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Kalamaria Καλαμαριά
Municipality
Aerial photo of Kalamaria. The stadium of Apollon Kalamarias and the marina of Aretsou are visible.
KalamariaLocation within the region
Coordinates: 40°35′N 22°57′E / 40.583°N 22.950°E / 40.583; 22.950
Country	Greece
Geographic region	Macedonia
Administrative region	Central Macedonia
Regional unit	Thessaloniki
Government
• Mayor	Chrysa Arapoglou (since 2023)
Area
• Municipality	6.40 km (2.47 sq mi)
Elevation	35 m (115 ft)
Population
• Municipality	92,248
• Density	14,000/km (37,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code	551 xx
Area code(s)	+30231
Vehicle registration	N
Website	www.kalamaria.gr http://politismos.kalamaria.gr/

Kalamariá (Greek: Καλαμαριά, Port Side) is among the most densely populated suburbs in Thessaloniki, located about 7 kilometres (4 miles) southeast of the downtown area, with a population of 92,248.

History

The area was first settled by humans in prehistoric times, and remains from that settlement have been found around the Mikro Emvolo cape.

The name Kalamaria was first used in 1083 to denote the area southeast of Thessaloniki, including but not limited to the area of the present-day municipality. During the Byzantine and the Ottoman periods, the area was mostly uninhabited, except for a few fishing lodges.

The first settlement was created in the early 1920s to house Asia Minor refugees from the Greek diaspora in Georgia and Asia Minor, who fled or were forcibly sent to Greece as a result of the Greco-Turkish War. As many as 100,000 refugees relocated to Thessaloniki, primarily to the city's suburbs. Refugees from Asia Minor and East Thrace mainly settled in Kalamaria.

In 1931, an antisemitic riot, led by National Union of Greece, took place in Camp Campbell, located in nowadays Kalamaria, where a Jewish neighborhood was completely burned, leaving 500 families homeless and one Jewish resident dead.

Kalamaria has seen substantial recent growth as part of a population shift from rural and urban areas to suburban areas, particularly to those east of Thessaloniki. Between the 1981 and 2001 censuses, the population of Kalamaria grew by about 36,000 (or 69%). Up until 1943 Kalamaria was part of the Municipality of Thessaloniki. On 1 January 1943 it became an independent administrative unit.

Kalamaria had a population of 14,000 residents as recorded by an inventory in 1947, but this has considerably increased, as shown by the Greek census of 2001 where Kalamaria had a total of 87,255 residents. Kalamaria has the second highest population in the Council of the Town Planning Group of Thessaloniki but also of Northern Greece and ninth in all of Greece.

Though it was originally separated from the main City of Thessaloniki, the municipality has grown so much in the post-war period that the older physical boundaries are virtually non-existent. Nowadays, the border between the two municipalities exists purely for administrative purposes.

Traditionally the areas of Krini and Aretsou had been used as beaches and places for summer baths for the citizens of Thessaloniki, after WWII until the 1980s. The pollution of the Thermaic Gulf made this practice impossible since then.

The total area of the Municipality of Kalamaria covers 6.401 square kilometres (2.47 square miles). About two thirds of the perimeter are 6.5 kilometres (4.0 miles) of coastline. The municipality is separated into 10 geographical districts, which have been given names reminiscent of the refugees' former homelands.

• Nea Krini (Νέα Κρήνη)
• Karabournaki (Καραμπουρνάκι)
• Nea Touzla (Νέα Τούζλα)
• Kouri (Κουρί)
• Katirli (Κατιρλί)
• Aretsou (Αρετσού)
• Agios Ioannis (Άγιος Ιωάννης)
• Vyzantio (Βυζάντιο)
• Agios Panteleimonas (Άγιος Παντελεήμoνας)
• Navarchos Votsis (Ναύαρχος Βότσης, "Admiral Votsis")
• Finikas (Fenekas in local language) (Φοίνικας)

Historical population

Sporting teams

Kalamaria has in total 14 sporting teams including Apollon Kalamarias.

