflect the historical usage. The name Judezmo is unknown and offensive to most native speakers, the derivation of the name Ladino is complicated. In pre-Expulsion times in the area today as Spain the word meant literary Spanish as opposed to other dialects. Following the expulsion, Jews spoke of the Ladino to mean the traditional translation of the Bible into archaic Spanish. By extension it came to mean that style of Spanish generally, in the way that Targum has come to mean Judeo-Aramaic. Informally, and especially in modern Israel, many speakers use Ladino to mean Judaeo-Spanish as a whole, the language was formerly regulated by a body called the Autoridad Nasionala del Ladino in Israel. More strictly, however, the term is confined to the used in translation
5.
Museum
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Most large museums are located in major cities throughout the world and more local ones exist in smaller cities, towns and even the countryside. Museums have varying aims, ranging from serving researchers and specialists to serving the general public, the goal of serving researchers is increasingly shifting to serving the general public. There are many types of museums, including art museums, natural history museums, science museums, war museums, the city with the largest number of museums is Mexico City with over 128 museums. According to The World Museum Community, there are more than 55,000 museums in 202 countries, the English museum comes from the Latin word, and is pluralized as museums. The first museum/library is considered to be the one of Plato in Athens, however, Pausanias gives another place called Museum, namely a small hill in Classical Athens opposite to the Akropolis. The hill was called Mouseion after Mousaious, a man who used to sing on the hill, the purpose of modern museums is to collect, preserve, interpret, and display items of artistic, cultural, or scientific significance for the education of the public. The purpose can also depend on ones point of view, to a family looking for entertainment on a Sunday afternoon, a trip to a local history museum or large city art museum could be a fun, and enlightening way to spend the day. To city leaders, a healthy museum community can be seen as a gauge of the health of a city. To a museum professional, a museum might be seen as a way to educate the public about the museums mission, Museums are, above all, storehouses of knowledge. In 1829, James Smithsons bequest, that would fund the Smithsonian Institution, stated he wanted to establish an institution for the increase, Museums of natural history in the late 19th century exemplified the Victorian desire for consumption and for order. Gathering all examples of classification of a field of knowledge for research. As American colleges grew in the 19th century, they developed their own natural history collections for the use of their students, while many large museums, such as the Smithsonian Institution, are still respected as research centers, research is no longer a main purpose of most museums. While there is a debate about the purposes of interpretation of a museums collection, there has been a consistent mission to protect. Much care, expertise, and expense is invested in efforts to retard decomposition in aging documents, artifacts, artworks. All museums display objects that are important to a culture, as historian Steven Conn writes, To see the thing itself, with ones own eyes and in a public place, surrounded by other people having some version of the same experience can be enchanting. Museum purposes vary from institution to institution, some favor education over conservation, or vice versa. For example, in the 1970s, the Canada Science and Technology Museum favored education over preservation of their objects and they displayed objects as well as their functions. One exhibit featured a printing press that a staff member used for visitors to create museum memorabilia
6.
Thessaloniki
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Its nickname is η Συμπρωτεύουσα, literally the co-capital, a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα or co-reigning city of the Eastern Roman Empire, alongside Constantinople. The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general, Thessaloniki was the 2014 European Youth Capital. The city of Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, an important metropolis by the Roman period, Thessaloniki was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire. It was conquered by the Ottomans in 1430, and passed from the Ottoman Empire to modern Greece on November 8,1912, the citys main university, Aristotle University, is the largest in Greece and the Balkans. Thessaloniki is a popular tourist destination in Greece, among street photographers, the center of Thessaloniki is also considered the most popular destination for street photography in Greece. All variations of the name derive from the original appellation in Ancient Greek, i. e. Θεσσαλονίκη. The alternative name Salonica derives from the variant form Σαλονίκη in colloquial Greek speech, in local speech, the citys name is typically pronounced with a dark and deep L characteristic of Macedonian Greek accent. The name often appears in writing in the abbreviated form Θεσ/νίκη, the city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and 26 other local villages. He named it after his wife Thessalonike, a half-sister of Alexander the Great, under the kingdom of Macedon the city retained its own autonomy and parliament and evolved to become the most important city in Macedon. After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, the city later became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia. Later it became the capital of all the Greek provinces of the Roman Empire because of the importance in the Balkan peninsula. At the time of the Roman Empire, about 50 A. D. Later, Paul wrote two letters to the new church at Thessaloniki, preserved in the Biblical canon as First and Second Thessalonians. Some scholars hold that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians is the first written book of the New Testament, in 306 AD, Thessaloniki acquired a patron saint, St. Demetrius, a native of Thessalonica whom Galerius put to death. A basilical church was first built in the 5th century AD dedicated to St. Demetrius, in 379, when the Roman Prefecture of Illyricum was divided between the East and West Roman Empires, Thessaloniki became the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum. In 390, Gothic troops under the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, led a massacre against the inhabitants of Thessalonica, by the time of the Fall of Rome in 476, Thessaloniki was the second-largest city of the Eastern Roman Empire. From the first years of the Byzantine Empire, Thessaloniki was considered the city in the Empire after Constantinople. With a population of 150,000 in the mid-12th century, the city held this status until its transfer to Venetian control in 1423. In the 14th century, the population exceeded 100,000 to 150,000
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Central Macedonia
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Central Macedonia is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece, consisting of the central part of the geographical and historical region of Macedonia. With a population of almost 1.9 million, it is the second most populous in Greece after Attica, the region was established in the 1987 administrative reform. With the 2010 Kallikratis plan, its powers and authority were redefined and extended, along with East Macedonia and Thrace, it is supervised by the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace, based in Thessaloniki. The region is based at its capital city of Thessaloniki and is divided into seven units, Chalkidiki, Imathia, Kilkis, Pella, Pieria, Serres. These are further subdivided into 38 municipalities, although geographically part of central Macedonia, Mount Athos is not administratively part of the region, but an autonomous self-governing state under the sovereignity of Greece. Central Macedonia is Greeces most visited region and accounts for 18. 2% of the total tourist flow in the country, with 3.21 million tourists in 2008. In 2011, the GDP per capita of Central Macedonia was €14,400, marking a 9th place of the 13 regions of Greece, alexandria Aridaea Edessa Giannitsa Katerini Kilkis Koufalia Litochoro Naoussa Nea Kallikratia Nea Moudania Polygyros Polykastro Serres Thessaloniki Veria Official website
8.
Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
9.
Sephardi Jews
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They established communities throughout Spain and Portugal, where they traditionally resided, evolving what would become their distinctive characteristics and diasporic identity. Spoken by Sephardim in the Eastern Mediterranean, Haketia, an Arabic influenced Judaeo-Spanish variety also derived from Old Spanish, with numerous Hebrew and Aramaic terms. Taken with them in the 15th century after the expulsion from Spain in 1492, Early Modern Spanish and Early Modern Portuguese, including in a mixture of the two. Traditionally spoken or used liturgically by the ex-converso Western Sephardim, taken with them during their later migration out of Iberia in the 16th to 18th centuries as conversos, after which they reverted to Judaism. In most cases these varieties have incorporated loanwords from the languages of the Americas introduced following the Spanish conquest. This article deals with Sephardim within the narrower ethnic definition, the name Sephardi means Spanish or Hispanic, derived from Sepharad, a Biblical location. The location of the biblical Sepharad is disputed, but Sepharad was identified by later Jews as Hispania, that is, Sepharad still means Spain in modern Hebrew. In its most basic form, this broad definition of a Sephardi refers to any Jew, of any ethnic background. The term Sephardi in the sense, thus describes the nusach used by Sephardi Jews in their Siddur. A nusach is defined by a liturgical traditions choice of prayers, order of prayers, text of prayers, Sephardim traditionally pray using Minhag Sefarad. Additionally, Ethiopian Jews, whose branch of practiced Judaism is known as Haymanot, have come under the umbrella of Israels already broad Sephardic Chief Rabbinate. The divisions among Sephardim and their descendants today is largely a result of the consequences of the Royal edicts of expulsion. In the case of the Alhambra Decree of 1492, the purpose was to eliminate their influence on Spains large converso population. Indeed, a number of those Jews who had not yet joined the converso community finally chose to convert. While the stipulations were similar in the Portuguese decree, King Manuel then largely prevented Portugals Jews from leaving, by blocking Portugals ports of exit. This failure to leave Portugal was then reasoned by the king to signify a default acceptance of Catholicism by the Jews, actual physical forced conversions, however, were also experienced throughout Portugal. Sephardi Jews, therefore, encompass Jews descended from those Jews who left the Iberian Peninsula as Jews by the expiration of the respective decreed deadlines. This group is divided between those who fled south to North Africa, as opposed to those who fled eastwards to the Balkans, West Asia
10.
