ANCIENT TYPOLOGIES AND MODERN PLANS.

MARKET STREETS AND PASSAGES IN THE CONTEMPORARY CITY

ALEXANDRA YEROLYMPOS

Passages in market quarters and their transformations in the long course of history is the
main theme of this paper, which also focuses on Greek cities at the threshold of modern times.
Beginning with case studies of old market passages, still lively and active today, we will briefly discuss
the origins, the persistence of physical patterns in the long term, as well as their mutations, and the
often striking similarities of architectural types in a geographical region that extends around the
oriental basin of the Mediterranean.
Issues that should be examined include: forms of market streets in the city and their
integration into the urban structure; the presence of traditional functions and activities and the
gradual introduction of new kinds of uses; types and forms of commercial premises, workshops and
other buildings related to the activity of the market; the etymology of words used to indicate the sites,
the buildings and the activity of passages.
The material for this paper is based on two operational research projects: In the first we
tried to follow the evolution of market places and trace their original forms and successive
transformations in 12 cities in Northern Greece1. The purpose was to identify historical, urban and
architectural values incorporated in the current 'physical' form of these sites as well as in their mode of
functioning, and integrate them into restoration strategies as an important multicultural heritage. A
second approach focused on a detailed survey of the historical centre of Thessaloniki in search of the
specific urban and architectural characteristics that could be used in a regeneration project for the city
in the middle of the 1990s (Thessaloniki was European Cultural Capital in 1997)2. In an effort to cross-
check and update the findings of the early 90s, I revisited and studied the same places in 2012, only to
discover very different situations with diverse prospects and possibilities that I shall discuss later.

Agora, forum, and bazaar, basilica and bedesten, kaisariya and tcharshi, souq, khan and stoa
indicate architectural and urban typologies containing passages; they all developed in order to
accommodate production, exchange and distribution of goods in different civilizations that succeeded
one another in the same place (starting from Greek and Roman antiquity, to the Byzantine Empire and
Arab conquest, and finally to the Ottoman Empire)3.
The etymology of Greek, Latin, Arab, Turkish, Slavic names for places and premises for trade
could demonstrate interesting transfers of meanings within the different cultural realities in this part of
the world. At the same time the images that reach us (through the drawings of archaeologists, the
stories of travellers, the analyses of architects, but also through the still surviving urban forms and
types) indicate the exchange and the intercultural continuity rather than breaks and disruptions. They
bring up the fact that the market is the place where existing social, ethnic, religious, οr class framings
lose ground and sociability can be deployed. It is a vast and fascinating topic that deserves a
comprehensive study, beyond the brief comments of this presentation.

1 Traditional markets in contemporary Greek cities. Location, surveying, study of uses and building
types, historical overview, integration into restoration projects. Advanced course on special issues of
Greek planning history II, taught by K. Kafkoula and A. Yerolympos from 1991 to 1999. Cities that were
examined appear in the Appendix.
2 Pilot plan for the regeneration of the historical commercial centre of Thessaloniki. Typological
analysis, Public / open space. Research conducted for the Chamber of Engineers of Greece – Central
Macedonia, in 1994. Research team: V. Hastaoglou, K. Kafkoula, N. Kalogirou, N. Papamihos, A.
Yerolympos.
3 A. Ye oly pos, «Typologie et mutations des quartiers de commerce dans les villes de la
M dite a e O ie tale », in (M. Cerasi et als, eds), Multicultural Urban Fabric and Type in the South
and Eastern Mediterranean, Egon Verlag, Wü z u g, Bei ut , 4 -264.

