Carravagio: The Incredulity of Saint Thomas
Sunday 8 April (Easter 2):
9.30 a.m.: The Eucharist (Holy Communion 2), Castletown Church (with the Revd Joe Hardy).
11.30 a.m.: Morning Prayer, Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale (with the Revd Joe Hardy).
Readings: Acts 4: 32-35; Psalm 133; I John 1: 1 to 2: 2; John 20: 19-31.
Hymns: 646, 239, 307.
Wednesday 11 April (The Annunciation):
Because 25 March was Palm Sunday, the Feast of the Annunciation has been transferred in the Church Calendar to the week after Easter Week. The Feast of the Annunciation will be marked with a celebration of the Eucharist at 11 a.m. on Wednesday 11 April in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton.
Readings: Isaiah 7: 10-14; Psalm 40: 5-10; Hebrews 10: 4-10; Luke 1: 26-38.
Hymn: 704.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting, Ecce Ancilla Domini! (1850), now in the Tate Gallery, London
Easter Vestries:
Castletown and Askeaton Easter Vestries: Thursday 12 April, 8 p.m., the Rectory, Askeaton.
Kilnaughtin (Tarbert) Easter Vestry: Sunday 15 April, after the Sunday service.
Rathkeale Easter Vestry: Monday 16 April, 8 p.m., the Rectory, Askeaton.
06 April 2018
The clock has stopped
for 40 years in an old
bank in Thessaloniki
The former building of La Banque de Salonique is now a bar and shopping gallery (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Patrick Comerford
I am staying on the corner of Syngrou Street and Egnatia Street in the centre of Thessaloniki, and in the heart of what was briefly the Jewish Ghetto during World War II.
Around the corner, Hrimatistiriou Square is a small square with music bars and an interesting night life. During the Ottoman Turkish days, this was the Stockmarket Square.
But 40 years ago, this area was also at the heart of the major earthquake that rocked Thessaloniki on 20 June 1978.
Life in the square seems to revolve around the Stoa Malakopis or Malakopis Gallery, in an old building that also includes the Gambrinas Bar facing down the street that leads towards the waterfront.
This was once the elegant premises of the old La Banque de Salonique or the Bank of Thessaloniki, which was founded in 1888 by the Allatini brothers in partnership with a bank in Vienna.
The Allatini brothers were members of a Jewish-Italian family, descended from Lazarus Allatini (1776-1834). The family owned mills and other trading companies in Thessaloniki and dominated trade in the Ottoman Empire for a century.
The former bank was built in 1907 on the site of the yard of the Allitani family’s former mansion on Syngrou Street. The bank was designed by the renowned Italian architect Vitaliano Poselli (1838-1918) from Sicily.
Two years after Poselli’s bank was built, the bank moved its headquarters to Constantinople in 1909. In 1911, all the commercial activities of the Allatini dynasty were shut down by the Porte, along with the businesses of other Italian Jewish families, in reprisals for the Italian-Turkish war that year.
However, the bank continued in business, and Poselli’s bank was one of the few buildings that survived the great fire that destroyed much of Thessaloniki in 1917. This building was renovated in 1926 to plans by the architect Maximilian Rubens. The bank continued to have branches in Thessaloniki until 1940, when the building was commandeered by the occupying Nazi forces.
The clock has stopped at 11:07, the time the earthquake hit Thessaloniki on 20 June 1978 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
When the major earthquake struck Thessaloniki on 20 June 1978, 45 people were killed many buildings were destroyed. The clock at the top of the façade of the old bank building was stuck at 11:07, the time the earthquake struck. And so it remains to this day, and the building is now a listed building.
The architect Vitaliano Poselli was born in Castiglione di Sicilia in 1838, and studied in Rome. In 1867, the Catholic Church commissioned him to build the Church of Saint Stephen in Constantinople.
From there, the Ottoman government sent him to Thessaloniki, where he built some of the most important public buildings in this city. He married and settled down here in 1888 and designed churches, buildings for foreign diplomats and missions and for the wealthy merchant families. He died 100 years ago in 1918, and many of his descendants still live in Thessaloniki.
The bank survives as a bar and is at the centre of night life in this part of Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Patrick Comerford
I am staying on the corner of Syngrou Street and Egnatia Street in the centre of Thessaloniki, and in the heart of what was briefly the Jewish Ghetto during World War II.
Around the corner, Hrimatistiriou Square is a small square with music bars and an interesting night life. During the Ottoman Turkish days, this was the Stockmarket Square.