Vitaliano Poselli
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Vitaliano Poselli was an Italian architect from Sicily, mostly known for his work in the city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece. He was born in Castiglione di Sicilia in 1838, and studied in Rome, in 1867, the Catholic Church ordered him the construction of the Church of Saint Stephen in Constantinople. From there, the Ottoman government sent him to Thessaloniki, where he built some of the most important public edifices of the city, in 1888 he was married and established his residence there. The foreign missions and representatives, such as merchants of the city, assigned him also the creation of various communal. Many of his descendants live in the city. Mark Mazower, Θεσσαλονίκη, Πόλη των Φαντασμάτων, εκδόσεις Αλεξάνδρια,2006, ISBN 960-221-354-X
11.
Evangelos Venizelos
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Evangelos Venizelos is a Greek politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Greece and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 25 June 2013 to 27 January 2015. Previously, he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of Greece from 17 June 2011 to 21 March 2012 and he is a member of the Hellenic Parliament for the Panhellenic Socialist Movement for the first electoral district of Thessaloniki. He is a Professor of Constitutional Law at the Law School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. On 18 March 2012, Venizelos was elected unopposed to replace George Papandreou as PASOK president, Evangelos Venizelos was born in Thessaloniki on 1 January 1957. He is unrelated to his famous namesake, Eleftherios Venizelos and he is married to Lila A. Bakatselou and has a daughter. He was an undergraduate at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki from 1974 through 1978, in 1980, he received his Ph. D. in Law from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. In 1984, Venizelos was appointed lecturer at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, among other positions, he has held a post on the board of the National Centre of Public Administration, the National Bank of Greece, and the Committee for Local Radio. He became a figure in 1989, when he successfully defended Andreas Papandreou from corruption allegations. During the trial, Venizelos demonstrated his gift of oratory. Other writings have dealt with current political issues and the media, foreign policy and his recent works focus more on political theory and cultural issues. He strongly opposes the clash of civilizations theory, and has written extensively about the Greek civilization of civilizations, Venizelos was elected as a PASOK MP in the Thessaloniki A constituency in the general elections of 1993,1996,2000,2004,2007 and 2009. He was also a member of the Standing Committees on National Defence and Foreign Affairs, on Public Administration, Public Order and Justice and on European Affairs. As a student, Venizelos served on the Central Council of the Student Union of the University of Thessaloniki in 1977, and he has been a member of the PASOK Central Committee since 1990. In the past he was a member of the PASOK Executive Bureau, after the legislative elections of 2007, in which PASOK was soundly defeated, Venizelos announced his candidacy for the leadership of the party. In the leadership election, held on 11 November 2007, Venizelos was defeated by incumbent party leader George Papandreou, and obody knows whether the burly new Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos will put in a starring role or turn out merely as a transitory figure. Dramoulis maintained that Venizelos motivation was to gain nationalist votes in his Thessaloniki constituency, the requirement was to submit a declaration that they unreservedly respected the 1975 Constitution and accepted and recognised the Hellenic Republic. The columnist termed it a silly precondition – reminiscent of the declarations of repentance that Greek leftists were obliged to sign under pressure during the civil war and after. Ultimately, the law proved irrelevant once Greece signed the Schengen Agreement allowing the ex-king to travel to Greece via Italy without having to pass through Greek immigration
12.
History of the Jews in Thessaloniki
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The history of the Jews of Thessaloniki, reaches back two thousand years. The city of Thessaloniki housed a major Jewish community, mostly Eastern Sephardim and it is the only known example of a city of this size in the Jewish diaspora that retained a Jewish majority for centuries. Sephardic Jews immigrated to the city following their expulsion from Spain by Christian rulers under the Alhambra Decree in 1492 and this community influenced the Sephardic world both culturally and economically, and the city was nicknamed la madre de Israel. The community experienced a golden age in the 16th century, when they developed a culture in the city. Like other groups in the Ottoman Empire, they continued to practice traditional culture during the time when western Europe was undergoing industrialization, after Greece achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire, it made Jews full citizens of the country in the 1920s. During World War II, the Germans occupied Greece in 1941, in 1943 they forced the Jews in Thessaloniki into a ghetto near the rail lines, and started deporting them to concentration camps and labor camps, where most of the 60,000 deported died. This resulted in the near-extermination of the community, only 1200 Jews live in the city today. Paul of Tarsus First Epistle to the Thessalonians mentions Hellenized Jews in the city about 52 CE, in the upper part of the city, there is the suburb of Agios Pavlos, where it is believed Paul taught during his visit to the local Jews. However, researchers have not determined yet where the first Jews lived in the city, in 1170, Benjamin of Tudela reported that there were 500 Jews in Thessaloniki. In the following centuries, the native Romaniote community was joined by some Italian, a small Jewish population lived here during the Byzantine period, but it left virtually no trace in documents or archeological artifacts. In 1430, the start of Ottoman domination, the Jewish population was still small, the Ottomans used population transfers within the empire following military conquests to achieve goals of border security or repopulation, they called it Sürgün. Following the fall of Constantinople in 1453, an example of sürgün was the Ottomans forcing Jews from the Balkans and Anatolia to relocate there, at the time, few Jews were left in Salonika, none were recorded in the Ottoman census of 1478. In 1492, the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain Isabella I and Ferdinand II, many immigrated to Salonica, sometimes after a stop in Portugal or Italy. The Ottoman Empire granted protection to Jews as dhimmis and encouraged the newcomers to settle in its territories, according to the historians Rosamond McKitterick and Christopher Allmand, the Empires invitation to the expelled Jews was a demographic strategy to prevent ethnic Greeks from dominating the city. The first Sephardim came in 1492 from Majorca and they were repentant returnees to Judaism after earlier forced conversion to Catholicism. In 1493, Castilians and Sicilians joined them, in subsequent years, other Jews came from those lands and also from Aragon, Naples, Venice and Provence. Later, in 1540 and 1560, Jews from Portugal sought refuge in Salonika in response to the persecution of the marranos. In addition to these Sephardim, a few Ashkenazim arrived from Austria, Transylvania and they were sometimes forcibly relocated under the Ottoman policy of sürgün, following the conquest of land by Suleiman the Magnificent beginning in 1526
13.