Climate

Kalamaria, like much of Thessaloniki metropolitan area lies in a transitional climate zone between semi-arid and temperate climates, classifying as cold semi-arid climate (BSk) according to Köppen climate classification. Kalamaria records 408 mm annual precipitation, evenly spread throughout the year with a slight decrease during the summer months, while the average annual temperature is 17.1 °C. Temperatures in the warmest months rarely (if ever) exceed 40 °C while frost may occur several days per year during the winter months. Thunderstorms are more common during the warmer half of the year. Snowfall is not very common though it occurs almost annually, but it usually does not cause heavy disruption to daily life.

Transportation

The main roads that feed into the municipality are those of Konstantinos Karamanlis Avenue (formerly Nea Egnatia) to the east (which links with the A25 (the Thessaloniki-Chalkidiki motorway)), Taki Ekonomidi Avenue (which links the popular district of Nea Krini with Thessaloniki's city center), Megalou Alexandrou Avenue - the biggest avenue in Thessaloniki and the EO16 which provides the main access from Kalamaria to the airport and the outer south-eastern suburbs of Thessaloniki. Other main road links exist with Thermi, while the southeast end of the Thessaloniki ring road (which bypasses the Thessaloniki Urban Area) lies to the southeast of Kalamaria.

Streets

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Kalamaria is twinned with:

• Saranda, Albania
• Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria
• Paphos, Cyprus

• 

  Clearwater, Florida, United States
• Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia

Partnerships

In addition to this, Kalamaria is partnered with:

• Solna, Sweden
• Fonyód, Hungary

See also

• List of settlements in the Thessaloniki regional unit

References

1. Municipality of Kalamaria, Municipal elections – October 2023, Ministry of Interior
2. ^ "Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021, Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός κατά οικισμό" [Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
3. "Ιστορία" [History] (in Greek). Municipality of Kalamaria. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
4. Kalamaria Population 2021, worldpopulationreview.com
5. Iωάννου Γιώργος, Η πρωτεύουσα των προσφύγων, Κέδρος, Αθήνα 1984
6. See legend of the picture as published by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
7. Aristotle A. Kallis, The Jewish Community of Salonica Under Siege: The Antisemitic Violence of the Summer of 1931, Oxford University Press, 2006
8. Κάποτε στο Καραμπουρνάκι
9. "Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation)" (PDF) (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-21.
10. "Climate" (in Greek). National Observatory of Athens. 7 March 2023.
11. "Networks, town twinning and partnerships" (PDF). City of Solna. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-04. Retrieved 2013-08-04.

External links

• Kalamaria Municipality home page (Greek/English)
• Kalamaria - culture home page (Greek)
• Kalamaria's History (Greek)
• About Kalamaria (Greek)

v t e Administrative division of the Central Macedonia Region
Area 18,811 km (7,263 sq mi) Population 1,882,108 (as of 2011) Municipalities 38 (since 2011) Capital Thessaloniki
Regional unit of Chalkidiki	Aristotelis Kassandra Nea Propontida Polygyros Sithonia
Regional unit of Imathia	Alexandreia Naousa Veria
Regional unit of Kilkis	Kilkis Paionia
Regional unit of Pella	Almopia Edessa Pella Skydra
Regional unit of Pieria	Dion-Olympos Katerini Pydna-Kolindros
Regional unit of Serres	Amfipoli Emmanouil Pappas Irakleia Nea Zichni Serres Sintiki Visaltia
Regional unit of Thessaloniki	Ampelokipoi-Menemeni Chalkidona Delta Kalamaria Kordelio-Evosmos Lagkadas Neapoli-Sykies Oraiokastro Pavlos Melas Pylaia-Chortiatis Thermaikos Thermi Thessaloniki Volvi
Regional governor Apostolos Tzitzikostas (since 2013, elected 2014 & 2019) Decentralized Administration Macedonia and Thrace

• Populated places in Thessaloniki (regional unit)
• Municipalities of Central Macedonia
• Kalamaria