The Palataki (Παλατάκι, "little palace") is the popular name for a large neoclassical mansion in the

Karabournaki Mikro Emvolo (), also called Karabournaki (Καραμπουρνάκι), is the cape of Kalamaria in northeastern Thessaloniki and a district of the local municipality. Its name comes from ''kara burun'' in Turkish language, Turkish, meaning 'bla ...

area of the municipality of

Kalamaria Kalamariá ( el, Καλαμαριά, ''Port Side'') is among the most densely populated suburbs in Greece, located about southeast of downtown Thessaloniki, with a population of92.238 inhabitat History The area was first settled by humans in pre ...

. Officially it is known as the Government House (Κυβερνείο).

History

The mansion was built during the 1950s as part of the

post-war In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...

reconstruction of Northern Greece. The project was carried out by the

Ministry of Public Works This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

on land donated by the

Ministry of National Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

. Upon completion, it was given to the Ministry for Northern Greece to serve as the official residence of the Minister. In 1963, it was transferred to the

Greek Royal Family The Greek royal family (Greek: Ελληνική Βασιλική Οικογένεια) is a branch of the Danish royal family, itself a branch of the House of Glücksburg, that reigned in Greece from 1863 to 1924 and again from 1935 to 1973. Its ...

for use as an official royal residence during visits to Macedonia. However, the Royal Family spent only one night in the palace. The family preferred instead to stay at the old Méditerranée Hotel (located directly on the city center's seafront) during their stays in the city. In 1968, following the exile of the Royal Family to Italy due to the

military junta A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...

, it was returned to the Ministry for Northern Greece. It housed various (but not all) Ministers for Northern Greece (later Ministers for Macedonia-Thrace) from 1968 until 2006. It was here that the incumbent Minister hosted the annual reception for the opening of the

Thessaloniki International Fair The Thessaloniki International Fair ( el, Διεθνής Έκθεση Θεσσαλονίκης, ''Diethnis Ekthesi Thessalonikis''), abbreviated TIF (ΔΕΘ), is an annual international exhibition event held in Thessaloniki, Greece's second-large ...

. In 1997, as part of the events celebrating Thessaloniki as the European Capital of Culture, the mansion hosted a major exhibition of works by

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

. The mansion's most notable visitor was

Konstantinos Karamanlis Konstantinos G. Karamanlis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Καραμανλής, ; 8 March 1907 – 23 April 1998), commonly Anglicisation, anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or just Caramanlis, was a four-time prime minister and List of he ...

who loyally stayed at the residence during his visits to the area while serving as Prime Minister and later President of Greece. The last Minister to occupy the residence was Nikos Tsiartsionis who criticized the mansion as a sign of opulence which ran counter to his party's platform. In 2006, his successor, Georgios Kalantzis, closed the mansion for renovations which have yet to occur.

Design and features

The mansion sits on 15 acres overlooking the

Thermaic Gulf The Thermaic Gulf (), also called the Gulf of Salonika and the Macedonian Gulf, is a gulf constituting the northwest corner of the Aegean Sea. The city of Thessaloniki is at its northeastern tip, and it is bounded by Pieria Imathia and Larissa ...

about 8 km (~5 miles) south of the city center of Thessaloniki. The grounds include a main gate with guard booths, a chapel, a helipad, and access to a dock on the sea. The front facade of the mansion is characterized by a two-level ionic colonnade and a large marble courtyard. A colonnade also runs across the rear facade of the mansion. This created ample outdoor space which facilitated the hosting of large open-air events. The mansion itself consists of two principal floors covering 1,200 square meters (13,000 square feet). The public reception rooms are located on the ground floor; the upper floor consists of two suites and staff areas. The basement holds the kitchens, laundry, storage, and utility rooms.

Current condition and use

Today, the property is guarded and the grounds are maintained but the building has no specific purpose and is in need of extensive renovation. The grounds and the courtyard are used periodically for concerts, gallery exhibitions or expositions which take advantage of the building as an architectural backdrop, and its impressive seafront location. Use of the property is shared between the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace (the legal owner) and the municipality of Kalamaria. When the mansion was closed in 2006, the Thessaloniki Prefecture estimated that €3,800,000 was needed solely to upgrade the mansion's critical systems (electric, hydraulic, plumbing etc). Since then, due to the permeation of moisture into the mansion, most of the building's contents including all of the paintings, carpets, artwork and objects d'art have been moved to warehouses or have been loaned to museums. The basic furnishing have been wrapped in plastic and stacked in their respective rooms. No renovation/restoration work has begun.

References

Το «Παλατάκι» που έγινε ερείπιο

Kivernio (Palataki) – The finest view
{{coord, 40.5835, 22.9364, type:landmark_region:GR, display=title Houses completed in the 20th century Buildings and structures in Thessaloniki Neoclassical architecture in Greece Government buildings in Greece Royal residences in Greece