History of the Jews in Greece
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Jews have been present in Greece since at least the fourth century BC. The oldest and the most characteristic Jewish group that has inhabited Greece are the Romaniotes, however, the term Greek Jew is predominantly used for any person of Jewish descent or faith that lives in or originates from the modern region of Greece. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, a percentage of the surviving community emigrated to Israel or the United States. Currently the Jewish community of Greece makes great efforts to establish a Holocaust museum in the country, a permanent pavilion about the Holocaust of Greek Jews in KZ Auschwitz shall be installed. Most Jews in Greece are Sephardim, but Greece is also the home of the unique Romaniote culture, besides the Sephardim and the Romaniotes, some Northern-Italian, Sicilian, Apulian, Provençal, Mizrachi and small Ashkenazi communities have existed as well, in Thessaloniki and elsewhere. All these communities had not only their own custom, they also had their own siddurim printed for the congregations in Greece, the large variety of Jewish customs in Greece was unique. Romaniote Jews have lived in the territory of todays Greece for more than 2000 years and their historic language was Yevanic, a dialect of the Greek language, but Yevanic has no surviving speakers recorded, todays Greek Romaniotes speak Greek. Large communities were located in Ioannina, Thebes, Chalcis, Corfu, Arta, Corinth and on the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Rhodes, and Cyprus, among others. The Romaniotes are historically distinct from the Sephardim, some of whom settled in Greece after the 1492 expulsion of the Jews from Spain. All but a number of the Romaniotes of Ioannina, the largest remaining Romaniote community not assimilated into Sephardic culture, were killed in the Holocaust. Ioannina today has 35 living Romaniotes, the majority of the Jews in Greece are Sephardim whose ancestors had left Spain, Portugal and Italy. They largely settled in such as Thessaloniki, the city which was to be named Mother of Israel in the years to come. The Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture calls Thessalonikis Sephardic community indisputably one of the most important ones in the world, the first recorded mention of Judaism in Greece dates from 300-250 BCE on the island of Rhodes. In the 2nd century BCE, Hyrcanus, a leader in the Jewish community of Athens, was honoured by the raising of a statue in the agora. According to Josephus, an earlier mention of a Hellenized Jew by a Greek writer was to be found in the work De Somno by the Greek historian Clearchus of Soli. Here Clearchus describes the meeting between Aristotle and a Jew in Asia Minor, who was fluent in Greek language and thought, Well, said Aristotle and these Jews were derived from the Indian philosophers, and were called by the Indians Kalani. Now this man, who entertained a circle of friends and was on his way from the interior to the coast. During my stay in Asia, he visited the places as I did
14.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
15.
Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki
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The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is a museum in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. It holds and interprets artifacts from the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods, mostly from the city of Thessaloniki, the museum is housed in a building designed by architect Patroklos Karantinos and is an example of the modern architectural trends of Greece. Built in 1962, the museum had a new wing added to it in 1980, in which the findings from Vergina were displayed, in 2001 and 2004, in the run-up to the 2004 Athens Olympics, the museum was extensively renovated and its permanent exhibits reorganized. The central rooms hold exhibits from the excavations conducted in Thessaloniki. At present, the collection of Archaic to Late Roman sculptures from Thessaloniki and they illustrate the history of Thessaloniki from prehistoric times to Late Antiquity. Apart from its permanent displays, the Archaeological Museum also hosts major temporary, a showcase in the lobby of the museum displays some finds from the excavation of the Neolithic settlement at Makrygialos in Pieria, accompanied by information about the progress of the excavation. In the new wing, the The Gold of Macedon exhibition includes finds from excavations in Central Macedonia. There are also finds from cemeteries, and their role in burial customs is described. The Thessaloniki in Prehistory exhibition aims to recreate a picture of the Thermaic Gulf littoral before the city of Thessaloniki was built. On 26 February 2010, Greek authorities arrested two men found in possession of various antiquities, including a bronze statue of Alexander. If confirmed, this would make it the first original work of Lysippos ever discovered, the statue is currently being examined at the laboratory of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, which is expected to confirm or deny its authenticity
16.
Museum of Plaster Casts (Thessaloniki)
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The Museum of Plaster Casts occupies two rooms in the basement of the new building of the School of Philosophy of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in Central Macedonia, Greece. The museum houses a collection of casts, replicas and original archaeological artifacts. The collection dates from the time of the Universitys founding and is due to K. Romaio, the collection of plaster casts of marble and clay originals and replicas of works of art in metal is the finest in Greece. It brings Archaeological Department students into contact with the ancient Greek and Roman art of production, as well as ceramics. Room A holds replicas of works from archaic and classical times, room B exhibits works from Hellenistic and Roman times
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Hagios Demetrios
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It is part of the site Palaeochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO since 1988. The first church on the spot was constructed in the early 4th century AD, a century later, a prefect named Leontios replaced the small oratory with a larger, three-aisled basilica. Repeatedly gutted by fires, the church eventually was reconstructed as a basilica in 629–634. This was the form of the church much as it is today. The most important shrine in the city, it was larger than the local cathedral. The historic location of the latter is now unknown, the church had an unusual shrine called the ciborium, a hexagonal, roofed structure at one side of the nave. It was made of or covered with silver, the structure had doors and inside was a couch or bed. Unusually, it did not hold any physical relics of the saint, the ciborium seems to have been a symbolic tomb. It was rebuilt at least once, the basilica is famous for six extant mosaic panels, dated to the period between the latest reconstruction and the inauguration of the Iconoclastic policies in 730. These mosaics, depicting St. Demetrius with officials responsible for the restoration and with children, an inscription below one of the images glorifies heaven for saving the people of Saloniki from a pagan Slavic raid in 612. It also destroyed the roof and upper walls of the church, black-and-white photographs and good watercolour versions give an idea of the early Byzantine craftsmanship lost during the fire. Following the Great Fire of 1917, it took decades to restore the church, archeological excavations conducted in the 1930s and 1940s revealed interesting artifacts that may be seen in a museum situated inside the churchs crypt. The excavations also uncovered the ruins of a Roman bath, where St. Demetrius was said to have been held prisoner, a Roman well was also discovered. Scholars believe this is where soldiers dropped the body of St. Demetrius after his execution, after restoration, the church was reconsecrated in 1949. Underneath the Church of St Demetrios is the place where St Demetrios, as the level of the ground gradually rose over the centuries, this area acquired the form of a crypt. According both to tradition and to archaeological findings, it was an old bathhouse, in which Demetrios was imprisoned and eventually martyred in 303 AD. In the 5th century, when the first Church of St Demetrios was built, the site of his martyrdom was incorporated into the church and the fountain was converted into a source of holy water. In the years followed, the fountain acquired basins, from which the faithful could collect myron
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Museum of Byzantine Culture
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The Museum of Byzantine Culture is a museum in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece, which opened in 1994. To design the museum, an architectural competition was announced in 1977. The competition was won by the entry of Kyriakos Krokos. Construction of the began in March 1989, and was completed in October 1993. The museum finally opened on 11 September 1994, opening in 1994, the museum currently has three permanent exhibitions. The first, Early Christian Churches, focuses on the design, beginning in 1998, the museum has run educational programmes for schoolchildren. In 2005, the museum was awarded the Council of Europes Museum Prize, official website of the Museum Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism Museums of Macedonia www. hri. org
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White Tower of Thessaloniki
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The White Tower of Thessaloniki is a monument and museum on the waterfront of the city of Thessaloniki, capital of the region of Macedonia in northern Greece. The tower became a prison and scene of mass executions during the period of Ottoman rule. The White Tower was substantially remodeled and its exterior was whitewashed after Greece gained control of the city in 1912 and it has been adopted as the symbol of the city. The White Tower takes the form of a cylindrical drum 23 m in diameter with a height of 34 m above ground level, on top of which is a turret 12 m in diameter and 6 m high. Some of the embrasures in the wall of the tower are reached by a spiral ramp. The turret houses a platform with a diameter of 10 m, the tower, which once guarded the eastern end of the citys sea walls, was for many years attributed to Venice, to which the Byzantines ceded Thessaloniki in 1423. It is now known that the tower was constructed by the Ottomans sometime after the army of Sultan Murad II captured Thessaloniki in 1430, until 1912, an inscription in Ottoman Turkish verse above the door dated the structure to AH942. The present tower likely replaced an older Byzantine tower mentioned by the 12th-century archbishop Eustathius of Thessalonica during the sack of the city in 1185, the Ottoman-built structure itself has been altered substantially over the years. Early illustrations show that it was covered by a conical roof, like similar towers in the Yedikule Fortress. Until its demolition in 1917, a chemise stood at the foot of the tower, supporting the heavy guns, octagonal turrets on the chemise and caponiers at ground level provided flanking fire around the tower. It is unclear whether the chemise was part of the scheme for the tower or was a later addition. The tower was for part of the walls of the old city of Thessaloniki, separating the Jewish quarter of the city from the cemeteries of the Muslims. The city walls were demolished in 1866, the Tower was used by the Ottomans successively as a fortress, garrison and a prison. In 1826, at the order of the Sultan Mahmud II, owing to the countless victims of Ottoman torturers and executioners, the tower acquired the name Tower of Blood or Red Tower, a name which it kept until the end of the 19th century. King George I of Greece was assassinated not far from the White Tower in March 1913, the Tower is now a buff colour but has retained the name White Tower. It now stands on Thessalonikis waterfront boulevard, Nikis Street and it houses a museum dedicated to the history of Thessaloniki and is one of the citys leading tourist attractions. The White Tower houses a dedicated to the city of Thessaloniki and its history throughout various periods. It is under the administration of the Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities of the Greek Ministry of Culture, school excursions may be arranged by contacting the Byzantine Museum
20.
