Bensousan Han
The foundations and the ground floor were built since 1810 according to the Ottoman archives. Soon the first floor was complete and the building as a whole was a motel.
It belonged to Samuel Bensousan, a Jewish citizen of Thessaloniki, who during the last century of the Ottoman era, kept operating the building as a motel or inn ("han" in Turkish language means motel, inn or even small caravanserai). Bensousan Han survived the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 and kept its use as a motel until c.1930.
From then on it has been successively an exotic food store, a spice shop, a tuck shop, a fabric shop as well as a coffee shop. Its last post war use was as a customs office at the end of the 1970s. Then it was abandoned for almost 30 years.
Since 2007 it has been gradually rediscovered by the artistic community of Thessaloniki and today it holds theatrical and cultural events, exhibitions and festivals.
References
- ^ "Edessis street". google.gr/maps/.
- ^ Haddad-Ikonomopoulos, Marcia; Bedford, Bob. "Remembering August 18, 1917---The Great Fire of Thessaloniki" (PDF). kkjsm.org/. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 24, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
External links
- parallaximag: Bensousan Han
- closeupmag: τυφλόμυγα
- tumusicamovil: Καβάφης, το σύνταγμα της ηδονής (Κ.Θ.Β.Ε.)
- pontiaka.gr: Κωνσταντίνος και Ματθαίος Τσαχουρίδης "Αφηγήσεις"-DEStv
- naftemporiki.gr: Φόβος-Νίκος Καλαϊτζίδης βραβείο σκηνογραφίας «World Stage Design»
- TEDxThessaloniki 2014: Every End Is a Beginning (Director's Cut)
- L.reducta dance project | "Prêt a porter"
- "Κανελόριζα" της Σμαρώς Πλατιώτη
- parallaximag.gr: invitatio-storytellers
- heyevent: Bensousan Han
- nightlinx: Bensousan Han