By Sharon Gerstel,
professor of Byzantine Art and Archaeology, UCLA
I lived in Thessaloniki for a good part of my life, crossing Egnatia
every day to attend university classes. As a Byzantinist, the city was a dream
– a place to understand the great cultural movements of an empire. Embraced by
its Byzantine walls, the city is punctuated by churches that represent the
entire history of an empire.
ΨΗΦΙΣΤΕ ΝΑ ΜΕΙΝΟΥΝ ΤΑ ΑΡΧΑΙΑ ΣΤΗΝ ΘΕΣΗ ΤΟΥΣ, ΕΔΩ.
Thus, the discovery of the city’s main Byzantine
thoroughfare was an important find that laid out the everyday lives of those
who lived in the medieval city. It allowed us, for the first time, to walk in
the footsteps of those who had come before.
The road—and the shops that lined
the road—provided a unique window into the past for those who study history,
but also for those who love Thessaloniki.
If Athens promotes Greece’s ancient
past, Thessaloniki showcases more than a millennium when it was the most
important city in Hellas. Today’s unanimous decision by the Central
Archaeological Council (ΚΑΣ) to tear up the
remains of the Byzantine road is an act of erasure, a “dark day for culture.”
ΠΕΡΙΣΣΟΤΕΡΑ για το ΜΕΤΡΟ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗΣ, ΕΔΩ.
One wonders if the ancient agora in Athens were paved over, would anyone
object?
Or, are such reckless decisions only directed at “second cities” whose
remains may not fit the overarching narrative of Greek history that is rooted
in the classical past?
Ντροπή.
ΠΗΓΗ: Sharon Gerstel, 24.9.2020. ΑΡΧΕΙΟΝ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ, 25.9.2020.
