1. The methodological foundations of the research

The city of Smyrna¹ holds a special position in the collective memory of the Greeks. In a great correspondence and at the same time in a different way than Constantinople, reminding mostly the way the Jews see Thessalonica, Smyrna appears as a city with a deep Hellenic character, which was lost once and for all as probably the most tragic consequence of the Asia Minor Catastrophe. All evidence, written or other, which construct its reminiscence in the collective memory, refer to the intense presence of the Greek Orthodox (Ottomans and Greek citizens) which during the last years of the Ottoman empire acquired high levels of self-determination, business versality, sociability, wealth and finally of common happiness.²

How did this image occur? In what extent it is justified? What was its duration in time? An external observer, the British F.W. Hasluck, wrote in 1918: “Modern Smyrna is exuberantly prosperous”,³ whereas the population data, however defective and questionable, suggest, mostly shortly before the Catastrophe of 1922, an order of size very important and, as a consequence, a predominant presence of Greek Orthodox in the place. How could this be reconstructed and justified by the research of the urban and architectural evolution of the city? The remains and the characteristics of the Greek presence is no longer possible to be traced there, since the destructions of the fire of 1922 and the full reorganization of the urban network, after the plan created under an order by Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) in 1923 by French urban planners and materialized after 1930, annihilated the place’s historical testimonies (buildings, roads, uses, formations).⁴

Since the local research-observation is in no position to offer any actual contribution, the reconstruction of the urban space can begin with the compilation of the evolutionary cartography of Smyrna. The gathering and the study of the various images of the city was one of the first subjects of this research.⁵ Also important was the role of a plethora of direct evidence collected in Greece by research centres for the refugee Hellenism, as well as of the published studies which have been based on researches in Greek and European libraries and archives.

Based on all the relative documents, the evolution of Smyrna in the Modern Years can be described in three phases:

2. From the 15th until the 17th century

Until the second quarter of the 17^th century the most important harbour of the region was Chios. Until then the organization of Smyrna’s urban space follows the Medieval model of the Ottoman cities: an amphitheatric arrangement on a hill sloping towards the sea, an old Byzantine castle on its top and remains of walls which descent towards the coast, a protected bay and a small inland harbour serving the loading of the merchandize with small docks on the beach. The form of the harbour entering the urban network appears in the sketch of the Ottoman geographer Piri Reis (16^th century), as well as in engravings of the 17^th century, whereas in later plans (such as the one produced by Graves in 1834) is indirectly suggested by a large free space at the market’s centre. ⁶

Between the harbour and the acropolis the typical “oriental” city extends: at the slopes of the hill the habitation areas divided in separate religious quarters (Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Armenian) and the markets lower. According to the descriptions and the drawings of De Bruyn⁷ (and many others), there are two market sites: at the first (Kemeraltı) products from the hinterland of the Empire and from Egypt (misirtzidika) and at the second products imported from Europe, mainly with Dutch ships are sold (much later, in 1888, at the same position the Cretan Inn was built).

The first evidence from travellers concerning the local population and its compilation, notwithstanding the problems of credibility which certainly exist, illustrate a city large for the period, with the Muslim element being definitely the predominant one.⁸

3. From the 17th until the 19th century

From the 17^th century the flow of European merchants, mainly French, English and Dutch, and secondary Italians, Danes, Swedes etc., as well as Greeks, Armenians and Jews is documented. The increase of the transportation trade resulted in the development of the harbour traffic, further promoted in the 18^th century, during which the European companies serving the increasing needs of the European industry in raw material become predominant.⁹

The settlement of the European merchants in a place outside the old city-walls provides the city with a new important attribute. This is the Frangomachalas or European quarter, a totally different urban and architectural compound, which expresses with its form the terms under which the trade with the West is made.

The Frangomachalas appears as a homogenous total, an insula which is arranged along the coast on new alluvial lands, from the southwest towards the northeast, in a length of 900 to 1,000 m. and with a width of 70 to 120 m. It is divided in long and narrow lots which face both sides, with a width of 8 to 25 m., communicating with the main road and the beach. The inner arrangement of these lots includes a building often with an impressive façade on the European Street or Frank Street (Rue des Francs, the most important road with a width of 5-8 m.) along with auxiliary buildings, storerooms, passages, courtyards, as well as a private wharf in the sea for the transportation of merchandize. These complexes, which were called verchanedes, (an alteration of the Turkish frenkhane, i.e. Frankish house) were no more than 60.¹⁰

Constant depositions of earth alter the coastline and extend the urban space inside the sea, making the use of the small inland harbour protected by the fort of Saint Peter (probably built during Alexios Komnenos’ reign) impossible.¹¹ Around 1750-1760 (all travellers mention it until these years) this harbour was silted with earth in an area of approximately 10 hectares, allowing the development of the wider market of Smyrna. This is a typical procedure for the extension of the land of the coastal cities via alluvial depositions, a procedure observed also in the landscapes of Thessalonica and Alexandria.

