Thessaloniki, Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and is located on the Thermaic Gulf, at the northwest corner of the Aegean Sea. The city was founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, who named it after his wife Thessalonike, daughter of Philip II of Macedon and sister of Alexander the Great. An important metropolis by the Roman period, Thessaloniki was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire.

The architecture in Thessaloniki is the direct result of the city's position at the center of all historical developments in the Balkans. Aside from its commercial importance, Thessaloniki was also for many centuries the military and administrative hub of the region, and beyond this the transportation link between Europe and the Levant.