The Boatmen of Thessaloniki, or Gemidžii, might initially sound like the RNLI or something, but they were a small group of young Macedonian anarchist revolutionaries who carried out a series of bombings in Thessaloniki in 1903, when the city was still under Ottoman control. Their targets included banks, ships, railways and other symbols of Ottoman power, with the intention of forcing international attention onto the Macedonian question. It was neither gentle nor subtle, but they are now remembered as visionary revolutionaries, and I suppose handing out pamphlets politely outside a railway station would probably not have had quite the same geopolitical impact.
This monument, near to the Stone Bridge, was unveiled in July 2010 and shows the group in a suitably heroic and restless pose. The figures are shown with bags, books and purposeful expressions, making the whole arrangement feel less like a quiet memorial and more like a revolutionary team photograph in bronze. It’s hardly understated, but then there are tens of these huge sculptures around the city centre, so this needed to have the same importance to avoid it looking apologetic……