After the silting of the closed harbour, the greatest part of the transportation of merchandize is made via the numerous wharfs and verchanedes. Meanwhile the city is extended towards the north. Next to the Fangomachalas from the 15^th until the 18^th century Greek quarters, such as the New Machalas, Servetadika, Agia Fotiini and Agios Georgios develop.¹² The Upper City continues to house the Turkish quarters along with two old Greek ones (Pano Machalas and Agia Voukla). The Jewish quarter is located above and next to the market, whereas the Armenian one north of the market, neighbouring the new Greek quarters.

Until 1800 the population of Smyrna does not exceed 100,000 people in a total area of approximately 200 hectares. According to cross-verification of a plethora of data and reports, the Greek Orthodox must have compiled around 1/3 of the population of the city.¹³ However a great mobility is observed, since, with the outbreak of the Greek Revolution, the destructions and the hostilities, Greek Orthodox from Peloponnesus, the islands and nearby Chios reach Smyrna, whereas others abandon her.¹⁴ The diffusion of the different national-religious groups within the old and new city has been documented in an Italian map of 1822 which was discovered in the archive of the Gennadius Library in Athens.¹⁵

4. From the 19th century until 1922

The third phase includes the city of the 19^th century and until 1922. Its main characteristic is the great expansion of the urban space and the predominance of the non-Muslims, mainly of the Greek Orthodox element. In this phase the image of the Greek Smyrna is promoted and completed. The procedure of the construction of this image lasts for a whole century and takes its main characteristics in the turning of the century, i.e. between 1870 and 1920.

The very wide institutional changes adopted by the Ottoman Empire between the years 1839 and 1876 and the financial and cultural penetration of Europe are directly connected to the developments in the area of the city and in general to the increased presence and activity of the non-Muslim populations –the Greeks and the Armenians in the case of Smyrna. They found their own business houses and mainly enter the import-export trade at the coastal as well as at the inland cities. Analogous phenomena are observed in the industry. According to the first industrial census of the empire¹⁶ which takes place in 1913-1915, 50% of the invested capital belongs to Greek Orthodox, 20% to Armenians, 5% to Jews, 10% to Europeans and 15% to Muslims.

Naturally, the cities undergo extended quality and quantity changes during the same time period:¹⁷ impressive rises in their population, strengthening of the industrial activity (spinning, weaving, tobacco elaboration, food)¹⁸ with a simultaneous decay of the traditional handcraft, an increase of the personnel employed in the offices of the public sector (administration) and of the private tertiary sector and a subsequent upgrade of the high and middle urban incomes mainly between the non-Muslims. As a consequence the urban landscape changes too.

The old spatial and functional divisions and discriminations (habitation neighbourhoods according to the religious origin, market areas) weaken and new spatial specializations emerge: central functions, spaces for recreation and for the habitation of the high incomes, working class quarters, elegant suburbs (for a permanent residence), undeveloped neighbourhoods. The previous division of the market remains, but it changes character. From markets of products of European origin on the one hand and Egyptian and Oriental origin on the other, it is transformed into markets of modern industrial products and luxury items on the one hand and markets of traditional products of popular consumption, food etc. on the other.

In Smyrna, initially timidly and then more decisively, in the period of the decade of 1840-1850 the foundations for the reorganization of the space will be set. Two destructive fires, in 1841 in Turkish and Jewish quarters, and in 1845 in the Armenian quarter and in part of the Frangomachalas, allow us to study the introduction of new ideas. The first area is rebuilt as it was.¹⁹ On the contrary, just four years later, in 1845, for the reconstruction of the Armenian quarter and of the Frangomachalas, two architects of the government are sent from the Porte with the orders to design a rectangular network with wider streets, to impose the use of fire-proof material and to set controlled prices in the material and the salaries in order to prevent speculation.²⁰ As seen in the later plans, these improvements were indeed materialized.

