White Tower description and photos - Greece: Thessaloniki (Topic)

White Tower description and photos - Greece: Thessaloniki. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is White Tower.

Photo and description

The White Tower is a visiting card and one of the most interesting sights of Thessaloniki, as well as an important historical and architectural monument.

The White Tower was built by the Turks in the 15th m century as part of the fortifications protecting the city's harbor, on the site of the old Byzantine fortifications. Some historians believe that the fort was erected by the famous Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, who specializes in such structures, but documentary evidence of this version has not been found. During the period of Turkish domination, the tower was used not only as a fort; it also housed a barracks for some time, and then a city prison. In 1826, it was in this tower, by order of Sultan Mahmud II, that a mass execution of the rebellious janissaries took place. Due to the huge number of ruined souls, the name "Tower of Blood" or "Red Tower" was firmly entrenched behind the tower.

In 1912 Thessaloniki was liberated and officially became part of Greece. After a large-scale reconstruction, as a sign of cleansing from the blood spilled in its walls, the old tower was whitewashed, and the building was named "White Tower" (it should be noted that despite the fact that today the tower is called "white", it is rather gray or , more precisely, "buff color"). In 1917, additional fortifications protecting the tower were demolished.

The White Tower is a very impressive structure of two cylindrical towers - a large and a small one. The height of the large six-story tower is 34 m, and the diameter is 23 m,

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Topic: White Tower description and photos - Greece: Thessaloniki.