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 Two bulky books, written by J.F. Geist and W. Benjamin, contain the basic instruments and
concepts for a discussion of the passages, and constitute an essential reference. Johann F. Geist
published his work in the mid-60s4. In 620 pages, he gave the most precise, comprehensive and
rigorous definition of the European, namely the Parisian passage. Indeed according to Geist the
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passage is an architectural typology of the beginning of the 19 century, that developed in the specific
urban fabric of Paris, during the precise period of intense capitalist growth. For him seven properties
define the passage: as access to the interior of the block; as public space on private property; as a
symmetrical space (having the same street fronts on both sides); as roofed space lighted from the top
and protected from bad weather; as system of distribution of movements; as space of transition linking
two streets; finally as system of organisation of the retail commerce, along with bazaars, magasins de
ou eaut s , grands magasins , he e new fashionable articles, -clothing or household furnishings -,
and luxurious objects are sold 5.
Geist is certain that attempts to connect these passages to the oriental souqs and bazaars
are simply historicist, and that they mainly originated in literature. He analyses the character of the
oriental Bazaar and underlines basic differences6: The bazaar is part of the public street network and is
open to vehicles and animals; it is the unique place in the city to function as a market, -nowhere else
can retail commerce be found; the bazaar was organized according to professions, guilds and
corporations; it is a public institution as opposed to the private passage. He also claims that there is an
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official date of death for the passage… just before the 1 WW. His reasoning is very interesting: He
believes that the building regulations stipulated at that time do not allow interior passages anymore
for reasons of fire protection, inadequate air, light etc7.
Before the appea a e of Be ja i s book, in a refined, less dogmatic way, the architectural
historian Fr. Loyer addressed the passage as an answer to the speculative pressure and effort for more
intensive exploitation of the urban plot. He proposed four conditions for the rise of the passage8:
presence of high density building in the area; times of capitalistic growth, allowing for the costly
investment required to build a passage; presence of loose property patterns, very large building
lo ks a d i ade uate street network; presence in the vicinity of a functional magnet for the social
life of the bourgeoisie, such as for instance a theatre.
Loyer argues that the passage is a u a o je t that expresses in spatial terms the
powerful commercial development of its time; that it successfully brings up memories of medieval
urban forms combined with exotic bazaars, souqs etc, and that it liberates the pedestrian who can
move easily and wander around. He does not insist on the private character of an establishment open
to the public. On the contrary, he considers the Italian passages –e.g. the famous Galleria Vittorio
Emanuele in Milan- as public buildings embodying collective values9. He enumerates the basic
products that can be found in the luxurious shops of the passages (perfumes, high fashion items,
decorative objects), as well as restaurants, theatres, dance and music halls, salons de the et de
patisseries, bookshops a d pu lishi g houses, e g a e s et …. so that the passage may function as a
leisure centre, and eventually become the main field of action for the flâ eur, a concept mainly
elaborated by Walter Benjamin10. Indeed in 1982 Walte Be ja i s incomplete texts and notes were
published in Germany in a book of 900 pages that was to become an unavoidable reference for every

4 Johann F. Geist, Passagen, ein Bautyp des 19. Jahrhunderts, 1969, translated into English in 1982 and
French in 1989.
5 J.F. Geist, Le Passage. U t pe ar hite tural du XIXe si le. Ed. Ma daga, Li ge , 52-96.
6 Geist 1989, op. cit., 45-52.
7 Geist 1989, op. cit., 121.
8 F. Loye , « A propos des passages », i Paris Projet no 17 / 1977, 108-119. See also F. Loyer, Paris XIXe
si le. L’i eu le et la rue. Hazan, Paris 1987.
9 F. Loye , Le passage o e o jet u ai , in Passages et Galeries en Europe, Ta le o de o ga is e
par Italiques, Paris 2004, 55-64.
10 W. Benjamin (1892-1940), 1st edition in German: Das Passagen-Werk. Ed. Suhrkamp 1982.

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type of work concerning passages11. In this unfinished classic work, many insightful comments enrich
ou u de sta di g of the passages, as lo g as e e e e Be ja i s a i g -through the words of
Baudelai e: Tout pour moi devient all gorie For me everything becomes allegory 12.
In his numerous rewritings of the chapter with the eloquent title Fourier or the Passages,
Benjamin stated that the first condition for the appearance of the passages was the favourable
economic circumstances for the commerce of tissues, while he ade lea that Passages were
destined to the commerce of luxurious industrially produced objects 13. He also pointed out that the
passages were built ith ode ate ials su h as iron, and insisted that this was the first time that
an industrially produced-artificial material was used in construction.
Benjamin underlines that Charles Fourier saw in the passages the architectural paradigm of
the Phala st e, une ville faite de passages . But o e i triguing is Be ja i s asso iatio of the
passages to his concept of the flâneur, inspired by Baudelaire. The word flâneur, the stroller/drifter,
not easily translated into English, indicates the deliberately aimless pedestrian, with no sense of
urgency, who […] wastes nothing, including his time which he spends with the leisurely discrimination of
a gourmet, savouring the multiple flavours of his city 14. Walter Benjamin used the concept of the
urban spectator both as an analytical tool and as a description of a mode of living.