In 1851, another step is made towards the reorganization of the urban space. The vali Mehmet Emin Ali pasha, one of the three most powerful men of the empire and later to become the grand vizier and a pioneer of the reformations in collaboration with Ali Nehad, special delegate of the Porte with extended duties,²¹ document the properties of the Europeans and the rest of the inhabitants, by preparing land registries and the first accurate and detailed topographical map of the city. For this reason the Italian engineer Luigi Storari is hired;²² the map of Smyrna he compiled is a precious document for the study of the city in the eve of her great transformations.

The descriptions of Smyrna (historical, topographical, archaeological), which Strorari publishes along with his map, presents a city which still remains medieval. “Smyrna has no walls, no harbour, arsenal or lighthouses, has neither bridges nor any highways to communicate with the suburbs, no stock exchange neither an academy of fine arts. Public lighting is still unknown and whoever exits in the city by night has to carry a lantern. There is no local self-government neither municipal incomes nor municipal services and state engineers […]. Thanks to the attentive care of Ali Nehad Efendi, streets begin to become wider and more regular, although not paved with stone yet. Public squares, spaces for promenade and recreation are totally absent. There is one theatre, but I am ashamed to talk about it”.

Then, after mentioning the churches (three Catholic ones, one Armenian and six Greek ones), baths and fountains, hospitals (nine, of which the Greek is the most important one) and schools (gymnasiums and elementary schools), he concludes his description with the most important “modern” buildings, which are: Isegonis steam mill at Pounda,²³ the great barracks, the Isar mosque, the Vezir Inn, the public school of administration, the Bit Pazar and the Armenian church (whose “peculiar architecture” he notes).

With the aid of Storari’s map, the detailed copies of the map made in 1822, the report of the British George Rolleston and the records of the meetings of the Greek elders of Smyrna,²⁴ the city’s expansion towards the north and the diffusion of clearly Greek or mixed quarters become apparent. In 1854 the city covers 280 hectares and certain quarters have a rectangular urban planning (Armenian, Punda etc.).

The spatial expansion is supported by a rather intense population increase during the following years, although the data available is rather vague. Storari reports 132,000 inhabitants in 1854. In 1868 Bonaventura Slaars documents 185,000 inhabitants, whereas the Austrian consul Carl von Scherzer in 1870 reports 155,000 (45,000 Muslims, 75,000 Greek Orthodox, 6,000 Armenians, 15,000 Jews and 14,000 Europeans). At the turn of the century the city has 200,000 inhabitants and in 1916 the Austrian consul J. Mordtmann (author of the entry “Smyrna” in the encyclopaedia of Islam), documents 300,000 inhabitants (90,000 Muslims, 110,000 Greek Orthodox, 15,000 Armenians, 30,000 Jews and 55,000 Europeans, of which 30,000 were Greek citizens). The numerical predominance of the Muslims is overturned in the middle of the 19^th century in favour of the Greek Orthodox. Since the European inhabitants of Smyrna never surpassed the number of 25,000, it is certain that the “Christian” numerical predominance of “gâvur Izmir”, of the “infidel Smyrna”, according to the Ottomans, was actually caused by the Greek Orthodox, mainly Ottomans but also Greek citizens.

In the framework of the administrational reorganization of the empire the vilayet of Aydin is created in 1867 and in the position of the general governor (vali) Sabri pasha is appointed²⁵ with second-in-command the representative of the largest local minority Gregorios Aristarchis bey (a common regulation imposed by the reformations).²⁶ In the same era, and with the support of Sabri pasha, the permission is given by the High Porte for the creation of a “mixed municipality”, an institution which is favourably accepted because it is considered that it will especially help the improvement of the urban space, although the institution is not founded immediately.²⁷

The rapid development and simultaneous expansion of the city is supported by the great works which are undertaken by the foreign companies from the middle of the decade of 1850 until 1870. An actual push to the whole area is offered by the construction of the railroad line connecting the city to Aydin (1857-1866), by an English company and shortly later the construction of a second line towards Kasaba, by a French company. The creation of the two lines in the city’s eastern side and the antagonisms between the two companies will form Smyrna’s landscape until the period of her destruction, some times encouraging and some times hindering public works and the openings of new roads.

A work of analogous development importance, but even more important concerning the form and the organization of the city, was the construction of a harbour and a quay (which started under an English initiative and was finally undertaken by the French company Dussaud).

