A photograph from 1916 shows a towering oak tree dominating the courtyard of the Talmud Torah synagogue, last rebuilt in 1902. It prompts viewers to ask: where is this place in today’s Thessaloniki? Few residents or visitors to the city know that, for centuries, the heart of Thessaloniki was home to more than twenty synagogues—none of which remain today. These synagogues were repeatedly destroyed by fires over the years and rebuilt on the same sites. However, in 1925, they were demolished permanently to make way for the urban redevelopment plan of architect Ernest Hébrard, who reshaped the city without considering its deep Jewish history.
The Holocaust not only claimed the lives of Thessaloniki’s Jewish population but also erased the memories of their synagogues. Yet archives and a few surviving photographs bear witness to these intangible monuments of Thessaloniki’s Jewish community, which thrived for over four centuries.
Beginning in the late 15th century, Jewish refugees from Western and Central Europe arrived in Thessaloniki, establishing 26 distinct Jewish communities clustered in a small area near the harbor. Each community built its own synagogue, creating a vibrant and concentrated center of Jewish life. At the heart of this network was the Talmud Torah complex, which included a school, boarding school, workshops, the central synagogue, and other synagogues, including those of Sicily, Catalonia, Maghreb, and Lisbon. Nearby stood the Ashkenazim synagogue, the Castile synagogue, the Calabria synagogue, and Shalom, one of the city’s oldest synagogues.
Notably, the area around the Talmud Torah complex was the only part of Thessaloniki where no Islamic mosques were built. Historical records suggest that, during the Byzantine era, the site housed a monastery that later became a construction site after the city’s fall. In the late 15th century, the first Jewish refugees to Thessaloniki were forced to work here, manufacturing weapons and ammunition for the Ottoman army. In return, they were granted the right to settle in the area and build their places of worship.