But 40 years ago, this area was also at the heart of the major earthquake that rocked Thessaloniki on 20 June 1978.
Life in the square seems to revolve around the Stoa Malakopis or Malakopis Gallery, in an old building that also includes the Gambrinas Bar facing down the street that leads towards the waterfront.
This was once the elegant premises of the old La Banque de Salonique or the Bank of Thessaloniki, which was founded in 1888 by the Allatini brothers in partnership with a bank in Vienna.
The Allatini brothers were members of a Jewish-Italian family, descended from Lazarus Allatini (1776-1834). The family owned mills and other trading companies in Thessaloniki and dominated trade in the Ottoman Empire for a century.
The former bank was built in 1907 on the site of the yard of the Allitani family’s former mansion on Syngrou Street. The bank was designed by the renowned Italian architect Vitaliano Poselli (1838-1918) from Sicily.
Two years after Poselli’s bank was built, the bank moved its headquarters to Constantinople in 1909. In 1911, all the commercial activities of the Allatini dynasty were shut down by the Porte, along with the businesses of other Italian Jewish families, in reprisals for the Italian-Turkish war that year.
However, the bank continued in business, and Poselli’s bank was one of the few buildings that survived the great fire that destroyed much of Thessaloniki in 1917. This building was renovated in 1926 to plans by the architect Maximilian Rubens. The bank continued to have branches in Thessaloniki until 1940, when the building was commandeered by the occupying Nazi forces.
The clock has stopped at 11:07, the time the earthquake hit Thessaloniki on 20 June 1978 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
When the major earthquake struck Thessaloniki on 20 June 1978, 45 people were killed many buildings were destroyed. The clock at the top of the façade of the old bank building was stuck at 11:07, the time the earthquake struck. And so it remains to this day, and the building is now a listed building.
The architect Vitaliano Poselli was born in Castiglione di Sicilia in 1838, and studied in Rome. In 1867, the Catholic Church commissioned him to build the Church of Saint Stephen in Constantinople.
From there, the Ottoman government sent him to Thessaloniki, where he built some of the most important public buildings in this city. He married and settled down here in 1888 and designed churches, buildings for foreign diplomats and missions and for the wealthy merchant families. He died 100 years ago in 1918, and many of his descendants still live in Thessaloniki.
The bank survives as a bar and is at the centre of night life in this part of Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
How one architect changed
the shape of Thessaloniki
Aristotelous Square is at the heart of Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018; click on image for full-screen view)
Patrick Comerford
The walk along the seafront in Thessaloniki, from Aristotelous Square (Πλατεία Αριστοτέλους, Platia Aristotelous) to the White Tower is a popular stroll in the evening for residents, students and tourists alike.
Aristotelous Square is the main square in the heart of Thessaloniki, and the like the White Tower it is virtually synonymous with the city itself. It is a venue for many cultural and political events, and is lined with hotels, cafés and bars.
The two quarter-circle sides of the square are occupied by two culturally important and imposing buildings: the Electra Palace Hotel, where I stayed while I was travelling to and from Mount Athos in 2004, and the Olympion Theatre cinema, the venue of the annual Thessaloniki International Film Festival.
Before the Great Fire that destroyed two-thirds of Thessaloniki in 1917, the city’s architecture of was more oriental rather than European, with many narrow streets and lacking any imposing façades, grand plaza or wide boulevards. In the wake of the fire, the square was designed 100 years ago in 1918 by the French architect, archaeologist and urban planner Ernest Hébrard (1875-1933), who proposed a number of large squares in Thessaloniki, including Aristotelous Square, which he planned to name after Alexander the Great.
The Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos commissioned Hébrard to redevelop the centre of this city. His vision was for a monumental axis for Thessaloniki, stretching from Aristotelous Square on the seafront to Venizelou Square and the Roman Forum. He wanted to name this axis after Alexander the Great, and to transform this into a city with boulevards and contemporary roadways, squares and parks.
For his monumental axis, Hébrard drew on elements in Byzantine and Western architecture rather than Ottoman architecture, to stress the city's connection with the Byzantine Empire. This style is most evident at Aristotelous Square, with a few building facades implementing some of Hébrard's original ideas. Additionally, a statue of Alexander the Great was to be placed in the middle of the square.
Hébrard designed the monumental axis so that looking uphill from the square we could see the Byzantine walls and the Upper Town. Facing out towards the Thermaic Gulf in the other direction, the square offers an outstanding view of Mount Olympus.
On each side of his wide boulevard there are arched pedestrian colonnades, reminiscent of the colonnades in Bologna and Milan.