Before being in a position to discuss the new forms that were inspired by the old passages, I
wish to introduce some supplementary parameters with regards to the latter.
Probably the most eloquent example for the gradual transformation of the city s ai
characteristics in the long duration of history is provided by the magisterial study of the French
historian Jean Sauvaget on the transformations of the cities of Halep and also Damas15. Sauvaget
studied the successive transformations of the cities founded in the Hellenistic era, which passed under
Roman and later under Christian Byzantine rule, and were conquered by the Arabs and finally by the
Ottomans. Having observed the slow rhythm of change of the historical city, he was able to find many
persisting urban elements of the ancient city, revealing the survival of an earlier era or forerunning the
advent of the new.
This was clearly illustrated in the Hellenistic agora, as it changed into a Roman forum, then
was converted into a Christian-Byzantine cathedral with parvis and finally into the Islamic monumental
complex of market and souqs. The changes as perceived by Sauvaget are beautifully illustrated by a
drawing, showing 4 different phases in the transformation of the market streets and passages from the
open avenue of the antiquity with rows of columns on every side, to a covered souq. Some of these
phases can still be observed in the very lively covered market of Damas, where the demarcation lines
between the different categories (public-private, covered-open, sale of luxurious/everyday products)
fade away (Images 1a, 1b).
Could we then assume that there is a dual, a twofold line of evolution, with Western and
Oriental origins, and that in Greece as well as in Turkey, there are passages that are inspired from both
traditions? Probably we can, as long as we do not neglect local particularities and idiosyncratic
characteristics.

Passages in Greek cities.

An interesting variety of types of passages is found in the Greek city accounting for different
stages of economic and social development, as well as for diverse/complex cultural traditions.
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Athens developed as the Greek capital in the 19 century. Imposing neoclassical buildings
were erected between 1850 and 1900, occupying entire urban blocks; their owners immediately
undertook to optimize their profits by exploiting the interior part of the block. Passages complying to

11 W. Benjamin, Paris, apitale du XIXe si le. Le livre des passages. Ed. du Cerf, Paris 1989.
12 W. Benjamin 1989, op. cit., 24.
13 W. Benjamin 1989, op. cit., 35-46 and others.
14 C. Otis Skinner, Elegant Wits and Grand Horizontals, 1962, Houghton Mifflin, New York.
15 J. Sauvaget, Alep. Essai sur le d veloppe e t d'u e gra de ville syrienne des origines au milieu du
XIXe si le, Bi lioth ue A h ologi ue et Histo i ue, ol. XXXVI, Pa is 4 .

