At the beginning of 2024, preliminary work is expected to begin for the implementation of the first of Thessaloniki’s major projects, this Holocaust Museum, so that its construction can begin in the spring of the following year and thus be completed in 2026 as calculated.

This is indicated in today’s relevant announcement of the company “Samaras & Associates SA – Consulting Engineers”, in which it is announced that the building permit was issued for the construction of the Holocaust Museum by the construction service of the municipality of Thessaloniki.

“A law and two Presidential Decrees were required, which made it possible to complete the licensing”, points out the managing director of the company “Samaras & Associates SA – Consulting Engineers”, Dimitris Samaras, project manager of the project. According to him, the preliminary works tender is already underway and at the beginning of the year we will have the contractor for the first construction works excavations and supports

“With the practical support of all competent bodies, we hope that the Holocaust Museum of Greece, an eternal symbol of memory and hope with global influence, will welcome its first visitors within 2026, being the first emblematic project of international influence to be completed in Thessaloniki” , he emphasizes.

Museological and Architectural Study

As noted in the announcement, the completion of the first phase of the Museological study is expected at the beginning of 2024 (in partnership with the internationally renowned American museographic office, Gallagher & Associates and the distinguished museologist from Israel, Yitzchak Mais, under the guidance of the scientific advisory committee of the project with the participation of distinguished historians and academic consultants), which includes the preparation of the Master plan of the Museum, i.e. the development of the historical and narrative content. The museographic study and the detailed planning of the permanent exhibition will then take over.

The Museum has a total area of ​​approximately 9,000 sq.m. and will consist of six above-ground and two underground floors. It will also grow around a small urban grove. In addition to the permanent exhibition spaces, it will include spaces for periodical exhibitions, archives, education and research, multi-purpose and leisure spaces and administrative offices, while the open-air parking area will be created on the adjacent property.

The drafting of the architectural study is co-signed by the architectural offices of Efrat Kowalsky Architects from Israel, Heide von Beckerath from Germany and Makridis Associates from Thessaloniki. The museum it has been designed as a prominent monument inspired by the octagonal monuments of Thessaloniki, which during the night will diffuse light from the inside out, transforming the building into a living canvas that mimics the lighting of lighthouses. The design is based on the principles of sustainability and sustainability, and the common goal of all parties involved is the certification of the project by the internationally recognized sustainable development system LEED.

It is recalled that for the emblematic project (implemented by the Israelite Community of Thessaloniki and financed by the Federal Republic of Germany, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the Greek government, but also by donations such as that of Dr. Albert Bourla), the approval of the architectural study by the Central Council of Architecture (KESA) and the Central Council of New Monuments (KSNM), as well as the approval of the elevation studies by the Municipal Council of Thessaloniki.

At the beginning of December 2023, it was presented by the project architects Petros Makridis from Makridis Associates, Meira Kowalsky from Efrat-Kowalsky Architects, Tim Heide and Verena von Beckerath from Heide & von Beckerath, and generally from the project scholars the final study of the project at the offices of the Israelite Community of Thessaloniki, in the presence of the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Andrea Kindle and the consul general of Thessaloniki Sibylla Bendik, the outgoing mayor of Thessaloniki, Konstantinos Zervas, the newly elected mayor Stelios Angeloudis, as well as the former mayor Yiannis Boutaris and representatives of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.