48th Dimitria

The big arts festival of Thessaloniki is here for the 48th time !

As you should already know if you read a bit about the history of Thessaloniki, this city is 2330 years old, so a 48 year old arts and culture festival is not that old in comparison !  Actually, as early as the golden age of Byzantium, about the 14th century AD, Thessaloniki hosted a regular spectacular “New Festival” each autumn.

In October 1966, the festival was reborn and named Dimitria after Saint Demetrios, the patron saint of Thessaloniki. There is also a big street and of course a church named after him.  The church is a must visit, but I will tell you about it some other day.

Back to our subject, the art and culture festival of Dimitria which opens tomorrow, Thursday 26th and lasts for a whole month till October 26th – the name day of Saint Demetrios and of the whole city.

The whole program can be found here, unfortunately only in greek, but if you walk around in the city, you are probably going to get your hands on a printed version with, hopefully, some info in english as well !

The official opening ceremony will be held at the morning of Sunday 29th in the open space area of the port pier, in a feast of music, dance and food delicacies !

In total you will find around 50 events: music concerts, dance, theatre, fine arts, some paid and many for FREE.  The venues are many different spots around the city.  The weather is thankfully still great to wander around and discover them so go on, explore the city and enjoy !

Update 5/10

Good news ! The festival program just came out in english !