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the Parisian model of the 19th c. as described by Geist, include (to name a few) the stoas Melas-
Kostopoulos (1883), Arsakeion (1900), Litzieris (c. 1900) –all three by architect E. Ziller-, and Stoa
Stathis (1915) by G. Papadakis (Images 2a,2b). The name used for these urban objects is stoa, an
ancient Greek word still ali e, that i di ates an ancient Greek portico usually walled at the back, with
a front colonnade designed to afford a sheltered promenade ... In Greek architecture, a free standing
colonnade or covered walkway of public character; also, a long open building with its roof supported by
one or more rows of columns parallel to its rear wall. Stoas were lined marketplaces and sanctuaries
and formed places of business and public promenades 16.
A very interesting deviation of this type is found in Jannina, a city under Ottoman rule until
1913, with a solid manufacturing and commercial activity. In traditional Jannina the informal city layout
allowed for different street patterns to develop. The general model was streets with same professions
(Souq or khan of /shoe-makers / papucilar, or book sellers / kitaplar etc). The city presented a
sequence of regular and irregular market streets, some open and some covered.
During the Tanzimat era, ties binding professions together in guilds were loosened. One
could establish his business freely anywhere in the city, de elop his property as he wished and rent it
to other businessmen outside the strict control of the guild. In 1869 after a fire, the old market was
reshaped by a new plan allowing its expansion17 (Images 3a, 3b). This is the time that in the environs
of the old market in Jannina, new stoa-passages were developed. A number of the conditions set for
the Parisian passages are there: the land belongs to a single owner; it covers a huge city block loosely
integrated into the urban fabric. Still the rest of the conditions are absent. The Jannina stoas display
different architecture fronts for the premises along the passage; they may or may not be roofed; in
their premises everyday products, not necessarily luxurious items, are produced and sold. The main
construction materials are stone and iron.
A richer variety of passages was located in the extended commercial district of Thessaloniki.
The city has been described, often celebrated, as having a variety of real or mythical charms. And it is
strange that, so far, a fascinating aspect of its urban space, a multitude of informal, sometimes hidden
pathways that follow parallel circuits to the official street network, remained relatively unnoticed,
maybe because it was so intimately integrated in the urban fabric. Impressed by the pure geometry of
the plan in the historic centre of the city, people considered the frequent presence of interior passages
as no more than small trivial incidents that still enrich the daily courses with alternative choices. […]
These pathways compose a grid of narrow alleys, unexpected openings, dark humid backyards and they
may lead the flâ eur to u e pe ted i ro os s or simply nowhere; a topography that encourages
wandering in much the same way that the undulations of the brain mislead the ideas that reside in it;
and sometimes they guide them to a wide boulevard, or they abandon them in a blind, dark alley 18.
The emergence of various types of passages is due to a dual heritage, western and oriental,
that does t easily reveal its origin. Since its early years, Thessaloniki developed its extensive central
market southwest of the Hellenistic-Roman centre and the crossing of two major roads (Egnatia and
Venizelou) all the way to the port. Under Ottoman rule (1430-1912) the market acquired even greater
importance because it was actually the only centre of the city. Irregular roofed streets, khans with
square courtyards, narrow passages with workshops, jagged crossroads with cafes, answered the
demand for manufacture, exchange and all kinds of transactions and services. Living in the market was
prohibited; the buildings were small and covered the entire plot. The commercial transaction took
place in the street, where the goods were displayed. As time went by, the rigid rules keeping same
professions together, in concentric circles departing from the mosque of the market and depending on
the degree of sanctity of the goods, were relaxed.
At the end of the 19th century, service and office buildings, modern hotels, new types of
commercial shops and theatres made their appearance in the intra-muros city of Thessaloniki. The
traditional market lost its importance and the social and economic centre of the city was transferred to

16 Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary , E lopædia Eleftheroudaki, Athens 1927.

17 A. Yerolympos, Between East and West. Northern Greek cities in the Ottoman Reform Era. University
Studio Press, Thessaloniki 1997, 2004.
18 A. Ye oly pos, Invisible itineraries in Eneninda epta – 97 (Greek journal of the Cultural Capital
1997), no 3/1996, 24-27. See also Walter Benjamin 1989, op. cit., 109.

