THE OTTOMAN MATERIAL PAST OF GREEK MACEDONIA AN UNWANTED HERITAGE?
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-01-14

The territory that constitutes modern day Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire for more than 400 years. The northern part of the country, Epirus and Macedonia, were annexed to Greece in 1912-13 after the Balkan Wars. Greek Macedonia was inhabited by large Muslim communities until the forced exchange of population in 1924. The Muslims, after five centuries of continuous presence, left a deep material imprint in the cultural landscape, including both private and public buildings. When the Greek army entered Macedonia, Thessaloniki and the other urban centres looked like typical Eastern Islamic cities, the minarets being visible from a long way. Over the last 100 years of Greek rule, the built environment of the region has changed dramatically. With few exceptions, the minarets were demolished and Ottoman architectural remains abandoned and deserted, until they eventually collapsed and vanished. The first decades after the annexation of the area to the Greek state witnessed the destruction of many Ottoman buildings, which were deemed to be barbaric, the works of conquerors, the reminders of a dark past. Some were saved because they were put to new use, and only a few were protected by the state. Until the 1980s and 1990s the Ottoman architectural past was neglected by the state, local authorities and local communities. Since, many Ottoman monuments had been listed and restored. However, still today, most Greek people do not consider the Ottoman past as their own, but something foreign, sometimes disturbing and belonging to 'others’. In this paper I will present the management of the Ottoman material past in Macedonia between its annexation by the Greek state and today. I shall examine how this past was regarded in different periods by the state, the local authorities, the local communities and the scientific community.


Author(s): Stavridopoulos, Ioannis (University of Ioannina)