A mosque that sat behind scaffolding for nearly half a century reopened in Thessaloniki on Sunday, and the city is treat...

A mosque that sat behind scaffolding for nearly half a century reopened in Thessaloniki on Sunday, and the city is treating it as a landmark moment. The Hamza Bey Mosque, known locally as the "Alcazar," completed a full restoration and opened its doors to the public right next to the Venizelos Metro station. Culture Minister Lina Mendoni officially handed the monument back to the city, where it will now function as a cultural venue run jointly by MOMus and the Thessaloniki Antiquities Authority. The building is the oldest Islamic place of worship built in Thessaloniki after the Ottoman conquest of 1430. According to its founding inscription, it was built in 1467-68 by Hafsa, daughter of Hamza Bey, as a neighborhood mosque. It started as a domed prayer hall with a portico, was expanded into a full mosque with a minaret in the mid-16th century, and gained a three-sided arcade to the west later that century, forming a rectangular courtyard. That courtyard layout is unique in the Balkans outside of imperial foundations in Edirne and Constantinople. After the population exchange of the 1920s, the courtyard was turned into a cinema, which is where the "Alcazar" name the city still uses actually comes from. MOMus president Epameinondas Christofilopoulos noted that the monument had essentially disappeared from city life for around fifty years. Mendoni described the restoration as the close of a full cycle of ministry projects in Thessaloniki over the past four and a half years. She also pointed to ongoing works in the city, including the unification of archaeological sites, new lighting for the city walls and the White Tower, and the restoration of the former FIX brewery. The opening exhibition, "Thessaloniki: The Imprint of Transition (1960-1980)," presents black-and-white photographs by Thessaloniki photographer Pete Marifoglou, many published publicly for the first time. The images capture the city during a period of rapid transformation, with traditional landmarks sitting alongside a modernizing urban landscape. The mosque is open daily except Mondays, from 10:00 to 18:00. Entry is free for the first two weeks, after which a small admission fee will apply. ...