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the quay, accommodated by buildings of new typological characteristics. In an effort to renew the old
market, the local authorities introduced new architectural elements; wood and cloth covers were
removed and replaced by a metallic and glass roof (Images 4a, 4b, 4c, 6a). The modest shops
underneath the roof were decorated with glass storefronts. Passages and galleries appeared next to
khans and the Bedesten in an intriguing continuity and coexistence of oriental and westernized
building forms. Some of them still survive today.
Thessaloniki suffered a terrible fire in 1917 and most of the central districts were destroyed.
E est H brard, French town planner, was commissioned to prepare a new plan, with specific
instructions to ignore the historic urban fabric. Indeed the new plan shaped an entirely new urban
image, while succeeding at the same time to keep alive selected forms and practices of the past19.
I H a d s e pla the heart of the city centre was created by two squares connected by
a boulevard almost one klm long, perpendicular to the sea, opening the view of Mt. Olympus from
within the city. Τhe i te io civic square would be marked by the town hall, the law courts and
buildings connected to public services. The second, Aristotle Square, located on the waterfront in
accordance with the model of the Piazzetta of Venice, was to receive luxury goods retailing, leisure and
recreation. The so- alled neo-byzantine style was prescribed for all buildings along the two squares
and their connecting axis, so that they would form together with the public buildings a monumental
e se le . This was the noble axis of the city, inspired by western design principles and assembling
all government and municipal authorities, something like the brain of the city (Images 5a, 5c, 6b).
And then, at right angles to this axis, the planner created another axis, a colorful and vibrant
oriental Bazaar, a market for the little people and for the humble everyday needs of the population,
hat E il Zola ould all the elly of the city20. It was an ingenious idea, because it opened the
centre to all ages, social groups and visitors, keeping it lively 24 hours a day (Images 5a, 5b, 6b).
Actually H a d s p oje t as u h o e tha an intelligent interpretation of the crossing
of two different traditions. The planner of modern Thessaloniki did not ignore the importance of small
business and small workshop production in the city's economy. Around the Bedesten and in the
interior of the newly designed street blocks, with passages that cut through the new european-like
blocks and buildings, he designed 516 small two-storey premises, measuring 4 X 8 meters, with neo-
byzantine facades and bilobe windows, and arcades on the ground floor. Immediately small businesses
were established, following spontaneously a distant reminder of the old model in a popular, low-
budget version: jewelry and tissues around and inside the Bedesten, clothes and household items,
leather goods and straw slippers a little further, food and workshops still further in the small squares
called Vlali and Athonos (Images 7, 8, 9). The local authorities were fiercely opposed to the project,
because they did not wish to have (and I quote) a orie tal azaar i the iddle of the it . The
project was nevertheless implemented, and was so successful that in the 20s and 30s it was
reproduced in many neighbouring cities (Serres, Drama, Edessa etc) because it answered a real
economic demand.
But e e so, H brard s wise provisions would not suffice. The small professions (petits-
tie s) su passed the limits of the Bazaar area, took over the new building blocks and the high-rise
buildings and cut down the large commercial surfaces in the ground floor.
Along the sides of long corridors, crossing backyards, occupying mezzanine floors, staircases
or basements, tiny cafes and all kinds of workshops were established, along with micro-services of the
market such as barber shops, raki shops, petition writers, photocopiers, sewing and mending ateliers,
buttonhole makers, shoe repair /fixers, miniscule retail stores with colorful silk ribbons, shining beads,
elaborate artificial flowers and old-fashioned hats, zippers, hand-made laces and embroidered
handkerchiefs, all kinds of products that cannot afford the high cost of rents or the large dimensions
of shops on the street front. In the area that lies among Philippou Street to the quay and Charles Diehl
street to Vardar square (Image 6b) they certainly do not constitute a homogeneous category, but they

19 A. Yerolympos, Urban Transformations in the Balkans (1820-1920). University Studio Press,

Thessaloniki 1996 [in English]. See also by same author, The Replanning of Thessaloniki after the Fire of
1917. A Turning Point in the History of the City and the Development of Greek City Planning. University
1 2
Studio Press, Thessaloniki 1986 , 1995 [in Greek].
20 Un pa sage o pos de vie pure , a o di g to Walter Benjamin 1989, op. cit., p. 435.