Balkan Wars Museum
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The Balkan Wars Museum is a museum in Gefyra, Central Macedonia, Greece, dedicated to the Balkan Wars. The museum was founded on 26 October 1999 and it occupies a two-storey building, built at the end of the nineteenth century near the entrance to the village. It is known as the Villa Topsin and it was here that the negotiations between the Greeks and Ottoman forces were held when Thessaloniki was surrendered to the Greek army in October 1912. All the furniture in the museum is authentic and has been supplemented by furniture which the army had kept in storage. The room in which Commander-in-Chief Crown Prince Constantine spent the night all the furniture which he actually used. The exhibits consist of photographs and lithographs of the wars of 1912-13 and they depict scenes from the Battle of Kilkis-Lahanas during the Second Balkan War
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Museum for the Macedonian Struggle (Thessaloniki)
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The Museum for the Macedonian Struggle is located in the centre of the city Thessaloniki in Central Macedonia, Greece. It occupies a building designed by the renowned architect Ernst Ziller. In its six ground-floor rooms the museum illustrates the modern. It presents the social, economic, political and military developments that shaped the presence of Hellenism in the region, on 23 August 1890, a huge fire destroyed the southeastern quarters of Thessaloniki. Among the losses was the residence that housed the Consulate General of Greece It was next to a little-known church of St. Demetrius. Both buildings and the site were the property of the Greek Orthodox Community, soon, with the insurance money, the donation by Andreas Syngros and the help offered by the Greek government, a sufficient amount was collected to reconstruct the buildings of the Greek community. Among them was a new church dedicated to Saint Gregory Palamas and beside it a magnificent neoclassical residence was built to plans by Ernst Ziller, the foundations were laid in September 1892, and work was completed in August 1893. In 1894, it was rented by the city’s Greek community to the Hellenic state to house the Greek Consulate in Thessaloniki. The term of office of Lambros Koromilas was of importance because he organised the special secret services for the Greek Struggle for Macedonia within the consulates. The “Center” in Thessaloniki collaborated with the other “centers” in Macedonia and it was staffed mainly by officers, who were in contact with local agents and armed bands. They were also in communication with the committees that were staffed by the inhabitants of Macedonian villages and cities. The Consulate building frequently hosted fighters who entered unnoticed through a door into the courtyard of the neighboring episcopal residence. The importance of the work done by the Greek Consulate at that time is corroborated by the testimony of the protagonists in the Macedonian Struggle. The General Konstantinos Mazarakis-Ainian, then working as a “special clerk” at the consulate, reports in his memoirs, from morning to midnight I was at work there. I met people coming in from the countryside, a little door in the courtyard communicated with the Cathedral. From there they were able to escape the eyes of the Turkish sentry in front of the Consulate and my sister, a primary school teacher, would pick them up from him and bring them home… Then we’d take them to the Greek Consulate…”. The successful activity of Lambros Koromilas alarmed the Ottoman authorities who demanded his departure in 1907, in the years to follow, however, the “Center” continued its task. The Balkan Wars brought victory to Greece and led to the union of Macedonia with Greece, since the consular service was no longer required, the building was thereafter utilized for other purposes
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Natural History Museum (Thessaloniki)
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The Natural History Museum in Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece is in the grounds of the Zoo on Kedrinos Hill in the Hilia Dendra district. It opened in 1994, its purpose being to show the public the various species of fauna in Greece, all the animals and birds are displayed in natural attitudes and are in themed groups. Inside the museum, the guide shows visitors a variety of birds, mammals, skeletons, bones, reptiles. The first showcase shows the fauna of the Axios delta, an area which is protected by international conventions and has a similar to that of the River Evros. The area is home to waterbirds and numerous animals, even jackals, in the second showcase we see the wildlife on a typical mountain in Macedonia, particularly as it takes shape at different altitudes between 100 m and 1,000 m above sea level. The display includes the homes of animals and a number of birds, in the third showcase are rocks from the Cyclades, while the fourth displays the raptors of Greece, both nocturnal and diurnal. In the fifth and sixth showcases, visitors can see the reptiles of Greece, the seventh showcase portrays the food chain, showing a pine marten hunting a squirrel, a snake catching a mink, a mink catching a lizard, and a fox hunting water rats. From the skeletons on display it is possible to determine the age and the sex of each animal and whether or not it suffered from certain diseases
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War Museum of Thessaloniki
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The War Museum of Thessaloniki is a military museum in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. Thessaloniki War Museum opened in October 2000 and it is housed in the building designed by architect Vitaliano Posseli and erected between 1900 and 1902. The museum’s mission is to act as a base in Northern Greece for events organized by the War Museum in Athens and to preserve historical memory. The permanent collections show events which were a watershed in Modern Greek history from the turn of the 20th century to the liberation of Greece from German forces at the end of World War II. In addition to exhibition spaces, the War Museum has an amphitheatre, furthermore, all Ministry of Defence, Department of Military History and War Museum publications are on sale at the museum shop. Museums of Macedonia, Greece — War Museum Media related to Thessaloniki War Museum at Wikimedia Commons
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Art Gallery of the Society for Macedonian Studies
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Founded in 1975, the Art Gallery of the Society for Macedonian Studies is a museum in Thessaloniki, Greece. It was the first organised visual art institution in the city of Thessaloniki, its purpose being to promote and disseminate modern Greek art and it occupies the top floor of the building that also houses the State Theatre of Northern Greece. The building was designed by the architect Vassilis Kassandras and stands directly opposite the White Tower on the sea-front, works by foreign artists are selected by virtue of their connection with the city, i. e. they depict monuments or landscapes of Thessaloniki. Most of the artwork has been donated, some purchased, early in 1999, it was augmented by works from the Papanakos Collection. The gallery extends its interest to organizing solo and group periodic exhibitions to promote contemporary art.0 license
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Cinema Museum of Thessaloniki
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The Cinema Museum of Thessaloniki is a museum in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. It was founded in 1995 following a decision by the Organization for Thessaloniki, today it is part of the Thessaloniki Film Festival with its own management committee. It is housed in Warehouse 1, a building on quay 1 in the harbour. The museum’s mission is to gather, preserve and display as museum items from the life of the cinema in Greece. Setting up the museum became feasible following the purchase of the collection of the Thessaloniki cinematographer Nikos Bililis. Exhibits include machinery, i. e. cine-cameras and projectors, old pieces of equipment and attachments, cinema-film developing tanks, lenses. In the cinema archive visitors and researchers alike can find information about the cinema in Greece from 1985 and this includes information about film festivals, public showings of films in Greek cinemas, and biographical data on directors and actors etc. Similar work covering the period from 1926 to 1985 is now approaching completion, the museum provides organized tours and shows excerpts of films in a room specially designed for this purpose. Official website Museums of Macedonia web site