The change in the space due to the construction of the harbour installations and other works appears clearly in the plan made by Lamec Saad in 1876. A strip of land, with a length of 3 klm and a width of 150 m. maximum, was created in front of the old coastline by reclamation of the sea.²⁸ In total, 40 hectares of land are added to the city. The surface is rather small, compared to the dramatic influence it had to the city’s urban function.

The waterfront street was the first “modern” road which is created in Smyrna (with a width of 12 m. in a total width of 20 m. for the waterfront including a tram line) and the land lots next to it are the most expensive ones in the city. The most profitable financial functions, new types of recreation establishments, theatres, hotels, clubs, antagonize each other for a land estate. Expensive houses are planned and signed by eponymous architects. A new apportionment of space appears which derives from the distinctions of financial and social character. Along the waterfront (until Bella Vista), groups of high incomes composed from Greeks, Armenians and Europeans inhabitants of the city appear. In the inside, as well as at Pounda –where reclamation on the low and marshy ground had painful consequences since it was not followed by improvement works-, the low working classes settle. The unhealthy situation of habitation there seriously concerns the newspapers of Smyrna, where percentages of mortality quadruple in comparison to the rest of the city appear.

From the moment the Frangomachalas is cut off from the sea, the verchanedes greatly loose their old function of housing and storing. In 1880 the buildings of Frangomachalas had already been bought by non-Muslims, which establish offices, hotels, clubs etc. in the upper floors, whereas in the ground floors merchant shops of luxury items operate, serving a society which rapidly increases its consuming habits.

Based on the printed Merchant Guides of the first decade of the century and the mapping foundation of Goad (1905), the intense Greek presence in every region of the central activities (trade, banks, import-export business) is promoted, in the “European” city, but also in the traditional one (in the Kemeralti region a great complex of markets and bezestan organized, filled with products of “popular” consumption), where the non-Muslim prevail too.²⁹

However, although the old traditional market remained active, it is certain that the heart of the city had been fully relocated and is now to be found in the new quarters. Here, from information and documentations of the American Consulate of Smyrna in 1919-1920 we recognize a modern area buzzing with life, functioning as a unified urban space which does not remind at all the divided city of the introvert communal activities. 15 theatres and cinemas, 513 coffee shops and tea houses, 226 taverns, 65 restaurants, 43 beer houses, 11 sea baths, 8 dance halls, 16 community and 6 sports clubs compile the scenery of the new urban reality.³⁰

Apart from the new types of buildings (grands magasins, factories, offices, houses, theatres, clubs), the Greek Orthodox of Smyrnja introduce impressive, architecturally and functionally, communal –educational and religious- buildings. Amongst others, the Museum of Smyrna, which operated in the Evangeliki Scholi and is noted on the maps (e.g. Lamec Saad 1876) and in every guides of the city.

The turn of the Greek Orthodox towards education does not evade the attention of the scholars, for which school buildings are important elements of the city’s landscape. The observation of the great geographer Elysée Reclus is characteristic concerning the passion with which the Greek Orthodox of Smyrna would send their children to the schools.³¹ In 1920 there were 20 elementary schools of the community in the city of Smyrna (for boys, girls or mixed ones) with 7,000 pupils and further 10 private ones with 1,500 pupils. In the suburbs 18 more schools operated with 2,777 pupils. (These numbers, including more than 11,000 pupils, in an era when school education is not obligatory, offer us an image of the population above any doubt.) It is worth mentioning here that the expansion of education in the girls too also has a spatial influence in the city’s existence. The points where the old school buildings were located (within arcades, near the market or in workshops) were considered to be inappropriate or dangerous, exactly due to their proximity with non-“appropriate” functions. The Central School for Girls was transferred in 1886 outside the St. Fotini quarter and an impressive building, described as huge and extremely organized, was built more to the north, to the new quarter of Bogiatzidika, at the expenses of the very powerful Greek family of Kioupetzoglou. Just 22 years later, in 1908, this building was demolished and an even larger one was erected in its place (nowadays Atatürk Lisesi). Plans were assigned by the Greek community to the Athenian architect P. Karathanasopoulos with the indication that he should design a “classical style with propylaea”.³²

Similarly, branches of the famous Evangeliki Scholi were founded in many quarters.³³ The oldest building was located since 1733 next to St. Fotini, in the heart of the city, and housed the famous Library of the school containing 33,000 volumes and 1,200 manuscripts, as well as the Museum. Today only one impressive building survives located in the old quarter of Agia Aikaterini.

