ΧΑΝΘ - YMCA Thessaloniki

Few youth associations end up naming a city square, but the Christian Association of Young Men of Thessaloniki — ΧΑΝΘ, the Greek YMCA of the north — has done exactly that, and residents give directions by it. Founded in the early 1920s, in the years when the city was absorbing the refugees from Asia Minor, it has always combined gymnasium with lecture room. Its hall takes concerts, choral evenings and public talks as readily as its courts take basketball. The building stands a short walk from the seafront, among the museums and the exhibition grounds.