Synagogue of Veroia

Veroia, like neighboring Thessaloniki, is a city with ancient Jewish history. Nineteen centuries ago the Apostle Paul visited this ancient Jewish community of Veroia and taught in its synagogue. Today, history of the former Jewish quarter of Barbouta and the synagogue at 6 Olganou Street come alive again through the pages of the second edition of this book. Through unpublished archival materials, photographs and architectural plans, a review is made of the history and architecture of the synagogue and the Jewish quarter from research and on-site survey by the author and his team.

"Elias Messinas is an architect who has devoted himself to recording Greece's Jewish architectural heritage."
Mark Mazower, Bulleting of Judaeo-Greek Studies (22, 1998)

"Elias Messinas has made it his mission to document the surviving Jewish heritage of Greece, to publish this account and remember the synagogues of those towns."
Samuel D. Gruber, President of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments

"Elias Messinas was one of the first, when at a young age and in a climate of relative indifference, if not negativity, he raised in the public debate the issue of rescuing the synagogues in Greece."
Nikos Vatopoulos, Journalist KATHIMERINI Newspaper, Greece

"Elias Messinas has studied systematically the Greek synagogues, contributing in a decisive manner, in the current efforts to protect and preserve them."
Manolis Korres, Architect, Head of the Acropolis Restoration Service, Professor NTUA

Elias V. Messinas is an architect and urban planner, sustainability and public participation expert. Graduate of Athens College, of the Yale School of Architecture, of Bezalel Academy, he holds a PhD in Urban Planning and an MSc in "Environment and Development" from the National Technical University of Athens, a postdoctoral fellowship from the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning of the Technion Institute of Technology, with published research on bioclimatic design at the Desert Architecture Unit of the University Ben Gurion. Undertook for the first time the extensive study and survey of synagogues in Greece since 1993. From 1995 until today he has undertaken with associates the study and restoration of synagogues in Veroia, Thessaloniki, Trikala and Kos, while in Aegina, together with Yvette Nahmia-Messina and in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Piraeus and Islands, undertook the initiative to protect the mosaic floor of an ancient synagogue and the construction of a protective roof. Creator of the website "Kol haKEHILA" for the Jewish monuments of Greece and ECOWEEK which since 2005 promotes sustainable and participatory design in 17 countries. He has shared his work with dozens publications, lectures, reports, blog pages, and newspapers, among others of the "Jerusalem Post" and "News of Saronic Gulf". He has been nominated for the Tallberg / Eliasson Global Leadership Awards and European Prize, while he participated in the Greek participation catalogue of the Venice Biennale in 2006. Teaches sustainable design at Patras University and the Holon Institute of Technology. He practices urban planning and public participation for Ginot Hair in the city of Jerusalem.