After years of legal disputes and delays, the long-stalled redevelopment of Eleftherias Square in central Thessaloniki is now set to proceed, marking a decisive step towards its transformation into the Park of Memory for the Jewish Martyrs of the Holocaust.
The breakthrough came last week, when the deadline for the second contractor to lodge further appeals before the administrative courts expired. With no new legal challenge submitted, the path has cleared for the municipality to move forward with the original winning contractor from the tender process. Thessaloniki’s mayor, Stelios Angeloudis, has stated that the municipality will now complete the remaining formalities, including approval by the Hellenic Court of Audit, the ‘Elegktiko Synedrio’, before signing the contract and commencing works. The contractor is expected to establish the construction site immediately thereafter.
The redevelopment has an estimated budget of approximately €6 million and an anticipated completion timeline of 18 months, although the mayor indicated that efforts will be made to deliver the project earlier. The square currently functions as a car park, but this use will cease shortly before construction begins. To mitigate the impact, the municipality has already coordinated with the Thessaloniki Port Authority to provide 234 alternative parking spaces, following an agreement reached in March 2024.
City officials expressed strong satisfaction that the project, one of the most emblematic initiatives of the current municipal administration, has finally been unblocked. The mayor, Stelios Angeloudis, said, “For us, and for me personally, Eleftherias Square holds particular significance. It is the first project I announced, the first project through which the new municipal administration received funding from the central government, and a project that symbolises the memory of our fellow citizens, the Jewish community of Thessaloniki, who were lost in such a tragic and inhumane way, while at the same time transforming the character of the city.”
Plans for the new square aim to combine remembrance, historical reflection and urban renewal. Eleftherias Square is recognised as a site of martyrdom for the city’s Jewish population during the Holocaust, and the existing Holocaust memorial will be relocated to a more prominent position. Enhanced night-time lighting will further highlight the monument and reinforce its commemorative role.
The square’s redesign also includes a solar clock, an outdoor public screen, the visual enhancement of nearby Byzantine walls, and an extensive lighting scheme featuring in-ground “walk-over” lights that create a luminous canopy effect across the square, supplemented by pole-mounted fixtures. Greenery will play a central role, with trees and planting forming a bioclimatic landscape. A unified paved surface and a shaded seating zone arranged amphitheatrically towards the sea are also planned.