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Design Museum of Thessaloniki
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Design Museum of Thessaloniki is a design museum in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. It collects items of industrial and graphic design, the Museum of Design was founded in 1993. It came about as a result of Stergios Delialis’ love of industrial design, until 1997 it was housed in ground floor premises on Mitropoleos Street. Today it is searching for a permanent home, even so it remains active with exhibitions abroad, film shows and lectures. It is the first place in Greece with an approach to design. The core of the museum is its permanent collection of 2,000 objects representing industrial design in the 20th century, classified according to subject matter the collection attempts to illustrate developments in perception, use, form, aesthetics and technology in the products of industrial design. There is also a library of 5000 books, plus magazines and catalogues on the subject of design
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Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art
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Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art is a contemporary art museum in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. The Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art Thessaloniki was founded in 1979 by a group of citizens of Thessaloniki. Iola’s response was immediate –“Oh yes, no hospitals and orphanages. The gesture made by Alexandros Iolas, the Museum’s first great benefactor, in addition to our gratitude to all the artist-donors who have thus supported the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, we wish to express our immense appreciation of their work. The formal and conceptual qualities of their work succeed in establishing a relation with the young students through the Museum’s educational programmes. Thus, the message is conveyed to the young people promoting their cultural awareness. The MMCA has published more than fifty bilingual catalogues to accompany solo, the MMCA organises educational programmes relating to its temporary exhibitions and permanent display, and also devises programmes for other visual arts institutions. With the help of museum educationalists, tens of thousands of children have enjoyed learning about art and it also offers guided tours and, in the framework of EU programmes, collaborates with other museums with a view to devising educational programmes for adults
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Municipal Art Gallery (Thessaloniki)
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The Municipal Art Gallery of the Municipality of Thessaloniki in Central Macedonia, Greece was founded in 1966 as an offshoot of the Municipal Library. Since 2013 it is housed in Villa Bianca, also on Vassilissis Olgas Avenue and it also uses the Makridis Room near the Posidonio sports centre on the sea front and the old Archaeological Museum as permanent exhibition spaces. The gallery organises regular exhibitions of Greek artists, produces publications, has a specialised library-cum-reading-room. Since 1986 it has held 55 exhibitions of Greek and foreign artists, one of its aims is to jointly organise exhibitions with major visual arts institutions in Greece and abroad. Thus it has presented such artists as Max Ernst and Nikos Engonopoulos, Theofilos Hatzimichail, and, for the first time in Greece, the works of Nikolaos Gyzis owned by his family. The latter include drawings and oil paintings from Gyzis’s travels in Greece, Asia Minor, and Germany, family portraits and scenes, allegorical subjects, genre paintings, and still lives
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State Museum of Contemporary Art
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The Thessaloniki State Museum of Contemporary Art is a state museum based in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. It was founded in 1997, at the occasion of Thessalonikis year as European Capital of Culture and it is housed in the renovated building of the old Lazariston Monastery in the Borough of Stavroupoulis in west Thessaloniki. The museum was established by a law passed in the Greek Parliament by then Greek Minister of Culture and its initial collection was formed by a large part of the famous Costakis Collection, acquired by the Greek state. It contains around 1,275 works of Russian avant-garde art consisting of paintings, sculptures, drawings, the first director of the SMCA was the Aristotle University Professor Miltiadis Papanikolaou, who remained in the position until 2006. Dr. Maria Tsantsanoglou, a specialist in the Russian Avant-Garde period, was appointed the director of the State Museum of Contemporary Art. As well as maintaining its permanent collection, the museum organizes periodic exhibitions. However, the pride and joy of the State Museum of Contemporary Art is the works in the Kostaki collection, which was bought by the Greek State on 31 March 2000 for 14,200,000,000 drachmas. This collection consists of 1,275 works of art The works are by well-known, avant-garde Russian artists like K. Malevich, V. Tatlin, V. Kandinsky, Lissitzky, and L. Popova, among others. The West became familiar with the Kostaki collection through exhibitions in Düsseldorf, New York and Athens. There are over a hundred works of art on display in the permanent exhibition, they are the pride of the collection and are by such as K. Malevich, V. Tatlin, V. Kandinsky. Lissitsky, L. Popova, O. Rozanova, N. Udaltsova, A. Rodchenko, S. Nikritin, chashnik, K. Ender, A. Drevin, I. Kudriashev, A. Sofronova, and K. Vialov and they are the best works in the collection and refer to important personages, avant-garde movements and artistic tendencies. Notable among them are ‘The Chapel of the Heavenly Stairway’ by Stylianos Antonakos, ‘Gridlock’ by Chris Giannakos and ‘Group of Four Faces’ by Joannis Avramidis, as well as maintaining its permanent collection, the museum also organizes periodic exhibitions. ‘LIGHT in Art’, ‘BLACK in art’, an exhibition based on works by Malevic. The exhibitions ‘Composition and Constructions’ which will refer to international constructivism and these exhibitions will be held in Warehouse B1 on quay one in the city harbour, which functions as the State Museum of Contemporary Art periodic exhibition space. The Museum of Photography and the Centre of Contemporary Art are self-contained departments of the museum, El Lissitzky Kazimir Malevich Wassily Kandinsky Alexander Rodchenko Lyubov Popova Vladimir Tatlin Olga Rozanova Official website
30.
Teloglion Fine Arts Foundation
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The Teloglion Foundation of Art was established in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece in 1972. It was named after Nestor and Aliki Telloglou, who donated their art collection, later the University established this foundation in order to house the art collection and make it available to the public. The Teloglion Foundation of Art is an organisation whose main mission is to familiarize the public with art and culture and to support research. Furthermore, the Foundation organizes many conferences and seminars, supporting in this way the cooperation with similar institutions in Greece. Its large collection comes from donations of individuals and contains numerous artworks mainly of Greek artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. Since December 1999, the Foundation has been installed in a building at the upper part of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki campus. The design of building was the result of an architectural contest. Nestors and Alikis Telloglou donation is the core of the art collection. The main body of the collection works of art by important Greek. Later the collection was enriched with donations from artists and art lovers such as Tonis and Ioanna Spiteris, Demetrios Tsamis. Finally, the collection includes the monumental work of art The World of Cyprus which is permanently exhibited in the museum. The Teloglion Foundation of Art is housed in a 6,500 square meter building located at the side of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki campus. The building is surrounded by a 24,000 square meter forest and it is thought to be one of the most beautiful and best designed buildings of Thessaloniki. The exhibition area covers three floors and a area of 2,500 square meters. It is subdivided into smaller independent areas and a number of auxiliary rooms. The amphitheater holds 230 seats and is equipped with advanced megaphone installations, the Teloglion Foundation of art is a non-profit organization, supervised by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Furthermore, the museum employs researchers, curators and a support team
31.
