During the seven years of excavations in the four (from the seven) metro stations in Thessaloniki, archaeologists have found more than 104,000 archaeological findings like coins, vases, golden and silver jewels, ceramics etc.
Despina Makropoulos, the president of the 9th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, talked about the history of these four metro stations and the findings, during a lecture at the archaeological museum of the city, on Monday.
She talked about the Golden Gate and the Gate of Vardaris (station of Platia Dimokratias and crossway to Stavroupoli) and their timeless use for more than six centuries (necropolises, roads, entrance to the city, cemeteries from the later roman years to the Turkish occupation, muslim graves).
The narration continued with references to the station of Sintrivani, in the eastern part of the city, and the discovery of an early christian basilica, in 2009. She talked about the station of Agia Sofia and the discovery of Decoumanous Maximous (avenue of the ancient years) of which only the northern part was excavated as the southern is covered by the current Platia Makedonomahon. Finally she talked about the impressive findings in Venizelos Station.
At the end of the lecture, she mentioned the decision of the State to remove and store the findings in another place and the 12,500 signatures collected by Greek and foreign scientists supporting the “historical necessity of coexistence of the archaeological findings with the modern metro.”
“It is true that the works for the construction of the metro were the reason to start learning about the history of our city. However we should ensure the rescue of these findings. We want to build our future on the knowledge of the historical past, not on its ruins,” she said.
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