In 2024, the remains of an ancient Roman road were discovered during excavations for a new Thessaloniki subway station. Archeologists say the thoroughfare, paved in marble and lined with columns, was built “more than 2,300 years ago”!
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“Metro engineers argued the historical remnants needed to be moved to continue subway construction. Cultural preservationists insisted the artifacts remain in situ and visible in their original setting, as a monument to city history.” Forbes
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“The company behind the transportation project redesigned the Venizelou Metro Station, boring subway tunnels 102 feet deeper than originally planned. This allowed the once-bustling road that ran through a Byzantine market to remain intact as an open archaeological site.
Today, a stretch of the street and fragments of stone walls that housed shops and public buildings, form a subterranean museum within Venizelou Metro Station. Visitors hurrying to and from driverless trains can glimpse the distant past through transparent suspended floors.”
Venizelou Station is “both a modern transport hub and a gateway to the past”. It highlights the cultural richness of Thessaloniki”.
The Thessaloniki Metro took two decades to complete. It was delayed by “funding challenges during a financial crisis that plunged Greece into debt default and depression, and tension between preserving antiquities and advancing modern urban transport.”
The Venizelou Station is near my apartment in central Thessaloniki. Viewing ancient ruins amidst a fully-automated, state-of-the-art metro system is amazing! On Saturday, I leave Greece for Istanbul Turkey, an exciting, favorite city :o).