The statue of Aristotle in Aristotelous Square (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
But since he first set out his concepts for the heart of Thessaloniki 100 years ago in 1918, Hébrard’s designs have been modified and simplified considerably, and have never been fully completed.
Most of the square was not completed until the 1950s, and the 12 key buildings that make up Aristotelous Square have been listed since 1950.
When I visited Thessaloniki as the European capital of culture in 1997, there was much talk of the city’s plans to redevelop the square and the waterfront. But none of these grand designs would see the light of day, although many of the buildings have since been renovated and restored in the last 20 years.
The statue of Aristotle was moved many years ago from the centre of the square to the side, and students say that if you hold the foot of the philosopher for a while some of his wisdom and knowledge will be passed on to you and you will pass any exam or test.
A Turkish inscription can be seen on a lintel in Valaoritou Street, between Syngrou Street and Ionos Dragoumi Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Here and there in the narrow side streets of Thessaloniki, there are remnants of the Ottoman past, in Turkish inscriptions over lintels or in some of the surviving hamams or baths, and one singular minaret.
But the heart of Thessaloniki owes its character to the imagination and vision of one French architect 100 years ago.
An evening walk along the seafront towards the White Tower in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Patrick Comerford
The walk along the seafront in Thessaloniki, from Aristotelous Square (Πλατεία Αριστοτέλους, Platia Aristotelous) to the White Tower is a popular stroll in the evening for residents, students and tourists alike.
Aristotelous Square is the main square in the heart of Thessaloniki, and the like the White Tower it is virtually synonymous with the city itself. It is a venue for many cultural and political events, and is lined with hotels, cafés and bars.
The two quarter-circle sides of the square are occupied by two culturally important and imposing buildings: the Electra Palace Hotel, where I stayed while I was travelling to and from Mount Athos in 2004, and the Olympion Theatre cinema, the venue of the annual Thessaloniki International Film Festival.
Before the Great Fire that destroyed two-thirds of Thessaloniki in 1917, the city’s architecture of was more oriental rather than European, with many narrow streets and lacking any imposing façades, grand plaza or wide boulevards. In the wake of the fire, the square was designed 100 years ago in 1918 by the French architect, archaeologist and urban planner Ernest Hébrard (1875-1933), who proposed a number of large squares in Thessaloniki, including Aristotelous Square, which he planned to name after Alexander the Great.
The Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos commissioned Hébrard to redevelop the centre of this city. His vision was for a monumental axis for Thessaloniki, stretching from Aristotelous Square on the seafront to Venizelou Square and the Roman Forum. He wanted to name this axis after Alexander the Great, and to transform this into a city with boulevards and contemporary roadways, squares and parks.
For his monumental axis, Hébrard drew on elements in Byzantine and Western architecture rather than Ottoman architecture, to stress the city's connection with the Byzantine Empire. This style is most evident at Aristotelous Square, with a few building facades implementing some of Hébrard's original ideas. Additionally, a statue of Alexander the Great was to be placed in the middle of the square.
Hébrard designed the monumental axis so that looking uphill from the square we could see the Byzantine walls and the Upper Town. Facing out towards the Thermaic Gulf in the other direction, the square offers an outstanding view of Mount Olympus.
On each side of his wide boulevard there are arched pedestrian colonnades, reminiscent of the colonnades in Bologna and Milan.
The statue of Aristotle in Aristotelous Square (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
But since he first set out his concepts for the heart of Thessaloniki 100 years ago in 1918, Hébrard’s designs have been modified and simplified considerably, and have never been fully completed.
Most of the square was not completed until the 1950s, and the 12 key buildings that make up Aristotelous Square have been listed since 1950.
When I visited Thessaloniki as the European capital of culture in 1997, there was much talk of the city’s plans to redevelop the square and the waterfront. But none of these grand designs would see the light of day, although many of the buildings have since been renovated and restored in the last 20 years.
The statue of Aristotle was moved many years ago from the centre of the square to the side, and students say that if you hold the foot of the philosopher for a while some of his wisdom and knowledge will be passed on to you and you will pass any exam or test.
A Turkish inscription can be seen on a lintel in Valaoritou Street, between Syngrou Street and Ionos Dragoumi Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Here and there in the narrow side streets of Thessaloniki, there are remnants of the Ottoman past, in Turkish inscriptions over lintels or in some of the surviving hamams or baths, and one singular minaret.
But the heart of Thessaloniki owes its character to the imagination and vision of one French architect 100 years ago.
An evening walk along the seafront towards the White Tower in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
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