Kipos Theater of the White Tower of Thessaloniki

The square between the White Tower and the present-day Royal Theatre was, in the first half of the 20th century, a central entertainment space for the people of Thessaloniki, visitors to the city, and the occupying forces, who frequented the "Kipos" (Garden) and the "White Tower Theatre." The architectural core of the Garden was designed by the distinguished architect Xenophon Paionidis. It consisted of a neoclassical two-story complex built in 1907 in honor of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, which included a theater, a ballroom, a restaurant, a bar, and a café-pastry shop. The upper floor housed a cabaret of European standards, with performers from all over Europe, and from 1913, a cinema was also operating in the White Tower Garden. This entertainment complex was rented out for exploitation by the Ottoman public, initially by Jews from Thessaloniki and later by the businessman Konstantinos Robapas. The entrepreneurs advertised it in the press as "the largest cosmopolitan center of the East" and "the most aristocratic center of Thessaloniki." The White Tower Theatre was eventually demolished in the summer of 1956 to make way for the expansion of the new waterfront and to open the square around the White Tower. Pictured: View of the White Tower of Thessaloniki and its garden theatre from the sea in the early 20th century. ©Municipal Photography Museum of Kalamaria ‘Christos Kalemkeris’ .