Railway Museum of Thessaloniki
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The Railway Museum of Thessaloniki is a museum in Eleftherio-Kordelio, a municipality of the city of Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. It was founded in 2001 and is housed in the old Military Railway Station A of the Thessaloniki-Constantinople Railway and this historic station was built in 1891–1894 by the Italian architect Pierro Arigoni. The museum is home to some of the furnishings from the carriages of the former Greek royal family. In the museum there is a restaurant carriage from the renowned Orient Express. There are plans to put fifteen old OSE engines on display in front of the museum, as from the summer of 2002 young friends of the railway can travel to the museum on the children’s train which departs from the new railway station of Thessaloniki. The museum is open every Wednesday and Thursday between 10am and 13am, excluding public holidays, photography is allowed only by advance arrangement. The rolling stock includes, A SEK Class Ζα 4-6-0 steam locomotive. Two SEK Class Δα 0-6-0T steam locomotives A luxury restaurant car used with the Orient Express trains A railway crane and an oil-tank car of Piraeus-Demerli-Frontier railway Museum web site
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Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum
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Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum is located at the outskirts of Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. The museum’s main objective is to offer to the public an environment that facilitates the familiarization with, the foundation is also actively engaged in the protection of the Greek Technological Heritage. Elena Paparizou, a Greek pop singer, filmed part of a videoclip for her song Number One, NOESIS was founded in 1978 as a cultural and educational non-profit organization. In 1998, the museum initiated a project aimed at the construction of a new facility. The project was completed successfully and the new foundation Thessaloniki Science Center, the project had a total budget of approximately €29 million and was co-funded by the European Union, the EEA – EFTA States and the Greek government. It was designed by French architect Denis Laming, the museum currently features many exhibits, including Technology of Transportation, featuring antique car models that mark the history of automobiles
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Water Supply Museum
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The Water Supply Museum is a museum in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. It is located in the Sfageion area near the western entry point. The museum began operating in February 2001 and it is housed in the historical building known as the Old Pump House belonging to the Thessaloniki Water Supply and Sewage Company. The museum has two halls where motor-machinery and electricity generators, old electricity circuit switchboards and huge pumping units are on display, the first one used to be the boiler room and had two steam-powered units which were used to pump water from 1892 until 1929. In this hall there is a display showing how steam was produced to drive the steam engines in the pump house. In the second hall are the pumps, the first and second generation diesel engines, and the BRUSH electricity generators, all the machinery is authentic, has been maintained and is in good working order. In fact, one of the machines is open at the side so that visitors can see what happens inside it when it is working, in the rest of the building there are displays of old components, measuring instruments for the water-supply network and tools used by repair teams. E. Y. A. Th Official site Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism www. museumsofmacedonia. gr wikimapia. org
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Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
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The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is the sixth oldest and among the most highly ranked tertiary education institutions in Greece. It is named after the philosopher Aristotle, who was born in Stageira and it is the largest university in Greece and in the Balkans. Its campus covers 230,000 square metres in the centre of Thessaloniki, with additional educational, as of 2014, there is a student population of approximately 40,000 active students enrolled at the university and 2,366 faculty members. There are additionally 248 members of the Special Laboratory Teaching Personnel,213 members of the Special Technical Laboratory Personnel, the administrative staff consists of 400 permanent employees and 528 subcontractor employees that are contracted by the university. The language of instruction is Greek, although there are programs in languages and courses for international students, which are carried out in English, French, German. The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki was founded in 1925 during the premiership of Alexandros Papanastassiou and was legislated under Law 3341/14-6-25 and it was the second Greek university to be founded after the University of Athens, which was established in 1837. The university was built on top of the remains of what had once been the Jewish cemetery in Thessaloniki, however, Smyrni was not part of Greece at the time and the plans fell through after the outcome of the Greco-Turkish War in Asia Minor. Nevertheless, in 1924, Alexandros Papanastassiou decided to found a university in Thessaloniki in order to boost the local economy and culture. The first stage of development ended with the foundation of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in 1950, after this period, some of the aforementioned faculties were extended by integrating more departments. In more detail, the Departments of Pharmacy and Dentistry were founded in 1955 and 1959 respectively, moreover, the Faculty of Philosophy was expanded by integrating the Institutes of Foreign Languages. During the second stage the focal point of development was the Faculty of Engineering, at the beginning, this faculty constituted an independent institute also called the Polytechnic or Technical University. Therefore, for the first fifty years of its operation the Aristotle University consisted of two institutes which operated independently. Subsequently these two educational institutes where unified, the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering was split in two independent schools in 1976. Finally, during the stage of its development, new schools. Moreover, the university acquired a number of departments which operated in the past as independent institutes of Higher Education. During this period, the Faculty of Fine Arts was established, additionally, the School of Journalism and Mass Media Studies and the School of Physical Education and Sports Sciences were created as independent schools. These changes include the downgrade of some former Faculties into Schools or Departments, a former Jewish faculty was abolished 80 years before by the Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas. This new faculty took in October 2015, her work on with leading professor Georgios Antoniou, on the University campus a monument commemorating the old Jewish cemetery was unveiled also in 2014
35.
Thessaloniki Olympic Museum
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Thessaloniki Olympic Museum, the unique Olympic Museum of Greece, is situated at Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. The museum is located on the confluence and educational, athletic and it stands next to the Kaftanzoglio National Stadium and the Aristotle University. The aim of the museum is to collect, conserve, record and establish the history and to promote it in an active and vivid place. The new building was inaugurated by the President of the International Olympic Committee and it is a modern building, of 4500m2, which was designed and constructed according to the specifications that sets the modern museological architecture. The organizing of the first permanent exhibition dedicated to Olympic Games, the exhibition consists of historical records and objects of the Greek Medalists, medals, torches, memorabilia from the Olympic organizations and athletic equipment. The new mission of the Museum is not only recording and promoting of the sport heritage but the conservation and prominence of the national Olympic history, Thessaloniki Olympic Museum consists of four exhibition halls. All exhibition halls conclude recreation ground for educational programs and workshops, furthermore, the Museum has communal halls, an amphitheatre with 300 seats, two halls of manifold uses, shop and a large foyer where temporary exhibitions of small scale and events can be housed. The exhibitions that have produced are divided in long-term exhibitions, temporary exhibitions, interactive. One of the aims of Thessaloniki Olympic Museum is to approach young people and children, promoting the museum as a friendly place. Every exhibition is supported by a variety of programs, while educational workshops are performed on weekends, summer workshops. Being a modern cultural institution pays great attention to new technologies and their uses in the Museum’s policy in collections, exhibitions and communication. In 2007, a tour in the “Track and Field” exhibition was created while two other interactive exhibitions, “Paralympics” and “Medals and Torches” can be found in the website of the Museum. The communication of Thessaloniki Olympic Museum with the public is achieved through its newsletter, moreover, the Museum publishes catalogues from its exhibitions and transcripts from its conferences. In the course of ten years, the Museum has developed a variety of collaborations with Cultural Institutions. More specifically, Thessaloniki Olympic Museum is member of the International Sport Heritage Association, of International Council of Museums and from 2007 and it has also developed international collaborations with representatives of administration of sport cultural heritage of Europe and Balkans that were consummated through memorandums of collaboration
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Judaism
