Archaeologists estimate that over 130 Mennonite antiquities or sets of treasures are located in basements of buildings or public buildings.
Volumes of soil and heavy concrete structures hide important antiquities that were accidentally found during excavations for the construction of apartment buildings in Thessaloniki.
These archaeological treasures compose a city under the city, documenting the overlapping phases that witness the history of Thessaloniki since its founding by the Macedonian general Cassasander in 316/315 BC. until modern times.
Archaeologists estimate that more than 130 Mennonite antiquities or sets of treasures are found in basements of buildings or public buildings in the urban complex of Thessaloniki alone, while it is scarce how many more such unique fragments of history exist and have not been discovered.
In a basement of a building in Harilaou, the tenants feel proud to see an intact Macedonian tomb, in another in Grigoriou Palamas a maenad mosaic with a drum, at the corner of Agnostos Stratiotos and Olympus at the height of the Ancient Agora, the remains of an early Christian building of large dimensions, at the intersection of Iasonido with Arrianou three Byzantine mansions, in the basement of the Madrino hotel part of a Roman bath and the list is endless.
The archaeologists of the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Thessaloniki, who for security reasons do not reveal where all these antiquities are located, nor do they give many details, have removed the movable finds, while owners and tenants of the apartment buildings take care of them and in some cases have even installed lighting to show them off, without them being visited by anyone but themselves.
Macedonian tomb in Harilaou
The bulldozer of the contractor working on the construction of a building on Deinokratous Street in Charilaou years ago tripped over a large volume and the work was stopped. The archaeologists who were called to the site proceeded with a rescue excavation and after some time found themselves in front of an important discovery. At the site there was an intact Macedonian tomb dating to the end of the 3rd BC. – beginning of the 2nd BC century, but conceived already from antiquity.
It is a single-chambered tomb with three burials, as evidenced by the three beds-sarcophagi made of porolite that were arranged P.
Inside the left bed, the remains of a wooden stretcher were saved, in which a dead person had been placed, while the offerings included a clay female figurine, two alabaster vases, parts of a gilded crown, a gold disk, copper and iron accessories, while two pointed-bottomed amphorae, compasses were welded and several lacrimals (scented lekyths).
The dancer of Grigoriou Palamas
A colorful, beautiful mosaic of the Roman-Imperial era (1st-late 3rd century AD) was discovered in the basement of a building at 8 Gregoriou Palamas Street. The excavation brought to light rich residential remains and it is estimated that in the distant past there was the house of a prominent face of the city.
The subject of the impressive mosaic is related to the Dionysian cycle, but what exactly is depicted cannot be determined, as only one female figure survives, possibly a Maenad playing a drum and dancing to a lively rhythm. The folds of the garment, the plastic rendering of the naked flesh and the unusually large color scale testify to the skill of the voter and rank the mosaic of Grigorio Palamas among the high quality works.
A similar mosaic from the same period with geometric decoration and a depiction of Neris, who is riding a sea animal and holding a robe over her head, has also been found in the basement of an apartment building on Palaion Patras Germanou street and has been dated to the second half of the 3rd AD . century..
The basement of the Ancient Agora
In the mid-70s, a three-story building was demolished in the explosion of the compensation at the intersection of Agnostos Stratiotos and Olympos streetsin the center of Thessaloniki.
During the work on the new foundation, in the presence of archaeologists, as the plot is located next to the Ancient Agora, architectural members from an elongated quadrilateral building were identified, in a semicircular niche of which a statue of the goddess Athena was found. The remarkable thing is that the head of the statue had been transformed during Roman times into a portrait of the empress Julia Domna, wife of Leucius Septimius Severus, Roman emperor from 193 to 211 AD.
Marble statue bases and parts of smaller buildings were also found. The building remains were dated to the beginning of the 3rd century AD. and initially they were interpreted as a library, but newer studies attributed them to a place of worship.
The antiquities have been preserved, there is lighting, but access is only permitted with permission from the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Thessaloniki and for specific -research- purposes.
The school-museum of Iasonido
In the mid-1990s, work began on the construction of a school at the junction of Iasonidou and Arrianou streets, on the site of a building that suffered irreparable damage from the 1978 earthquake and was demolished.
The plot of land hid an unexpected find and the construction work of the school lasted for 10 whole years, until the question “Ancient or school?” was answered. In the end, “Archaia in the school” qualified and the 34th elementary school of Thessaloniki, inaugurated in 2006, is today a school-museum.
A footbridge reveals the antiquities hidden in the bowels of the school building although the area is no longer so easily visited.
On the plot, a section of the city’s urban fabric, dating back to the early Byzantine years, was revealed, with architectural remains from three Byzantine mansions of the 4th-6th centuries AD. with rooms, arcades and atriums, orthomarbling, frescoes and mosaics. Parts of a road, a large water tank, courtyards and workshops from Byzantine times were also found.
It is noted that in the same spot, in 1907, the Greek Orthodox community built the Urban School for Girls, the first school for girls in Thessaloniki, designed by the architect Xenophon Paionidis, who shaped the new architectural face of the city, after its incorporation into the Greek state.
The bathroom of the Madrino Hotel
In the heart of the city at the intersection of Egnatia and Antigonide streets and in the basement of the Madrino hotel, a section of baths (balaneum) from Roman times is preserved. Its walls survive to a height of 0.80 m, but the most impressive find is the hall’s mosaic floor, which depicts a performance with a three-legged chariot and has an inscription.
The mosaic dates to the 3rd AD. century and is exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, while the residential remains remain in place.
Anonymous temple buried underground
A small alley that intersects Venizelou with Ionos Dragoumi, Baltadorou Street, at number 8 hides a great secret very deeply. An anonymous temple of the 5th AD. for which only the founder is known from the mosaic inscription, Sergios Pragamas, while it is one of the first monuments of the city dedicated to Christian worship.
A building was erected at the site in 1970 and the ruins of the temple are preserved at a very great depth, with extremely difficult access and from the first excavations there are only design impressions.
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