An exhibition in Pristina, Kosovo, is turning the spotlight on Thessaloniki's layered past, tracing the city's social and cultural life at the turn of the 20th century - when it stood as one of the eastern Mediterranean's most important ports and a crossroads for the Balkans and wider Europe.
Titled "Thessaloniki in the late 19th - early 20th century, Social and Cultural Life", the temporary exhibition is co-organised by the Foundation of the Museum for the Macedonian Struggle and Modern History of Macedonia and the Greek Liaison Office in Pristina. Hosted at the Gallery of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Pristina, it draws on period newspapers, photographs, and testimonies from the Haitoglou and Konstantinidis archives, as well as collections held by the museum and by the historian Vassilis Gounaris.
The material reconstructs a city shaped by coexistence, a meeting point of Mediterranean and European cultures, through sections on professions, education, architecture and everyday life. It also revisits defining traumas, including the Great Fire of 1917, which destroyed the historic centre and radically altered the urban landscape, and the arrival of tens of thousands of refugees after the Asia Minor Catastrophe in 1922. Among the more dramatic episodes featured is the Zeppelin LZ 85 bombing raid of 5 May 1916 and its eventual downing near the Axios river estuary.
Greek Ambassador Eleni Vakali linked the exhibition to growing people-to-people ties. Since the lifting of short-stay Schengen visa requirements, she noted, many Kosovars travel to Greece, with large numbers visiting Thessaloniki "almost every second weekend". The trend, she said, allows the two societies "to come closer and get to know each other better and in depth". "As I said to the visitors of the exhibition, I think that we will all recognise a part of ourselves in the photographs", Vakali added.
According to curator Stavroula Mavrogeni, the exhibition aims "to bring to life snapshots of the economic, social and cultural life of Thessaloniki", portraying a city "in constant transition" at the turn of the 20th century. With its port emerging as one of the Mediterranean's key trading hubs for tobacco, cotton, grain and textiles, Thessaloniki saw rapid industrial growth between 1870 and 1890, as factories, banks and warehouses expanded and major tobacco firms such as "Olympus", "Nestos" and "Atlas" employed thousands.
She also speaks of the city's multi-ethnic and multi-religious character, where Greek Orthodox Christians, Sephardic Jews and Muslims lived alongside Slavs, Armenians and Western Europeans in a multilingual society. Distinct religious holidays shaped weekly life, while diverse communities and foreign schools reflected a vibrant educational landscape that was gradually integrated into the Greek state after 1912, with the founding of Aristotle University in 1925.
The exhibition has drawn diplomats, MPs, EU and Western Balkan representatives, academics and artists, and runs until 3 March 2026. Accompanied by a detailed catalogue, it has already sparked discussions on university and artistic collaborations, reinforcing Thessaloniki's enduring role as a cultural bridge across the Balkans.
