White Tower

Thessaloniki’s symbol, the White Tower is a 15th century fortification which was part of the city’s defenses.

The White Tower is the point where the seaward defense and the eastern wall met.

For years it served as a prison for condemned prisoners awaiting execution. In early 1980s it was reconstructed and since 1985 is operating as a museum.  Today the White Tower is used as a place of exhibition of the Byzantine Museum of Thessaloniki. For the first months of 2002 it housed ‘Byzantine Hours’, an exhibition devoted to ordinary life in Byzantine times.

The first floor was presenting the “Professionals in the market place “ which actually is a presentation of tools and other objects belonging to goldsmiths, blade-smiths, glassmakers and tillers together with coins and a miniature model of Thessaloniki’s market place.

The second floor was devoted to journeys and trade. Objects and texts related to journeys by sea and overland, fairs, spectacles and pilgrimages.

The third floor is a presentation of the Byzantine home and its interior design, the decoration, supper, and the neighborhood.

At the floor above there was an exhibition of life at home with garments and footwear, cosmetics, perfume and jewellery, personal grooming, and even superstitions.

The theme of the top floor was covering burial and funerary customs.