15Th-Century Thessaloniki Mosque Reopens As Arts Center

(MENAFN- USA Art News) The 15th-century Hamza Bey Mosque in Thessaloniki, also known as Alacazar, has reopened as an exhibition space following a nearly two-decade conservation and restoration effort. The reopening took place last weekend.

The Ottoman admiral Hamza Bey's daughter commissioned the mosque in 1467. It was expanded a century later to include a portico, a minaret, and a quadrilateral courtyard, distinguishing its architecture among mosques in the Balkan region. After sustaining damage from fires and earthquakes, it was rebuilt in 1620, with a madrasa added at that time.

The building ceased to operate as a mosque after the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey, which resulted in the compulsory transfer of two million people based on religious affiliation. It then became the property of the National Bank of Greece and briefly served as a military barracks before being designated a protected monument in 1926. For several decades, the building functioned as a cinema called Alacazar, undergoing various modifications. The Greek Ministry of Culture assumed protection of the former mosque in 2006. Structural work and stabilization commenced in 2007 and progressed in stages until 2023, according to a spokesperson for the space. The most recent phase of work, supported by the European Recovery Fund, occurred between 2024 and 2026, completing all necessary interior and exterior conservation for its new role.

The Metropolitan Organisation of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki ( MOMus ) will now manage the historic site, with some decisions made in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki City. It will serve as both an exhibition space and a cultural center, hosting heritage-themed events and activities.

The inaugural exhibition,“Thessaloniki: The Footprint of Transition (1960-1980). Through the photographs of Pete Marifoglou,” offers a visual exploration of two decades of rapid modernization in Thessaloniki. According to a statement, the exhibition reveals the city“as a living organism in transition, where tradition coexists and clashes with the new.” Some of the black-and-white photographs by Thessaloniki-native Pete Marifoglou are on public display for the first time.

The exhibition features three thematic sections, each representing a part of the city's mosaic as the primary cultural and economic hub of Greek Macedonia. The first section, titled“The Commercial Character and the Market,” focuses on Thessaloniki's historic markets. The second,“People's Everyday Life,” explores what the gallery describes as the“human rhythm of the city.” The final part documents the encroachment of antiparochi, a land-for-apartment exchange system development, on the city's Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman heritage, and the ensuing struggle for heritage preservation.

Epaminondas Christophilopoulos, chairman of the management board of MOMus, stated in a statement sent to The Art Newspaper:“The Hamza Bey Mosque, known to most people as 'Alcázar', is a building that bears witness to the city's modern history, a history marked by the profound transformations of the Balkans. It has endured the Ottoman heyday, the Young Turks movement, the Population Exchange, and the Holocaust, and it still stands at the corner of Egnatia and Venizelou streets, in Thessaloniki. Its restoration demonstrates that Thessaloniki is now ready to showcase its Ottoman period as an integral part of its multicultural history.”

This restoration aligns with broader urban interventions initiated by Greece's culture minister Lina Mendoni, which include plans to connect archaeological sites and illuminate city walls, enhancing Thessaloniki's evolving cultural infrastructure. Another ongoing project is the conversion of the former Fix brewery into a cultural center, which will also include spaces managed by MOMus and institutions such as the Thessaloniki State Conservatory.

We previously reported:

The Zaha Hadid Foundation will reopen the architect's former London headquarters as a public arts space on October 29, marking her 10-year anniversary.

Source: The Art Newspaper

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