municipality of thessaloniki

Municipalityof Thessaloniki

THE“ANO POLIS” (UPPER CITY) PROJECT

This document is dedicated to the unemployed workersfor their future achievements.

It is remarkable how a trustworthy agreement betweenentrepreneur, master mason and labor apprentice establishcivilizations. The need for a job is only a spark for the ignition ofconstruction machines. The real force is this strong agreement.

Ioannis Emmanouilidis : Municipality of Thessaloniki THE “ANO POLIS” (UPPER CITY) PROJECT 22

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The period 1979-1983 was a sort period of mild economic depression for Greece. That timethe Greek Government decided to take action against unemployment. Therefore small constructionprograms begun to run all over the country and the Municipality of Thessaloniki was a center werea major part of the state's budget for public works should be invested to reduce the unemploymentpercentage.

About two hundred employees (Engineers, Foremen, Labor workers) were hired by theMunicipality's Administration of Technical Services, to construct many small scale works, mainlycity's roads. Some of these workers were not relative to construction business but simply personsthat lost their jobs. Among them were unemployed from other professions as for example a tailor, acoal miner, a few merchants, a teacher, etc, who decided to change their professional designation infavor of a viable salary. Among them were also elders who needed just a few wages to fulfill thenecessary terms for their pension.

In a special meeting in his Office with the Engineers, the Mayor Mr. Theocharis Manavisproposed that within a year's period all city's problematic roads, narrow roads, roads having accessproblems, roads having safety problems or damaged substructure, should be upgraded or rebuild inorder to absorb the approved budget for construction. It was rather a dramatic situation since theservice was not ready for a huge project like this.

To do so, the Administration of Technical Services of Thessaloniki's Municipality dividedthe area of the city in regions and gave the authority of supervising the enclosed to these areasprojects to different Engineers. Each Engineer was in charge of about three groups of workers, moreor less, depending on the magnitude of the area or the importance of the local project. The foremanincluded, each group was a seven workers team.

Having a six months working contract with the Municipality I was assigned to the region“H” which covers the district of the “Ano Polis” (Upper City) where the Old Byzantine Citadel wassited surrounded by a wide neighborhood having old houses with narrow streets or no streets at all.A small portion of region “B”, the region of suburbs of old city, was also my responsibility.

The design that we should implement for “Ano Polis”, was a statement of aspectsconcerning the final shape of the architectural environment of the Citadel for the preservation of theambient and the colors of the Byzantine face of the neighborhood including the compliance with theobligations that the Municipality had in favor of the local citizens.

To fulfill these requirements as Supervising Engineer, I should survey the area and cooperatewith the Service of Byzantine Archeology and the Architectural Office of “Ano Polis” in order toproduce an acceptable and approved design of the roads. Small necessary expropriations should bearranged and local structures or findings having Archaeological value should be preserved andconsidered to the design.

The construction of kerbs and kerbsides, of sidewalks, of retaining walls, of steps, therelocation and development of the public utilities/lines, etc should be constructed with similar toexisting local and traditional materials, bricks, stones of different kinds (mainly serpentine, granite)etc. All, including the method of construction, should have the approval from the above mentioned


Services. Finally collaboration with the city's Services of Public Utilities, fresh Water supply,Electric Power Supply, telephone and Sewers was necessary to ensure that existing, new or futurelines would be compatible to the road design.

When the designs approved, as Supervising Engineer, I should act as Resident Engineer andSite Engineer as well.

So the three groups of workers, that I was managing, were assigned to three sites of “Ano Polis”(Area H) named after the city's road that they had to develop.

· site Karadimu – Palikaridi (Ahtari junction) streets which had the strongest Archaelogicalrestrictions due to the clear Byzantine air of the neighborhood.

· site Athina –Acropolis/Theotokopulos parodos (Library's bystreet) which had the priority ofArchitectural interests due to the Municipality's popular Library.

· site Kapetan Agra which was important due to the existing, that time, traffic circulation andfuture city's traffic arrangements. The Street Kapetan Agra was not inside the region “H”. Itwas assigned to my authority due to the closeness and traffic circulation continuity withregion “H”

In general the works that should be constructed were in brief a) the demolishing of oldstructures under the permission of the above mentioned Services in order to widen the narrow roads,b) the excavation for the construction of public utilities (sewers, telephone lines, street lighting), c)the reconstruction of superstructure and substructure of the roads according to the specifications ofArcheology, Architectural Office and Municipality and finally d) The development of the safety andgood traffic circulation of each neighborhood.

It was a hard work mainly because all parts should be constructed by hand due to thedifficult access of heavy machinery, the difficulty due not only to the narrow streets and the absenceof maneuverability but to the very steep slopes of the construction sites as well.

Provision also should be for the materials needed because most of them should be naturaland of variety identical or very similar to the existing. Only few providers could produce suchmaterials and to that time the production was limited to every day levels and not to the sadden rushof the public works at the beginning of the programs for the unemployment.

The structure (layout) of the labor groups was following the typical scheme of:

1. One (1) Manager, Site and Resident Engineer (Guiding workers for the application ofdrawings and meet of approved specifications, reports of progress, managing projects andtime-line and following procedures)

2. One (1) Foreman (supervision of workers)3. Two (2) Stone builders (horizontally for the sidewalks and vertical for the retaining walls)4. One (1) Kerb layer for the roads (typical concrete or byzantine type)5. Two (2) General form-works and concrete masons6. One (1) Manual labor assistant

Central office provisions were held at Municipality (City Hall) as follows:

1. Economics and Payment of workers2. Every day provision of materials3. Reports to the Director of Service and also references to Mayor's Council.


