The Saul Gallery
Kounio Photography store
The Saul Gallery, built in 1879, measuring 4,900 sq m and hosting 96 shops and workshops, was the largest commercial gallery in Thessaloniki. It spread across an area larger than what occupies today the building block Venizelou-Ermou-Ionos Dragoumi-Vasileos Irakleiou. It was built by Saul Modiano, owner of the homonymous bank housed inside the Gallery. It was damaged during the 1917 fire, however the façade on Vasileos Irakleiou Str. was saved. Inside, it preserves the entrance of the Saul Modiano Bank and the decorative medallion with the initials of its founder. Under the new urban plan, the north side of the gallery was demolished in order to open the way for Ermou Street. Eli Modiano's ambitious architectural plans for its reconstruction were not materialized. The southeastern part of the Gallery plot was sold as separate property, bought by the brothers Moses, Vital, Samuel, Joseph and Daniel Cohen.
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Jewish heritage: Past and present