White Tower of Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki

#1 Among Things To Do in Thessaloniki

Weather :

Tags : Monument

Timings : Summer (April 1 - October 31): Everyday - 08:00 AM to 08:00 PM
Winter (November 1 - March 31): Everyday - 08:30 AM to 03:30 PM
Good Friday: 12:00 PM to 05:00 PM
Holy Saturday: 08:00 AM to 03:00 PM
Closed on 25th and 26th December, 1st January, 25th March, Easter Sunday, and 1st May

Ticket Price : Main Ticket for Museum: EUR 8
Reduced Ticket for Museum (Senior citizens over 65 years of age and children and young people between 6 and 25 years of age from outside the European Union): EUR 4
Main Ticket for White Tower: EUR 6
Reduced Ticket for White Tower (Senior citizens over 65 years of age and children and young people between 6 and 25 years of age from outside the European Union): EUR 3
Ticket price from 1st November to 31st March for the museum is EUR 4 and for White Tower is EUR 3 (Entry is free on the first Sunday of every month during this period)
Combined ticket (with three other sites): EUR 15
Free entry for children and young people under 25 years of age (from EU nations) and children under 5 years (outside EU nations).

Free entry days : OXI Day (National Holiday) - 28th October
International Day of Monuments - 18th April
International Day of Museums - 18th May
European Days of Cultural Heritage - Last weekend of September
Memorial Day of Melina Mercouri - 6th March

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White Tower, Thessaloniki Overview

Standing on the city’s waterfront boulevard at the point where Nikis Avenue meets Alexander the Great Avenue, the White Tower of Thessaloniki is rich in Macedonian history. The tower served as a communication centre for the Allied Forces during World War I and later accommodated Thessaloniki’s air defence and meteorological departments. Today, the tower houses the Museum of Byzantine Culture, with the country’s social, cultural, and political evolution through history on display.

The monument was reconstructed on top of an old Byzantine structure in 1430 to fortify the city after Ottoman Emperor Sultan Murad II’s invasion. During Ottoman rule, the tower saw a notorious amount of bloodbaths as the Empire used it as a prison and regularly mass-executed prisoners. This got the monument the name ‘Tower of Blood’ till Greece took back the city in 1912 and eventually whitewashed the tower.