In 1920 the city covers more than 400 hectares, beyond the railroad lines. The construction or sanctification of Orthodox parish churches follows the procedure of the organization of the new quarters,³⁴ whereas their number confirms the population rise of the end of the 19^th and the beginning of the 20^th century.

In general, from the 21 churches operating in 1922, 16 were built in the 19^th century, humble in the beginning and often richer later, whereas 5 of them are dated earlier (amongst them also Agia Paraskevi which was destroyed in the years of the Greek Revolution). Before the 19^th century the believed-to-be “very ancient” Agios Ioannis Theologos of the Upper Town of Smyrna was built, whose last reconstruction took place in 1804. The other church of the Upper Town, Agios Voukolos, was founded in 1866, at the position of an ancient Christian church. Both were located in the older Greek quarters and survived the fire of 1922.

Amongst the older churches also the most famous church of Smyrna, Agia Foteini (the cathedral of the city since the 17^th century, replacing Agia Paraskevi), whose extremely impressive bell tower was built in 1856 by the architect Xenophon Latris, and Agios Georgios, probably in the position where in the 13^th century the glebe of the monastery of Lemvoi Agios Georgios Exokastritis are included. The former was built in 1623 and was repaired many times (1772, 1792, 1856 etc.).³⁵

The rest of the churches mark the creation of modern quarters:

Agios Ioannis Prodromos is mentioned since 1818 at Schoinadika, shortly before Pounda. It was totally rebuilt in 1856-1857 by 300 poor male and female workers who dwelled in the quarter (it is documented in Graves’ map). In 1833 the construction of the church of Agios Dimitrios began in the area next to the Grecian Hospital and in the same year Agios Charalambos was also built within the court of the Grecian Hospital. Between 1844 and 1846 Prophet Elias was built at the old aqueduct (Kamares). In 1857 Agia Aikaterini is founded as a wooden hut, which was rebuilt in 1898 with the plans of the architect X. Latris. It was Smyrna’s biggest church. In the quarter of Mortakia in 1860 a church was built which was extended in 1878 and was dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Saviour. In 1908 the church became a parochial one. In 1861 Agios Konstantinos in the Chiotika (Tepeciki) quarter was built by Chians who had found refuge in Smyrna after the slaughter of 1822. The church is the third one which survived from the fire of 1922.

In 1867 in the Tsai quarter the Evangelistria church was built, a small wooden church which in 1908 is rebuilt on the plans of the architect Vasileios Lyttis. This area was located between the quarters of Agios Dimitrios and Agios Nikolaos. In 1871 the church of the Assumption of the Holy Mother is built in the first road parallel to the waterfront. In the Greek Orthodox cemetery which was created in 1865, on the plans of the architect X. Latris, in 1878 the church of Michael Archontas was erected. In 1884 in the Çay area Agios Nikolaos was erected on the plans of the architect I. Christodoulou. In 1885 the church of the Birth of the Holy Mother is turned from a glebe into a parochial church in the area of Fasoulas. In 1887 Agios Tryfon started being built in the quarter which took the church’s name. It was completed in 1894.

Mytridiotissa in the Mersinlis quarter was built with wood in 1891 and was rebuilt in 1903 on the plans of the architect Konstantinidis and under the supervision of the architect G. Petrokokkinos. In 1908 the church of Agia Markella was erected by Chians in the parish of Daragatsi which started from Pounda and reached until Halka Bunar. The church of Agia Kyriaki stood nearby. Finally, in 1910 Agios Ioannis Alygarias was built in the homonymous church next to the railroad line Smyrna-Aydin.

As shown by the map of Ernest Bon in 1913,³⁶ recent expansions, which surpass 200 hectares, do not include shrines, in contrast to the old city. Although religious homogeny was a given fact, social-financial divisions are also apparent and the diffusion of the working and generally popular classes in the space appears through every form of data. This is characteristically illustrated by the emergence of the Pounda quarter, directly connected to the last period of Smyrna.

