ABSTRACT

Scientific interest in the past and archaeology are part of European modernism and are part of a teleological idea of historical time. Ottoman interest in archaeology in Thessaloniki evolves from its first disorganized steps in 1832 to the improvement and systemization of its efforts and finally to the official calendars published by the Thessaloniki provincial administration, in which one section is devoted to the antiquities. Thessaloniki at the beginning of the twentieth century is recognized as a model city for modernization and westernization. However, unlike in other sectors such as education or industry, interest in archaeology focused on the imperial center, Istanbul. Thessaloniki was on the archaeological periphery, feeding the imperial collections in the capital with its finds. Ottoman Thessaloniki never acquired an archaeological museum, unlike other modernizing cities in the east, and this was remedied only in 1925 under Greek administration, using the New Mosque of the Dönme for the purpose.