Newsletter03 en

ΝΕWSLETTER#03JULY-AUGUST 2013

ThessalonikiEuropeanYouthCapital2014

thessaloniki2014.gr

ΘεσσαλονίκηΕυρωπαϊκήΠρωτεύουσαNεολαίας2014

In SepTember The preSenTATIon of TheSSALonIkI eYC 2014 proGrAmIT’S GeTTInG CLoSer!

As the program of the European Youth Capital 2014 comes to its final shape, Thessaloniki prepares to host large-scale youth events during the forthcom-ing months and throughout the next year.

In cooperation with international organizations, networks of NGOs and social initiatives from Greece and Europe, we intend to introduce an open, welcoming and youthful city, which is ready to overcome any difficulty with its own forces.

In Thessaloniki-European Youth Capital 2014, we follow the guidelines that were given by the young people of the city during the period of our candi-dacy and we develop our actions based on 11 the-matic axes.

The program was designed following best practices from other European countries and cities which are closely related to youth policies. Special em-phasis is given on the motivation of new talents through 20 individual subjects, in which young people will be invited to present their projects.

The program is going to be announced during the second fortnight of September and we urge all cit-izens of Thessaloniki to contribute with their ac-tive participation in this great opportunity that the young people and the youth organizations to-gether with the Municipality offered to our city.

In difficult times we attempt to highlight Thes-saloniki as a center of youth activities in Eu-rope. Furthermore, we design the youth policy of the city of Thessaloniki, setting as a priority the principal of co-decision with the local youth. This new European title proves to be useful and effective for the most dynamic group of citizens of Europe, the young people and in this sense, Thessaloniki seems to be a great example.

Newsletter #03 / July-August 2013

The European program “Youth In Action” ends its circle. From the next year, 2014, “Youth In Ac-tion” renames to “Erasmus for All”. In order to celebrate this transition and to redefine objec-tives and priorities, the representatives of the program, call a conference in London from 2 to 9 August, in which people active in youth organiza-tions from 36 countries participate. Thessaloniki - European Youth Capital 2014 is present at this conference.

The conference «Janus Project» is organized by the British Council and is named after Janus, the Ro-man god, who represented the idea of beginning and transition. “Janus Project” is a celebration for what has been achieved by the partners of “Youth in Action” program across Europe. Additionally, it is high time to find out how this program altered the daily life of young people in Europe.

This conference is an opportunity both for cele-bration and reporting. Also it motivates a mean-ingful discussion around the planning of the actions of the next few years, which mainly focus on the youth mobility, education, information and equal opportunities in Europe.

A group of cyclists from all over Europe that is crossing during this summer several EU countries with the slogan «Ride for your rights» visited Maribor.

Cyclists, representatives of the organizations Campus Europae and Fraternité 2020, visited the premises of the European Youth Capital 2013 in the Slovenian city. They informed Maribor’s represent-atives about the objectives of their initiative, which are the shift of interest in active Europe-an citizenship and the strengthening of European values.

The aim of the European Citizens’ Initiative Fra-ternité 2020 and Campus Europae is to strength-en the European exchange programs - like Erasmus or the European Voluntary Service (EVS) – and to contribute to a united Europe based on solidarity between citizens.

God JAnUSIn London«YoUTh In ACTIon» LookS bACk And pLAnS AheAd

rIde for The ACTIve CITIzenThe ACTIon «rIde for YoUr rIGhTS» In mArIbor


We InveST In YoUThmeSSAGe of The mAYor of TheSSALonIkI, YIAnnIS boUTArISfor The InTernATIonAL YoUTh dAY

This year, 12of August, which has been designated by the United Nations as the International Youth Day, finds us in a difficult economic and social situation, with high youth unemployment rates and acute social problems. Youth unemployment affects all countries and the estimates of international organizations for the future are quite disturbing. Our role, the role of all of us, of the society, public and private agencies, scientific and busi-ness communities, is to strengthen policies relat-ed to young people and to promote their point of view in the decision-making centres.

Thessaloniki is preparing for the European Youth Capital 2014 and invests in youth. We record prob-lems, desires, dreams, suggestions from young peo-ple and youth organizations of the city. We want to work with young people for young people. We do not want young people as passive recipients but as active teammates who set their own prospects. We want to work together, we trust the young people of the city and with them we intend to design pol-icies and interventions. We want young people with their action, to activate the basic principles and concepts of civil society.

The International Youth Day is a great opportunity to reaffirm our intention and determination to en-sure to the young people the right to become inde-pendent and responsible citizens and to contribute to the development and progress of our societies.


free SofTWAre,free mIndSTheSSALonIkI hoSTed The openSUSe ConferenCe 2013

Freedom, games, loud music, and lots of fun... Is there any connection with computers, software and the latest technological innovations?Indeed there is, as it was demonstrated in the World Congress of the community openSUSE. The openSUSE Conference 2013, was held in Thessaloniki from 18 to 22 July and was supported by Thessalon-iki - European Youth Capital 2014.

