 | ||
Bensousan Han (or Bensoussan Han, or Greek: Μπενσουσάν Χαν) is a building in Thessaloniki's Upper Ladadika region (or Istira Area), on Edessis street. It was built in 1817 and its earlier use is unknown.
It belonged to Samuel Bensoussan, a Jewish citizen of Thessaloniki, who finally during the last years of the Ottoman Era, turned the building into a motel or inn ("han" in Turkish language means motel, inn or even small caravanserai. Bensousan Han survived the Great Thessaloniki Fire and kept its use as a motel until ca.1930. From then on it has been successively an exotic food store, a spice shop, a tuck shop, a fabric shop as well as a coffee shop. Its last post war use was as a customs office at the end of the 1970s. Then it was abandoned for almost 30 years. Since 2007 it has been gradually rediscovered by the artistic community of Thessaloniki and today it holds theatrical and cultural events, exhibitions and festivals.