IGNATIUS OF SMOLENSK
AND THE LATE BYZANTINE
MONASTERIES OF THESSALONIKI*
Marcus L. RAUTMAN
Crossroads of empire, queen of the Aegean, mother of all Macedonia, Thessaloniki has since its foundation stood poised between East and West, attracting visitors to its fairs and markets and forming a celebrated meeting ground for very different Mediterranean worlds. As the largest port and commercial center between Venice and Constantinople, Thessaloniki was an important stop for Western travelers on their way to the Byzantine court, and later to the Sublime Porte in Istanbul. The city was no less frequented by Eastern visitors, ranging from medieval pilgrims journeying to Constantinople and Mount Athos to Turkish sailors and geographers, from Piri Re'is to Hadji Chalfa and Evliya Çelebi. Common to the accounts of most visitors to Thessaloniki in medieval and early modern times are references to and at times even vivid recollections of the city, its setting, inhabitants and above all its architectural monuments, ranging from antiquity to the present day. Ringed by sturdy fortifications and overlooked by a steep citadel, medieval Thessaloniki continuously impressed its guests with its setting, people, markets, palaces, and especially its churches and monasteries, which were found in such numbers as to make the city a model of Orthodox piety.1
* My work with Ignatius and his "Description" of the monuments of Thessaloniki has benefited from helpful discussion with Prof. George P. Majeska, although I am responsible for any problematic interpretations that remain.
1. For a selection of medieval enkomia on Thessaloniki see V. Täpkova-Zaimova, La ville de Saint-Démétrius dans les textes Démétriens, Ή Θεσσαλονίκη μεταξύ 'Ανατολής xal Δύσεως (= Πρακτικά συμποσίου τεσσαρακονταετηρίδος της 'Εταιρείας Μακεδόνικων Σπουδών, 1980), Thessaloniki 1982, ρ. 21-30. The accounts of travelers to the city are discussed in K. Simopoulos, Ξένοι ταξιδιώτες στην 'Ελλάδα MV, Athens 1970-1979;
Revue des Études Byzantines 49, 1991, p. 143-169.
