Patrick Comerford
I was recalling the other evening how I have come across a collection of photographs of modern sculptures in the streets and parks of Thessaloniki and realised that I had written little about these sculptures over the years.
Rather than leave the photographs and memories in forgotten files on my laptop or in the cloud, I decided to start an occasional series of blog postings on some of those modern sculptures I have rediscovered in Thessaloniki. Over the next few weeks, I am inviting you to join me in a minor odyssey of recovery and discovery as my mind wanders through Thessaloniki, looking at these sculptures again.
The equestrian statue of Alexander the Great, on the Nea Paralia promenade near the White Tower, dominates the seafront of Thessaloniki. It is both a national symbol and a popular gathering point for local people and tourists alike and it is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the city.
Alexander the Great was the son of Philip of Macedon and completed his father’s life-work by unifying all Greek cities. He then marched against the Persians, reaching as far as Egypt and India. At 33, he had conquered most of the then known world.
When Alexander the Great died in Babylon in 323 BCE, his empire stretched from Thrace and Macedonia to Egypt and India, and Greek civilisation spread all over the world, influencing science, art and culture.
The statue of Alexander the Great in Thessaloniki by the sculptor Evangelos (Vangelis) Moustakas (Ευάγγελος Μουστάκας) is set in an impressive bronze complex, standing at 6.15 metres high. When the pedestal of dark marble from Melissochori is included, the entire monument is 11 metres high, making it the largest sculpture in Greece.
This statue is also the best-known work by the Greek sculptor Evangelos (Vangelis) Moustakas (1930-2025). It was completed in 1973 and was officially unveiled in August 1974, three months before the colonels’ dictatorship fell.
The main sculpture depicts Alexander the Great on his impetuous horse Bucephalus (Βουκεφᾰ́λᾱς), who is seen as nervous and raised. Alexander is alert, holding the horse’s reins with ease, cradling the sword he used to cut the Gordian knot, and facing east – the direction of his military campaigns that eventually reached India.
A low wall features a bronze relief of the Battle of Issus (333 BCE), where Alexander defeated the Persian King Darius III. The installation is flanked by two arrays of Macedonian spears (sarissas) and shields bearing symbols of his army, such as a lion, an ox, a falcon, a snake and the Medusa Gorgon.
Moustakas wanted to portray Alexander as ‘majestic and imposing, dynamic and elevated by a sense of vision.’ He placed him atop a ‘beast of a horse,’ as the sculptor described him. The equestrian composition, weighing about five tons, required demanding studies of balance and centre of gravity so that, despite its massive size, it would create the impression of almost floating in the air.
The composition of the sculpture was the result of deep study. The artist envisioned a horse that was almost mythical, a symbol of untamed strength, and a commander who was grand, determined, and ready to sever the Gordian Knot.
The statue was funded through public fundraising campaigns and donations, with schools also contributing. The work was commissioned in 1971, when the colonels’ junta that controlled Greece from 1967 to 1974 was using events and figures from the past, including Alexander the Great and the leaders of the Greek Revolution in 1821, for nationalist and propaganda purposes. A generation before the colonels, the Metaxas Regime (1936-1941) raised Alexander to the status of national hero.
As Moustakas himself commented, at the time when the statue was being put in place in summer 1974, civil conflict in Cyprus led to the Turkish invasion of the island. The consequent loss of face for the Greek military was among the factors, including student demonstrations (particularly at the Athens Polytechnic) supported by artists, intellectuals and working people, that brought about the fall of the dictatorship.
The archaeologist Manolis Andronikos (1919-1992), who was a member of the jury that selected the winning project, later claimed to have discovered the royal necropolis at Vergina, 75 km west of Thessaloniki, in 1977, including Philip II of Macedon and the 16-ray ‘Sun of Vergina’.
The sculptor Vangelis Moustakas died last year (28 November 2025) at the age of 95. He was born in Piraeus and from an early age showed his artistic and creative nature. Most of his public sculpture commissions were for war memorials, including a number around Greece commemorating fallen airmen.
He studied sculpture at the National School of Fine Arts of Greece (1950-1953) under Professor Michalis Tombros, and continued his studies at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts (1960-1963) on a scholarship. He continued with studies in engraving and copper casting.
He collaborated with the architect Walter Gropius in 1963 in the production of decorative reliefs in the University of Baghdad. He won various prizes, including the gold medal of the Alexandria Biennale (1968). He worked in art restoration as well as a secondary school teacher.
His profile on the National Gallery site says, ‘the axis of Vangelis Moustakas’s work is the human figure. Personal experience or social and historical events provide his points of reference. The product of free inspiration or public commissions, his work is characterised by diversity and blends elements of ancient Greek sculpture and contemporary styles as well as treating the void as an integral part of the sculpture.’
Through his art, Evangelos Moustakas leaves an indelible mark on modern Greek sculpture. His monuments and free compositions are timeless works that engage in a dialogue with the past, present, and future of art. His wife was the poet Zoe Savina.
Throughout the 1990s, the statue of Alexander the Great was a popular rallying point for protests in Thessaloniki about the use of the name Macedonia by the former Yugoslav republic now known as North Macedonia. Right-wing nationalists have often appropriated the sculpture as a symbol of a ‘Greek cultural superiority’, the state’s military power and a symbol of an aspiration to reclaim former Greek territories.
The public park area around Alexander’s Garden (ο κήπος του Αλεξάνδρου), the piazza on which the monument stands, was reopened to the public in 2014 after substantial renovation that began in 2011.
The tree-lined piazza connects 30th October 1944 Avenue (Λεωφόρος 30ης Οκτωβρίου 1944, Leoforos 30is Oktovriou 1944), on the land side, with the broad pedestrianised seaside promenade. Today the marble base is also a meeting place for young people near the seafront and a major landmark in the city.
In this series:
1, Introduction (21 September 2026)
2, Aristotle by Giorgos Georgiadis, Aristotelous Square (22 September 2026)
3, Alexander the Great by Evangelos Moustakas, Alexander’s Garden (23 September 2026)
Next, Eleftherios Venizelos by Giannis Pappas, Plateia Dikastirion (24 September 2026)
