This edition was published on the occasion of the eponymous exhibition organized by the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank at the exhibition space of Villa Kapandji in Thessaloniki (November 15, 2017 - February 18, 2018).

It is a narration about the rise and abrupt end of cosmopolitan Thessaloniki during the nearly half-century that marked its first transition from the middle ages to the modern era, from the Ottoman Empire to contemporary Greece, from communal organization to a homogeneous national state, from the flammable wooden city to concrete mansions, from labyrinthine dead ends to the layouts of the Hebrard plan.

"The city had its own prehistory of modernization within the framework of the Ottoman Tanzimat, with networks, infrastructures, public and private buildings that gradually changed its appearance and essence, starting with the demolition of the sea walls in 1870," writes the curator of the exhibition, Yannis Epaminondas. The demolition of the sea wall marked the transition of enclosed Thessaloniki to the modern era. During this transitional period, the city "continued to change, burn, and rebuild again, based on new European models." Two major fires, in 1890 and 1917, especially the latter, led to redesign and reconstruction, which in turn altered its class structure and population distribution, thus fundamentally reshaping its character. Representative watercolors by British and French soldiers who served on the Macedonian Front during the Great War accompany the photographs, capturing not only monuments and landscapes of Thessaloniki but also its streets, markets, and everyday people, those who were mainly affected by the fire (Western soldiers were fascinated by the "oriental exoticism" of the tribes, costumes, and postures of its diverse population). For the urban redevelopment of the city after the great destruction of 1917, French architect and urban planner Ernest Hebrard was called upon. His plans reflected the spirit of the then-nascent science of Western urban planning, which brought about the thorough redesign of Thessaloniki, leading to the definitive end of the old city, which had managed to survive more or less intact until 1917 (and in some areas until the earthquake of 1978).