Our second day in Thessaloniki was spent on foot. We started the morning by walking to the Panagia Chalkeon (Church of the metalworkers) built in 1028. Glen talked to us about the church and told us the story of the 40 martyrs who were thrown into a lake.
Also perhaps part of Galerius' building plan is this area referred to as the "palace complex." I will remember this site for the dozen or so cats I saw running around or lounging about and the tall apartment buildings with tall antennae on top.
We couldn't go inside the main body of the church because, as a still functioning church, the liturgies were being held while we were there.
Next we visited the Roman Agora/Forum area where Rachel gave her report on the various building that once stood there, like the baths
and the theater, which appears to have been fancied up for recent use.
Our next stop was another church, this one built in the 460s and also still in use, but we got there just as the liturgies ended so we were allowed inside.
The church was converted into a mosque by the Turks in 1430 but was reconverted into a Christian Church in 1912 after the surrender of the Ottoman Garrison in Thessaloniki.
The Rotunda, our next stop, commissioned by the Roman emperor Galerius, had also been a Christian church converted into a mosque and back into a church of sorts. Right now it's under renovation and so long as it is, it's also under archaeological study.
Galerius also had an arch built not far from the Rotunda commemorating the (eventual) Roman victory against the Sassanid Persians in 298.
Also perhaps part of Galerius' building plan is this area referred to as the "palace complex." I will remember this site for the dozen or so cats I saw running around or lounging about and the tall apartment buildings with tall antennae on top.
During the lunch break and on our way to the Byzantine Museum, Andrew and I came upon an archaeological site under a major road. There wasn't any signage to let us know exactly what it was, but it looked perhaps like parts of a Christian church.
At the Byzantine museum we were allowed down into the labs The director of the lab talked to us about restoration techniques and showed a 10th century painting of Jesus on wood which was being cleaned along with many other not as old paintings. In the sculpture and stone lab, the director showed us a marble head that was being cleaned and sketches of relief sculpture on marble blocks drawn by members of his team. Pretty cool.
When our lab tour ended, I went back to the exhibits in the Byzantine Museum. I was really tired so I went through the museum pretty fast. Here are some highlights:
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