The Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki is one of the most important Jewish museums in Europe, and one of the best museums of any kind in Greece. It occupies a villa near the Modiano market and documents the long history of Jewish presence in the city — from the ancient Jewish community of Hellenistic times through the great Sephardic influx after 1492, the prosperous Ottoman centuries, and finally the catastrophe of the Holocaust in which 96 percent of the community was murdered.
The exhibits are thoughtful and well-curated: Torah scrolls, synagogue furnishings, community records, domestic objects, photographs of the crowded Jewish quarters before the fire of 1917 and before the deportations of 1943. A section deals directly and unflinchingly with the Shoah. The museum is essential for understanding the city's character — the commercial tradition, the street food, the very name "Modiano" all trace back to a community most visitors walk past without knowing.