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present variations as to the type of services they provide, the hours and ways of operating, the people
they attract, the space and atmosphere that they shape and foster.
This 'informal' network was created outside official planning previsions. Shaped by
deadlocks, back roads, fragments of gardens, it originated inside and outside newer or older buildings.
It consisted of covered, half-covered, or open ' streets '. About 80 galleries and passages were marked
in a rough count. And yet there was no name for them, and the word stoa appeared again as more
suitable, although these passages do not have the appearance of a stoa, while the same word must
cover a multitude of variations which the passages display. The meticulous researcher will easily
discern the type of the external Stoa, which runs parallel to the street and is a result of special
planning prescriptions (see plan, Image 6b], from the various types of internal passages. The later,
with floor plans shaped as letters of the alphabet (L, E, H, I, Π, T, etc.), are sometimes contained in
single buildings with a specific architectural form to suit them (Modiano, Cit “aul, New Market,
Colomvou…)(Images 10a-10d); sometimes they g o spo ta eously in an ordinary building (Karasso-
Makridi, Diamantopoulou-Hlektrologwn, Chrysikopoulou, Bourla, Olympios Stoa, Frangini Stoa,
Moskof … ) (Images 11a, 11b); sometimes they extend in more than one buildings and in the open
space between them (Agiou Mina, Byzantini Stoa ...) (Images 12a, 12b).
The 'rediscovery' of the passages in Paris in the 1970s and their regeneration resulted into
their conversion into places for expensive trade, giving them back their original function. In
Thessaloniki the interest of investors for these places in the 90s, years of economic growth, resulted in
their gentrification, transforming many of them in extravagant wine bars, elegant cafes etc. We were
then worried that the i asio of e eatio al uses would lead to the disappearance of this
picturesque and economically vital small world and its substitution with Disney-like copies of spaces
fo ight e eatio '. But life is full of surprises. In the 1990s activity in the passages was vivid. A
revisiting of the area in 2012 confirmed notable change. Business of all kinds in the passages including
recreation, just as the commercial and service firms everywhere in the city, is in severe recession. The
gates to the spontaneously transformed corridors are locked; many shops are closed in the Bazaar,
while entire urban blocks are empty and in critical decay (Inages 13a, 13b).
As the passage in Greece historically addressed the demands of the small economy/the small
capital, one would expect that the restarting of the Greek economy could be based, among other
factors/ parameters, on the revitalization of small business, a field where Greeks have always been
particularly resourceful; the passages could then be the places –the topos- to launch a new start for
the suffering Greek economy.

APPENDIX: TRADITIONAL MARKETS IN GREEK CITIES

The cases studied include Thessaloniki and 12 medium-sized cities in Northern Greece
1. Cavala: Fortified port-city, market located extra-muros. The city walls were rebuilt to
include the market in the town in the 16th century. Spectacular expansion of the market and the city at
the time of the Ottoman reforms.
2. Drama: Continental, non-walled city, traditional market next to the river. Capital of the
Sanjak in decline after 1880. In 1930, a new market reproducing the ancient typology was built next to
the old one. Both markets still exist.
3. Komotini: Continental, non-walled city. The traditional market next to the river was rebuilt
in 1867 after fire. Very lively today.
4. Serres: Continental, non-walled city, important commercial centre for a large hinterland.
Market quarters partly covered, rebuilt after fire in 1849. The city and market were burned by the
Bulgarian army during the Balkan wars in 1913. Market rebuilt between 1920 and 1930;
modernization of ancient typology, very lively today.
5. Jannina: Important centre of handicraft in Western Greece (Epirus). Medieval market
burned in 1820, rebuilt, and burned again in 1869 by a Vali anxious to innovate! Reconstruction and
planned extension with stoa. Still very lively.

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 7. Xanthi: Centre for tobacco trade. Traditional market next to an impressive structure of
Khans (more than 50 at the beginning of the 20th s.) Today most of the khans have disappeared and
the old market as well.
8-9-10. Kozani, Verria and Florina keep substantial parts of their old market.
11.12. Edessa and Djumayia: the old market is replaced by a new one, built after the 1920s,
which modernizes the ancient typology.
13. Thessaloniki, main Ottoman (1430-1912) and Greek (since 1912) metropolis: the large
expanse of markets (about 15% of the surface of the city intra-muros) was partially modernised
between the years 1850 and 1900, after small and great fires. At the same time redesign operations
undertaken by the Ottoman authorities after 1870, established a 'modern' central business district
with new shops etc. The two centres coexisted until 1917, when the city was destroyed by fire. In a
very sophisticated operation of reconstruction entrusted by the Greek authorities to French planner
E est H a d, a new version of commercial quarters was reintroduced next to an imposing civic
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centre. Thessaloniki has also an old market by the port outside the wall, dating from the 16 -19th
century.