The most glorious period of Thessaloniki is the 1,000-year Early Christian and Byzantine period. 
In the time of the Byzantine Empire, it was the second great city of the Byzantine Empire, the co-reigning city, which exerted a special cultural influence on the surrounding peoples. During the same period, Thessaloniki was a centre of social and ideological conflicts and of uninterrupted intellectual and artistic creation, combining the ideology of Christianity with the literary and artistic tradition of ancient Greece. 
An important heritage of Byzantine Thessaloniki, in Greece and the world, is the great artistic value of its monuments. Its seventeen monuments, classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, have made Thessaloniki a unique “museum” of Byzantine architecture and art from the 5th to the 15th century. These monuments are the focus of this Historical and Touring Guide, giving at the same time the historical, social and ideological context in which they were created. The book, with its rich informative and photographic material, hopes to make a great era and an important historical phase of the highly praised city better known and loved by the general public.