Until 1840 Pounda appears as a large sandy plain which is cooled by the sea breeze, but also flooded by sea water in winter. The area, with a marvellous view towards the opposite coasts, towards the Burnova suburb with the mansions, as well as towards the gardens and the farm houses stretching on the whole beach, was considered a place of promenade.³⁷

The area starts being incorporated directly to the urban space most probably after 1850, when the Isigonis family establishes a large steam-powered flour mill next to the sea. This was a substantial industrial establishment which appears later in every map, the inauguration ceremony of which took place with the presence of the vali Halil Rifat.³⁸

In the map of Storari the region has already been divided by streets into large building blocks, most probably large estates which were meant to be divided into lots and built over (as it appears from the names of the streets later). Also buildings appear, and in an announcement of the council of the elders in 1854³⁹ the inhabitants of the area are mentioned, which constantly become more, since working classes are attracted there thanks to the works of the railroad line Smyrna-Aydin and of the railroad station in the next quarter. Meanwhile a plethora of handcraft and industrial enterprises are established in the area, as it appears in the plans of the insurance companies of 1905. Already, as we have mentioned, the church of Agios Ioannis Prodromos in the nearby quarter, Schoinadika, was totally rebuilt in 1856 by poor male and female workers dwelling in the area.⁴⁰ In the same time, in a map of the British Admiralty⁴¹ certain buildings with a relative rectangular plan have been added. Also only the railroad line of Aydin appears whereas the coastline to the west and north of Pounda has slightly changed.

With the construction of the quay, Pounda’s coastline greatly changes its form. Works for the expansion and the elevation of the land create practical problems for the area. According to the article 18 of the contract, the Company had to construct within the limits of its works drains until the sea “according to the regulations concerning the subterranean drains”. After the construction of the drains, which were elevated compared to the existing level of the ground, the works for the completion of the final level stopped, with the result that the area flooded by stagnant waters, the exit of which was blocked by the elevated drains. In the area diseases appear, the situation is tragically presented by the newspapers⁴² and “local” doctors offer their services gratis (the doctor Demosthenes Isigonis, who also lives at the same place and F. Dellagrammatikas are mentioned). The wharf Company’s indifference forces in 1872 some distinguished inhabitants to submit a referendum to the vali concerning the situation of the hygiene in the city. Pounda, they mention, has become a centre of pestilent diseases. “During the last summer almost everyone living there suffered from intermittent fevers, which most turned into typhoid […] whereas the number of deaths resulted is quadruple to the number of the other parts of the city, although they suffered this because of the proximity of this neighbourhood”.⁴³

A later short report by Trakakis from the research of 1919-1920 ascertains the area’s degradation: “Workers live in humid little houses in the so-called Pounda quarter, from which the industrial establishments start, or in the quarters of the inside of the city”.

The Greek presence is intense in Pounda at the end of the century.⁴⁴ Although no written source refers to the imposition of new urban laws, the tracing of the roads and the architecture (wherever and as much as it survives) show that in the regions of new expansion of the cities an urban planning has preceded along with a proper division into lots according to the relative rules and directions existing.⁴⁵ In the plans of 1905, although they are not topographic documentations of precision, it appears that the division into lots resulted from the urban planning of 1854-1857, since regular and similar lots (8-10 m. wide and 16-20 m. long), over which the type of the “smyrnian” terraced house with partition walls was “born” (the area survived the destruction).⁴⁶

In the spatial development of Smyrna in the turn of the century we can almost identify two parallel cities. It is also interesting that the organization of the municipality, which from 1879 is composed of two compartments, confirms this dualism/division. The limit between them is located to the conceivable line which starts from the railway station of Kasabas and reaches the fish market. To the south lies the first compartment, the Old City, with the old quarters on the hill and the traditional market at the site of the medieval harbour. To the north lies the second compartment, which was created with the arrival of the Europeans, and welcomed all the financial, social and technological developments –exactly what will be lost in the destruction of Smyrna in 1922. It is probably not accidental that, in the widely accepted iconography and reminiscence of Smyrna in Greece, only the “new” city appears with its modern Europeanized areas and impressive view towards the sea. Of course, this dualism had been understood very early, already since 1889, by the Ottoman governors, such as for example Midhat pasha, who sought ways (mainly urban ones) to encourage the “Europeanization” of the old areas of the city too. Some extremely interesting texts have been written, which suggest the opening of boulevards and the reorganization of areas of the old city in order to reanimate the place and to allow its “development” according the model of the waterfront and of the northern regions. No wide corrective operation will however take place until 1922, something curious for this city, which elementary planned and programmed her extensions even with simple urban plans.

When the land registries and the detailed documentations undertaken uder Kemal’s order (an operation which was assigned by the Turkish state to the topographers Danger brothers and to the urban planner Henri Prost, who created the plan of new Smyrna in 1923) are studied,⁴⁷ it is certain that our knowledge for the city will have a lot to gain.