The Hamza Bey Mosque, built in 1467–68, is one of the oldest surviving Ottoman monuments in Thessaloniki. After the city passed to Greece in 1912 it was converted into a cinema and then a shopping arcade — the Alcazar — and the minaret was removed. In recent years it has been partially restored, with the interior now operating as a clothes market while the building retains its Ottoman shell.
The mosque is worth a look mainly for the architecture: a wide, low portico leads into the prayer hall, covered by a central dome flanked by smaller half-domes. The interior proportions are generous and the light is soft. It sits on Egnatia Street a short walk from the Roman Forum and Panagia Chalkeon, making it a natural stop on a walk through the city's historical layers.