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Judaism encompasses the religion, philosophy, culture and way of life of the Jewish people. Judaism is an ancient monotheistic Abrahamic religion, with the Torah as its text, and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the relationship that God established with the Children of Israel. With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth-largest religion in the world, Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Modern branches of Judaism such as Humanistic Judaism may be nontheistic, today, the largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism. Major sources of difference between groups are their approaches to Jewish law, the authority of the Rabbinic tradition. Orthodox Judaism maintains that the Torah and Jewish law are divine in origin, eternal and unalterable, Conservative and Reform Judaism are more liberal, with Conservative Judaism generally promoting a more traditional interpretation of Judaisms requirements than Reform Judaism. A typical Reform position is that Jewish law should be viewed as a set of guidelines rather than as a set of restrictions and obligations whose observance is required of all Jews. Historically, special courts enforced Jewish law, today, these still exist. Authority on theological and legal matters is not vested in any one person or organization, the history of Judaism spans more than 3,000 years. Judaism has its roots as a religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Judaism is considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions, the Hebrews and Israelites were already referred to as Jews in later books of the Tanakh such as the Book of Esther, with the term Jews replacing the title Children of Israel. Judaisms texts, traditions and values strongly influenced later Abrahamic religions, including Christianity, Islam, many aspects of Judaism have also directly or indirectly influenced secular Western ethics and civil law. Jews are a group and include those born Jewish and converts to Judaism. In 2015, the world Jewish population was estimated at about 14.3 million, Judaism thus begins with ethical monotheism, the belief that God is one and is concerned with the actions of humankind. According to the Tanakh, God promised Abraham to make of his offspring a great nation, many generations later, he commanded the nation of Israel to love and worship only one God, that is, the Jewish nation is to reciprocate Gods concern for the world. He also commanded the Jewish people to one another, that is. These commandments are but two of a corpus of commandments and laws that constitute this covenant, which is the substance of Judaism
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Romaniote Jews
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Their distinct language was Judaeo-Greek, a Greek dialect, and is today modern Greek or the languages of their new home countries. They derived their name from the old name for the people of the Byzantine Empire, Romaioi. Large communities were located in Thebes, Ioannina, Chalcis, Corfu, Arta, Preveza, Volos, Patras, Corinth, and on the islands of Zakynthos, Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Rhodes, and Cyprus, among others. The Romaniotes are historically distinct from the Sephardim, who settled in Ottoman Greece after the 1492 expulsion of the Jews from Spain, a majority of the Jewish population of Greece was killed in the Holocaust after Axis powers occupied Greece during World War II. They deported most of the Jews to Nazi concentration camps, after the war, a majority of the survivors emigrated to Israel, the United States, and Western Europe. Today there are still functioning Romaniote Synagogues in Chalkis which represents the oldest Jewish congregation on European ground, in Ioannina, Athens, New York and Israel. The name Romaniote refers to the medieval Eastern Roman Empire, which included the territory of modern Greece, historically, the Empire was commonly referred to as Rhomania and its citizens Romans. The earliest reference to a Greek Jew is an inscription dated c, 300-250 BCE, found in Oropos, a small coastal town between Athens and Boeotia, which refers to Moschos, son of Moschion the Jew, who may have been a slave. On the Island Aegina a Hellenistic Jewish synagogue was discovered in 1829 in the capital of the Island, the synagogue was originally discovered by the German historian Ludwig Ross, from the royal court of Otto. The floor was covered in order to be protected and was studied again by Thiersch in 1901, Furtwängler in 1904, E. Sukenik in 1928, the studies were completed by the National Archaeological Service. Based on the quality of the mosaic, the building is believed to have been constructed in the 4th century CE and was used until the 7th century CE. The mosaic floor of the synagogue still survives and is made up of multi-colored tesserae, two Greek inscriptions were found in front of the synagogues entrance, on the western side of the building. Today, only part of the mosaic floor is extant. A Romaniote oral tradition tells that the first Jews arrived in Ioannina shortly after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. Before the migration of the Ashkenazi and the Sephardi Jews into the Balkans and Eastern Europe, the Sefer Yosippon was written down in the 10th century in Byzantine Southern Italy by the Greek-speaking Jewish community there. Judah Leon ben Moses Mosconi, a Romaniote Jew from Achrida edited and expanded the Sefer Josippon later, the Jews of Southern Italy continued to be Greek-speakers until the 15th century. In the 12th century, Benjamin of Tudela recorded details about communities of Jews in Corfu, Arta, Aphilon, Patras, Corinth, Thebes, Chalkis, Thessaloniki, the largest community in Greece at that time was in Thebes, where he found about 2000 Jews. They were engaged mostly in cloth dyeing, weaving, in producing of silverware, at the time, they were already known as Romaniotes
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Hellenistic Judaism
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Hellenistic Judaism was a form of Judaism in the ancient world that combined Jewish religious tradition with elements of Greek culture. Hellenistic Judaism also existed in Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period, mentionable are also the philosophic and ethical treatises of Philo and the historiographical works of the other hellenistic jewish authors. The decline of Hellenistic Judaism started in the 2nd century CE and it may be that it was eventually marginalized by, partially absorbed into or became progressively the Koiné-speaking core of Early Christianity centered on Antioch and its traditions. The conquests of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BCE spread Greek culture and colonization—a process of cultural change called Hellenization—over non-Greek lands, including the Levant. The period is characterized by a new wave of Greek colonization which established Greek cities and Kingdoms in Asia and Africa, new cities were established composed of colonists who came from different parts of the Greek world, and not from a specific metropolis as before. These Jews living in countries west of the Levant formed the Hellenistic diaspora, the Egyptian diaspora is the most well-known of these. This was a diaspora of choice, not of imposition, information is less robust regarding diasporas in other territories. It suggests that the situation was by and large the same as it was in Egypt, Jewish life in both Judea and the diaspora was influenced by the culture and language of Hellenism. The Greeks viewed Jewish culture favorably, while vice versa, Hellenism gained adherents among the Jews, when a Greek gymnasium was introduced into Jerusalem, it was installed by a Jewish High Priest. And other priests soon engaged in wrestling matches in the palaestra and they plainly did not reckon such activities as undermining their priestly duties. The main religious issue dividing Hellenized Jews from traditional Jews was the application of laws in a Hellenistic empire. Under the suzerainty of the Ptolemies and later the Seleucids, Judea witnessed a period of peace, for their aid against his Ptolemaic enemies, Antiochus III promised his Jewish subjects a reduction in taxes and funds to repair the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. Out of this revolt was formed an independent Jewish kingdom known as the Hasmonaean Dynasty, the Hasmonean Dynasty eventually disintegrated in a civil war, which coincided with civil wars in Rome. The Hasmonean civil war began when the High Priest Hyrcanus II was overthrown by his younger brother, a third faction, consisting primarily of Idumeans from Maresha, led by Antipater and his son Herod, re-installed Hyrcanus, who, according to Josephus, was merely Antipaters puppet. In 47 BCE, Antigonus, a nephew of Hyrcanus II and son of Aristobulus II, Caesar ignored him, and in 42 BCE Antigonus, with the aid of the Parthians defeated Herod. Antigonus ruled for three years, until Herod, with the aid of Rome, overthrew him and had him executed. Antigonus was the last Hasmonean ruler, the major literary product of the contact of Judaism and Hellenistic culture is the Septuagint, as well as the so-called apocrypha and pseudepigraphic apocalyptic literature dating to the period. Important sources are Philo of Alexandria and Flavius Josephus, some scholars consider Paul of Tarsus to be a Hellenist as well, even though he himself claimed to be a Pharisee
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History of the Jews in the Byzantine Empire
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The history of the Jews in the Byzantine Empire has been well-recorded and preserved. They were placed in a position somewhere between the two worlds. In 212, Caracalla bestowed citizenship on all its residents, including the Jews and this granted Jews legal equality to all other citizens, and formed the foundation of their legal status in Byzantium following the founding of Constantinople in 330. Indeed, Jews enjoyed the right to practice their faith under the rule of the Byzantines, since the year 390 nearly all of the territory of present-day Israel came under Byzantine suzerainty. The area was divided into the provinces, Palestina Prima, Palestina Secunda. These provinces were part of the Diocese of the East, in 404, Jews were excluded from certain governmental posts. In 418, they were barred from the service. In 425, they were excluded from all remaining public offices, thus Emperor Theodosius II found that he had to balance the first two of the three factors governing the treatment of Jews in the empire—theology, political pragmatism and enforceability. He could not, however, effectively control the third, in 438, Theodosius had to reaffirm the prohibition on Jews holding public office, because it had been poorly enforced. Even in 527, a decree which renewed this prohibition began by observing that heedless of the laws command infiltrated public offices, there was one office, however, that Jews were not forbidden from assuming. This was the office of decurion, a tax collector who was required to pay all deficits in revenue from his own pocket, Justinian, whose legal code included 33 laws relating to the Jews, initially maintained this ability, but it was abolished in 537. Sharf explains that the purpose of this was so that the Jews never enjoy the fruits of office, in addition to the matter of holding public office, Jews were also unequal to Christians with respect to the ownership of slaves. Additionally, this was designed to provide an incentive for slaves to convert into Christianity. Restrictions on slave-owning could not, however, be excessively burdensome, because slaves, under the Theodosian Code, therefore, ownership of Christian slaves by Jews was not prohibited, although their purchase was. Thus, one who gained possession of a slave by such as inheritance would remain his or her owner. Purchase of slaves was usually penalized by compelled sale at the purchase price. The third important restriction on Judaism—in addition to the limitations on public service and slave ownership—was that the Jewish religion, one important ramification of this policy was the prohibition on the construction of new synagogues within the Empire, though the repair of old synagogues was permitted. This prohibition was difficult to enforce, as evidence in Israel indicates that illegal synagogue construction continued throughout the sixth century