The Olympic Museum of Thessaloniki, where the event was hosted, for four days was the meeting point of dozens of developers as well as friends of Free Software / Open Source Software from Greece and abroad, who participated in interest-ing discussions, innovative workshops, and social events.

OpenSUSE is regarded as one of the best Linux dis-tributions in the world because it is open, trans-parent, quite user friendly and of course it is part of the global community of Free Software and Open Source Software.

Among the speakers who participated in the con-ference some speeches singled out. Georg Greve, president of the Free Software Foundation Europe and CEO at Kolab Systems AG developed the theme of freedom in life, but also the freedom of the software. Miguel Ángel Barajas, a Linux ninja with a black belt in openSUSE, made an introduction to technologies of high availability (HA) and The-odore Chatzimichos, showed the participants the first steps of Puppet in a workshop.Particularly interesting was the intervention of Jos Poortvliet, who talked about the values under-lying open societies and stressed that the chal-lenge for new businesses is to follow the rules of open societies. These rules, want employees to contribute to business results at par with the Head, which means that the work should be done horizontally rather than vertically.

The organizers and friends of openSUSE scheduled their next meeting, which will take place in April 2014 in Dubrovnik, Croatia.


1,700 YeAr oLdmonUmenTroTUndA And The SpLendoUr of ITS moSAICS

One of the oldest monuments of Thessaloniki, Ro-tunda is similar in nature to the Pantheon of Rome. Its name is related to its circular shape, and it was first used by the travellers of the 18th and 19th century. It was built during the years of Cae-sar Galerius, around 306 AD as a temple of Jupiter or Cabeiri or as a Mausoleum. The procession-al route, linking the triumphal Arch of Galeri-us to the palace complex, which has been exca-vated south of Egnatia Street, coincides to the axis of the Rotunda. The conversion of the monument to a Chris-tian church dedicated to “Asomatoi” or Arch-angels, occurred probably at the end of the fourth century, reign of Emperor Theodosius.The finest relics from the early phase of the monument are the mosaics of excellent quality. In the composition of the first zone, depict-ing the heavenly sanctuary of the church, the major martyrs of each month are praying hav-ing their hands raised. It is one of the fin-est ensembles of the early Christian mosaic art. In the middle zone of the mosaics - almost ru-ined- one can see the feet of male figures in movement, probably angels. From the mosaic depic-tion of the third zone, are preserved heads of angels holding up a triple’’ glory’’ of ornamented wreaths with multi-radius stars. Among the an-gels is depicted the mythical bird phoenix show-ing up in a red radiant disk. In the centre of the ‘’ glory’’ is still to see, on the bricks of the dome, the preliminary sketch in a charcoal outline of the depiction of Christ in a gesture of triumph.The large-scale interventions that took place at the monument during the early Christian peri-od burdened the static efficiency.

The presentation of the monuments of Thessaloniki is done with the collaboration of the Hellenic Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage, Thessaloniki Section, Committee of Architectural Heritage.

In the 7th century, after a large earthquake, several parts were destroyed. At the same time, a mural painting of the Holy Ascension is depicted in the apse.In 1590/1 Rotunda was converted into a mosque by Sheik Suleiman Hortaci Effendi. To the remains of the Ottoman phase are included the minaret, the fountain and the porticoes of the western and southern entrance.The name St. George, which is used until today for the monument, is given according its rela-tion to the small church of St. George - a de-pendency of the Monastery of St. Gregory in Mount Athos – which is located opposite the west-ern gate of the enclosure of the Rotunda. It seems that in the radically restored chapel of St. George have been relocated the consecrat-ed vessels of the church when it turned into a mosque. Rotunda and eight other «ancient Byzan-tine churches» in Thessaloniki, which were used as mosques, have been declared as «national monu-ments” immediately after the liberation of Thes-saloniki, in 1913. In 1916 extensive excavations began by greek and foreign archaeologists, while in 1917, Rotunda turned to a «Macedonian Museum» after a decree of Eleftherios Venizelos. The earthquakes of 1978, caused serious damage to the monument. The consolidation study was conduct-ed by a scientific team of the Polytechnic School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the restoration (1981 – 1991) was curried by the 9th Department of Byzantine Antiquities. In 1988, Rotunda was among the Early Chris-tian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki which were included in the List of World Herit-age by UNESCO.


Thessaloniki European Youth Capital 2014

Maria Κallas 23GR-54655, ThessalonikiT: +30 2313 318235

[email protected]

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