Exchangeable buildings, silent legacies: The temporary settlement of Asia Minor refugees and the mosques of Thessaloniki
(EN)
Πούλος, Παναγιώτης Κ.
Καλλιμοπούλου, Ελένη
At a transitional phase in the history of Thessaloniki, many public buildingswere requisitioned to cover the urgent housing needs of the AsiaMinor refugees who kept arriving to the city. The mosques of the city providedan instant means of shelter for refugees, as did the various ChristianOrthodox churches that had been turned into mosques in Ottoman timesand returned to the Greek community and to their initial usage followingthe incorporation of Thessaloniki in the Greek Kingdom. The changes inthe usage of the buildings, which are documented in detail in the presentarticle, played a part in the gradual obliteration from public space of theMuslim community and the recent Ottoman past, while they also attestedand contributed to the refugee heritage of Thessaloniki.A crucial but little explored dimension of the aforementioned changesconcerns the sonic mark of religious buildings on public space. The presentstudy focuses on this historical moment of transition for Thessaloniki,through the history of sound in the everyday life of these buildings.Through archival sources, oral testimonies and references in the press, weseek to document and uncover the aural dimension, which forms also animportant aspect in the history of the refugee settlement in Thessaloniki.
(EN)
