Mendoni: Alcazar, another emblematic monument attributed to Thessaloniki

The Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni performed an autopsy at the Hamza Bey Temple, known as the Alcazar, in Thessaloniki. The work of maintaining and restoring the monument has been undertaken by the competent services of the Ministry of Culture with funding of approximately €11,000,000 from the Recovery Fund. The Minister was informed by the competent officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the contractor about the progress of the project. It is a complex and demanding project, as the morphology of the monument has undergone significant changes due to the many interventions in various historical periods.

As Lina Mendoni stated, “For the last six years we have been implementing a project and action program in Central Macedonia that exceeds 150 million euros from community and national funds. This is indicative of the importance we attach to monuments of unique historical and archaeological importance, which are gradually given to the citizens preserved and with a completely different image, from the one we have today. However, it is also indicative of the importance the Government attaches to Northern Greece. The restoration of the Hamza Bey Mosque or Alcazar, as the monument is known due to its long-term use as a cinema hall, in the center of Thessaloniki and in the immediate vicinity of the Venizelos station, is progressing according to the schedule. Its restoration will give the city another emblematic monument. The project is part of the wider program of the YPPO for the restoration and promotion of the monumental inventory of Thessaloniki from all historical periods. I mention, by way of example, that works are being carried out in Achiropoiitos, in the Rotunda, in Agia Sophia, in the Panagia of Chalkea, in the churches of Agia Catherine, Agios Nikolaos the Orphan and the Prophet Elias, in the North, North-West and West Walls of the city, in the Ancient Agora, Agios Ioannis Agiasma, Loutro Bei Hammam (Paradise Baths) and in the monumental building of the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki. The Ministry of Culture contributes decisively not only to the restoration of the monuments, which are inextricably linked to the historical palimpsest of the city, but also to the cultural functioning and economic development of Thessaloniki, which is our constant goal”.
The Hamza Bey Mosque is located in the center of the city. This is the oldest Islamic euktiri house in Thessaloniki. It is located at the intersection of Egnatia and Venizelou streets. It was built, in 1467, by the daughter of the military commander Hamza Bey. Later, in the peristyle courtyard of the mosque, the Alcazar cinema functioned for decades, whose name prevailed in the collective memory. The Mosque is protected under the archaeological law as a historical and archaeological monument, since 1926.

The square prayer hall of the mosque has internal dimensions of 11.54×11.54m and a maximum height of 17m. It has a lead-covered hemispherical dome, which rests on an octagonal drum. Apartments were added to it, on the north-east and south-west sides, and an eccentric porch, on the north-west side and the west corner, which form a single perimeter surrounding the P-shaped mosque. The apartments of the occasion are developed parallel to the side walls of the main mosque. The portico is composed of an open colonnaded portico (revak), in the west with lateral closed compartments, north and south. The atrium has a trapezoidal plan, while its arcades are defined by colonnades. The mosque consists of three distinct sections that correspond to three consecutive chronological phases of its construction: The prayer hall, the presto and the atrium.

Lina Mendoni was accompanied to the autopsy by the General Secretary of Culture Giorgos Didaskalou, the heads of the Directorates for the Restoration of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments and Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Antiquities Themis Vlahoulis and Iulia Papageorgiou, respectively, the head of the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Thessaloniki Elisavet Tsigarida and other officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.