Fortress of Vardari, Historic fortress in the city center of Thessaloniki, Greece

The Fortress of Vardari, also called Top Hane, stands in western Thessaloniki where the city walls meet the present courthouse. Its main gate opens on the north side; the southern enclosure holds three gunpowder magazines inscribed with the year 1741 and an octagonal tower at the southwest. At the southeast corner is the Anaglyphos Tower, named for a Hellenistic relief built into its masonry.

According to the Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent ordered the fortress built during a short stay in Thessaloniki in the winter of 1546, possibly to a design by the architect Mimar Sinan. Its south enclosure holds three gunpowder magazines inscribed with the year 1741, and the southeast corner incorporates the Anaglyphos Tower, part of the earlier Early Christian and Byzantine fortification.

The fortress stands in western Thessaloniki at the site of today's courts, and the Judicial Palace of Thessaloniki sits on its western wall, so the grounds are not open to visitors as a monument. The main gate faces north; the three powder magazines with 1741 inscriptions lie in the southern enclosure, and the octagonal tower is at the southwest. The IKA building of Axios Gate now stands inside the fort.

The Anaglyphos Tower at the southeast corner takes its name from a Hellenistic relief built into its masonry; the tower itself belongs to the earlier Early Christian and Byzantine fortification. In the southern enclosure stand three gunpowder magazines whose inscriptions are dated 1741, and an octagonal tower rises on the southwest side.