The Ottoman presence in Ano Poli

The area of Ano Poli in particular was for the most part a Muslim neighbourhood. Muslims were driven to settle in Ano Poli by security concerns, since the area guaranteed safety and an elevated position, but also by the local climate conditions, with Ano Poli providing nice views, clean air and plenty of sunlight. Regardless of whether they belonged to the rich or the poor, all houses in Ano Poli were built using traditional construction methods. They had stone foundations and a wooden framework, they were constructed using the traditional techniques ‘tsatmas’ and ‘bagdati’, two variations of the wattle and daub building method, and many of them had courtyards. They also had what were known as ‘hagiatia’ and ‘sachnisia’: closed, overhanging balconies facing the street, another characteristic feature of Ottoman architecture.

Even though several Muslim houses, mostly those which used to belong to affluent families, still survive in Thessaloniki, only five mosques and one minaret, the Rotunda minaret, are still standing. The process of national homogenisation, in conjunction with the systematic effort to erase the city’s Muslim past, has transformed Thessaloniki’s spaces and landmarks. However, a century after the population exchange which changed the face of the city, the migrants who have resettled in Greek cities are devising new spaces and practices of multiethnic co-existence. Unfortunately, the demand for a mosque to serve the needs of the city’s much smaller current Muslim population is still met with the same nationalistic and ultra-religious backlash.