A. ATHENA STREET.

The purpose of Athena street project was a) to demolish old and wreckage buildings, to cutthrough and widen the existing road of various widths (5,0m-7,0m) to a 8,0m wide carriagewayhaving two lanes and two traffic directions, b) to reconstruct the sidewalks at specific elevationsadjusted to existing entrances of new buildings (houses and stores) so that rain waters could flowwithout flooding them, and c) give the required traditional local aspect to the neighborhood. Thiswas a design for the 150m out of total 300m of the street.

The excavations revealed a cistern of a mythical water tap lost decades ago. In a later stageof the architectural development of the area this cistern was integrated in a public structure and nowdecorates the fountain of the neighborhood‘s square.

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A Google snapshot showing the 150m part of ATHENA street that was reconstructed


A view of west part of ATHENA street before reconstruction

The same view of west part of ATHENA street as it is today.


A view of east part of ATHENA street before reconstruction

The same view of east part of ATHENA street as it is today


The cistern that excavations revealed at the sidewalks of ATHENA street

The architectural structure were this cistern integrated now decorates the fountain of theneighborhood‘s square.


The group of ATHENA Street’s workers during the construction of sidewalks and kerbs


B. ACROPOLIS/THEOTOKOPULOS PARODOS (Library's bystreet).

The purpose of Acropolis/Theotokopulos parodos (Library's bystreet) street project was a) toconstruct from the beginning a stairway road to join the Acropolis street (up) and Theotokopulosstreet (down) which have a 6,0m difference in elevation, b) to construct sidewalks and door steps atspecific elevations adjusted to existing entrances of buildings (houses and stores) so that access toof all inhabitants would be feasible and c) give a traditional local aspect to the neighborhood,something that was necessary due to the architectural design of Public Library. This was a designfor the 35m of the street that was approved by the Architectural Office of “Ano Polis” as it wasproposed by the Architect Miltos Mavromatis.

This design involved three type of stones and materials common found in the traditional areaof ANO POLIS.

A Google snapshot showing the 150m part of ATHENA street that was reconstructed.


The end of the existing earth-road (up) at the corner of the Public Librarythat was joining Acropolis and Theotokopulos streets

The end of the stairway road at the corner of the Public Library as it istoday after the construction works


A view of the higher part of the stairway during construction.

A view of the higher part of the stairway as it is today.


A view of the lower part of the stairway during construction. During works a local habitant usessafely the passage to enter his home.

A view of the lower part of the stairway as it is today


C. KARADIMU - PALIKARIDI (AHTARI junction) STREETS.

The purpose of Karadimu – Palikaridi (Ahtari junction) streets project was a) to demolishold and wreckage structures, mainly debris and ruined walls to cut through and widen the existingroads of various widths (1,0m-3,0m) to a 4,0m wide carriageway having one capacious lane andtwo regulated traffic directions, b) to reconstruct the sidewalks at specific elevations adjusted toexisting entrances of old and new buildings (houses) so that access of all inhabitants would befeasible , c) to demolish the stairs of Ahtari street and develop a road junction with a small park andc) give a traditional local aspect to the neighborhood which has very strong Archaelogicalrestrictions due to the clear Byzantine air of the neighborhood and the fountain which nowdecorates the neighborhood‘s park.

The fountain is a part of the of the old city byzantine era fresh water supply system whichwas transferring fresh water from the springs of mountain Hortiates.

This was a design for the 170,0m of Karadimu street, the 37,0m of Palikaridi stairway streetand 25,0 m of Ahtari street.

A Google snapshot showing the 150m part of ATHENA street that was reconstructed.


The junction Ahtari-Karadimuduring construction (up) and asit is today (left photo).


The extension of Karadimu street towards the walls of the old byzantine castle before the cutthrough the ruins of old structures.

The extension of Karadimu street towards the walls of the old byzantine castle as it is today.


The byzantine fountain during the construction works.

The byzantine fountain as it is today, the stairway of Palicaridi street and the local park


The group of Karadimou Street’sworkers during the construction ofsidewalks (up) and the stairwaybetween the fountain and the park ofthe Ahtari junction (left photo) as it istoday .


D. KAPETAN AGRA STREET.

The purpose of Kapetan Agra street project was a) to demolish old and wreckage structuresto cut through and widen the existing road to an 8,0m wide carriageway having two lanes and twotraffic directions, b) to reconstruct the sidewalks at specific elevations adjusted to existing entrancesof old and new buildings (houses and stores) so that access to all habitants would be feasible, c) toconstruct sewers to existing buildings and lower existing public utilities and street lighting d) giveto the local traffic a safe exit to Mushudi square.

This was a plan for the 190,0m of street Kapetan Agra, out of 320,0m of total length.

During the construction of sewers the excavations revealed a crypt were a small treasure ofbyzantine coins was found. This treasure exhibit is a reference at the history museum ofThessaloniki.

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Kapetan Agra Street duringconstruction works (up) and as itis today (left photo)


The construction included manholes and pipelines. These works were under the approval of PublicSewers Organization.

The crypt where the treasure was found.


The group of Kapetan AgraStreet workers during theexcavations (up) and thelocation where the byzantinetreasure was found (left photo)as it is today.

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