Thessaloniki Pasha's Gardens

Location: Old Town Ano Poli

The Pasha's Gardens are a favorite place of Thessaloniki’s inhabitants. It is known that their construction dates back to around 1904, yet the origin of its name and its architecture remain a mystery. It is also known that this park was built in a pine forest and the buildings were mainly fountains.

Those who have visited Barcelona will see the striking resemblance in the style of the buildings of the Pasha's Gardens to Gaudí's famous works, especially Güell Park. Such unique architectural structures cannot be found anywhere else in the country.

The area belonged to the church but was granted to a fraternity to establish a cemetery in 1875. In 1901, though, it passed to the Ottomans. They built the Hamidier Hospital whose park area was a part of the hospital. Later, when the city became Greek again, the hospital changed its name to Agios Dimitrios Hospital and the park opened to the public.

The construction materials of the park are ironwork, stones and bricks. During the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923, the Greek refugees who settled in the former houses of Turks looted the monument to get its materials and use them for the houses, leading to the current image of the park differing significantly from the initial.