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History of the Jews in Cyprus
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The history of the Jews in Cyprus dates back to the 3rd century BC, after trade relations had been established between Cyprus and the Land of Israel. The Jews had close relationships with many of the religious groups on the island and were seen favourably by the Romans. During the war over the city of Ptolemais between Alexander Jannaeus and Ptolemy IX Lathyros, King of Cyprus, many Jews were killed, during the war the Jewish citizens remained committed in their allegiance to King Lathyros. The Jews lived well in Cyprus during the Roman rule, during this period, Christianity was preached in Cyprus among the Jews at an early date, St Paul being the first, and Barnabas, a native of Cyprus, the second. They attempted to convert the Jews to Christianity under the ideas of Jesus, in punishment a severe law was enacted, according to which no Jew was allowed to land on Cypriot soil, not even in case of shipwreck. After a few years of calm, the Jewish communities began to grow, in 610, however, the Jews again participated in the uprising against the Greeks under the rule of Heraclius. In 646, and again in 1154, Cyprus was devastated by the Arabs, nevertheless communities of Romaniote Jews from the Byzantine period are known. Jewish merchants were active during this time at the city of Famagusta. Cyprus was conquered by the Ottoman Empire after their war with Venice, Famagusta became the main center of the Ottoman Jewish community in Cyprus. Ottoman rule lasted until 1878, when Cyprus came under British rule, during the last twenty years of the 19th century, several attempts were made to settle Russian and Romanian Jewish refugees in Cyprus. The first attempt, in 1883, was a settlement of several hundred Russians established in Orides near Paphos, in 1885,27 Romanian families settled on the island as colonists but were not successful in forming communities. Romanian Jews in 1891, again bought land in Cyprus, even though they did not immigrate to the country. Fifteen Russian families under the leadership of Walter Cohen founded a colony in the year 1897 at Margo, with the help of the Ahawat Zion of London and the Jewish Colonisation Association. In 1899, Davis Trietsch, a delegate to the Third Zionist Congress at Basel, in August 1899, attempted to get an endorsement for Jewish colonisation in Cyprus, especially for Romanian Jews. Although, his proposal was refused by the council, Trietsch persisted, twenty-eight Romanian families followed these and received assistance from the Jewish Colonization Association. These settlers established farms at Margo, and at Asheriton, the Jewish Colonisation Association continued to give a small support to the work in Cyprus. Most Jewish communities during the early 1900s were located in Nicosia, in 1901, the Jewish population of the island was 63 men and 56 women. During World War II and the Holocaust, Cyprus played a role for the Jewish communities of Europe
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Cyprus internment camps
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Cyprus internment camps were camps run by the British government for internment of Jews who had immigrated or attempted to immigrate to Mandatory Palestine in violation of British policy. There were a total of 12 camps, which operated from August 1946 to January 1949, great Britain informed the United Nations on February 14,1947, that it would no longer administer the Mandate for Palestine. This prompted the UN General Assembly to recommend partition of Palestine into independent Jewish, about 11,000 internees remained in the camps as of August 1948, with the British releasing and transporting the internees to Haifa at the rate of 1,500 a month. Israel began the evacuation of the camps in December 1948 with the last 10,200 Jewish internees in Cyprus mainly men of military age. At the end of World War II, there were still 10,938 immigration certificates remaining, the British government agreed to continue issuing 1,500 certificates per month, but the influx of Jews, especially from the displaced person camps in Europe, well exceeded that number. It was decided in August 1946 to hold many of the immigrants on Cyprus. Previous places of detention had included Atlit detainee camp in Palestine, a few thousand refugees, mostly Greeks but also a considerable number of Jews from the Balkans, had reached Cyprus during the war years. At its peak there were nine camps in Cyprus, located at two sites about 50 km apart and they were Caraolos, north of Famagusta, and Dekhelia, outside of Larnaca. The first camp, at Caraolos, had used from 1916 to 1923 for Turkish prisoners of war. The majority of Cyprus detainees were intercepted before reaching Palestine, usually by boat, some were on vessels that had successfully run the British blockade, but were caught in Palestine. Most of them were Holocaust survivors, about 60% from the displaced camps and others from the Balkans. A very small group of Moroccan Jews was also in the camps, the prisoners were mostly young, 80% between 13 and 35, and included over 6,000 orphan children. About 2,000 children were born in the camps, the births took place in the Jewish wing of the British Military Hospital in Nicosia. Some 400 Jews died in the camps, and were buried in Margoa cemetery, a number of escape attempts took place while the camps were active. The most significant was in August 1948, when an estimated 100 inmates escaped a detention camp via a tunnel the British believed had been dug over a period of six months. Some 29 refugees were arrested over the incident and given sentences ranging from four to nine months. One man managed to escape while being transported from court to prison, from November 1946 to the time of the Israeli Declaration of Independence in May 1948, Cyprus detainees were allowed into Palestine at a rate of 750 people per month. During 1947-48, special quotas were given to pregnant women, nursing mothers, released Cyprus detainees amounted to 67% of all immigrants to Palestine during that period
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History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire
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By the time of the Ottoman conquests, Anatolia had been home to ancient communities of Hellenistic and later Byzantine Jews. The Ottoman Empire became a haven for Iberian Jews fleeing persecution, and in its heyday. The First and Second Aliyah brought an increased Jewish presence to Ottoman Palestine, Safed became a spiritual centre for the Jews and the Shulchan Aruch was compiled there as well as many Kabbalistic texts. The first Hebrew printing press, and the first printing in Western Asia began in 1577, the situation where Jews both enjoyed cultural and economical prosperity at times but were widely persecuted at other times was summarised by G. E. But it would not be difficult to compile a lengthy list of persecutions, arbitrary confiscations, attempted forced conversions. The status of Jewry in the Ottoman Empire often hinged on the whims of the Sultan, although the status level of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire may have often been exaggerated, it is undeniable that the tolerance was enjoyed. Under the millet system, the non-Muslims were organized as autonomous communities on the basis of religion, in the framework of the millet they had a considerable amount of administrative autonomy and were represented by the Hakham Bashi, the Chief Rabbi. There were no restrictions in the professions Jews could practice analogous to common in Western Christian countries. There were restrictions in the areas Jews could live or work, like all non-Muslims, Jews had to pay the harac and faced other restrictions in clothing, horse riding, army service etc. but they could occasionally be waived or circumvented. The first Jewish synagogue linked to Ottoman rule is Etz ha-Hayyim in Bursa which passed to Ottoman authority in 1324, the synagogue is still in use, although the modern Jewish population of Bursa has shrunk to about 140 people. During the Classical Ottoman period, the Jews, together with most other communities of the empire, compared with other Ottoman subjects, they were the predominant power in commerce and trade as well in diplomacy and other high offices. In the 16th century especially, the Jews rose to prominence under the millets, an additional problem was the lack of unity among the Jews themselves. They had come to the Ottoman Empire from many lands, bringing them their own customs and opinions, to which they clung tenaciously. Another tremendous upheaval was caused when Sabbatai Zevi proclaimed to be the Messiah and he was eventually caught by the Ottoman authorities and when given the choice between death and conversion, he opted for the latter. His remaining disciples converted to Islam too and their descendants are today known as Donmeh. The first major event in Jewish history under Turkish rule took place after the Empire gained control over Constantinople, after Sultan Mehmed IIs Conquest of Constantinople he found the city in a state of disarray. After suffering many sieges, a devastating conquest by Catholic Crusaders in 1204 and even a case of the Black Death in 1347, as Mehmed wanted the city as his new capital, he decreed the rebuilding of the city. And in order to revivify Constantinople he ordered that Muslims, Christians, within months most of the Empires Romaniote Jews, from the Balkans and Anatolia, were concentrated in Constantinople, where they made up 10% of the citys population
