Starting this year, the city of Thessaloniki will be hosting some of the world’s greatest cultures. This year, the admirable cultures of the Middle East will be honored all around the city, with a series of musical events, theatrical productions, film and documentary festivals, museum exhibitions from antiquity to modern times, culinary events, conferences and symposia, proving that a mystified east and an idealized west don’t exist in isolation from one another, but have always existed in a state of mutual influence.