Tsimiski Street (, ''Odós Tsimiskí'') is a major avenue in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, the second-largest city in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It starts from the area of the

Thessaloniki International Fair The Thessaloniki International Fair (, ''Diethnis Ekthesi Thessalonikis''), abbreviated TIF (ΔΕΘ), is an annual international exhibition event held in Thessaloniki, Greece's second-largest city. It has been held in the first week of September ...

grounds, between Aggelaki Street and Nikolaou Germanou Street and ends in the crossroad with Ionos Dragoumi Street, on the western side of the city centre. Tsimiski Street was named after the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

, Ioannis Tzimiskis and is nowadays one of the busiest streets in Thessaloniki's city center and the country. The busiest point of Tsimiski Street is its crossroad with

Aristotelous Square Aristotelous Square (, ), is the main city square of Thessaloniki, Greece, and is located on Nikis Avenue, Nikis avenue (on the city's waterfront), in the city center. It was designed by French people, French architect Ernest Hébrard in 1918, b ...

which is a major meeting-point for Thessalonians, also forming a cultural axis with Aristotelous Square.

History

Prior to the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

and the acquisition of

, the road that eventually became Tsimiski Street was called "the second parallel", a reference to its location being the second street to be built parallel to the city's waterfront, the other being Proxenou Koromila Street. Before 1890, the street connected the two sides of

, from the eastern city walls to the west. In 1913, when the city was in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

hands, the street was then renamed after Ioannis Tsimiskis, a

notable for his struggles against

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

. The choice of name was the result of

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n tensions at the time in regards to who would eventually win the city of

after the

. The street took its current form after the

Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 250px, The fire as seen from the quay in 1917. 250px, The fire as seen from the Thermaic Gulf. The Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 () destroyed two thirds of the city of Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece, leaving more than 70,000 ...

, which levelled much of downtown

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Ernest Hebrard who designed the new master plan for

was also the one that included the current design for Tsimiski Street. The street in its current form was built in 1921.

Use

Shops

The most prominent features of Tsimiski street are the hundreds of various fashion shops, boutiques, high end international department stores and Fokas, the biggest Greek department store in the city centre. Tsimiski Street is also home to the Plateia Center Mall, the largest

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

in the city centre of

, which contains the Plateia Assos Odeon multiplex and has facilities from bars, restaurants, a virgin music megastore to fitness centers. The mall also houses the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth countries, a ...

in Thessaloniki, as well as the liaison office of the

Republic of North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

Offices

The buildings along Tsimiski street house many of the city's major offices, ranging from financing, advertising, law and engineering firms. The western end of the street is also home to the city's financial district, with the building of the central offices of the

Bank of Greece The Bank of Greece ( , ) is the national central bank for Greece within the Eurosystem. It was the Greek central bank from 1927 to 2000, issuing the drachma. Since 2014, it has also been Greece's national competent authority within European ...

located there and regarded as one of the most imposing buildings in the city. Other banks that have their central offices for

and

northern Greece Northern Greece () is used to refer to the northern parts of Greece, and can have various definitions. Administrative term The term "Northern Greece" is widely used to refer mainly to the two northern regions of Macedonia and (Western) Thra ...

on Tsimiski Street, include

Piraeus Bank Piraeus Bank () is a Greece, Greek multinational financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece. Piraeus Bank's shares have been listed on the Athens Exchange, Athens Stock Exchange (Athens Exchange, ATHEX) since January 1918. ...

, and previously the Bank of Macedonia and Thrace. The Thessaloniki

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

is located at the start of Tsimiski Street, on the intersection with Nikolaou Germanou Street.

Traffic

Tsimiski street was designed as a four-lane one-way avenue that crossed the entire length of the city center of

. The design proved effective, but with the rise in the number of cars in Thessaloniki in recent years, it has become congested. A bus lane has also been added recently to facilitate faster bus transport by the Thessaloniki Urban Transport Organization, which has made matters worse in terms of traffic. The under-construction

Thessaloniki Metro Thessaloniki Metro (, ) is an underground Rapid transit, rapid-transit system in Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. The system consists of a single line with List of Thessaloniki Metro stations, 13 stations; a further 5 stations are ...

will relieve some of the congestion on Tsimiski Street.

Gallery

File:Θεσσαλονίκη 2014 - panoramio (2).jpg, Former Hotel Astoria File:Ξενοδοχείο Le Palace (πρώην Lux Palace)1929, Βενιζέλου και Τσιμισκή 12, Θεσσαλονίκη.jpg, Hotel Le Palace File:Μέγαρο Καζές, 1924, Οδός Ίωνος Δραγούμη & Τσιμισκή, Θεσσαλονίκη.jpg, Kazes mansion File:Μέγαρο Ναχμία (1925), Τσιμισκή 13, Θεσσαλονίκη.jpg, Nahmias mansion File:Μέγαρο Γκατένιο-Φλωρεντίν, (1925), Συμβολή Βενιζέλου & Τσιμισκή, Θεσσαλονίκη.jpg, Gategno-Florentin mansion (arch. Joseph Pleyber)

References

{{Streets in Thessaloniki Streets in Thessaloniki Shopping districts and streets in Greece Thessaloniki Tourist attractions in Thessaloniki