The sculptures were removed in 1864 by French paleologist Emmanuel Miller and placed in the Louvre museum in France, while the rest of the building collapsed and was destroyed.

[10] It is believed that the portico was located in the Jewish quarter of Rogos (area around today's Chalkeon Street next to the church of the same name) behind the Paradise Baths (Bey Hamam),[11][12] close to the Roman Forum.

[14] In a topographical plan by Ernest Hébrard, who was involved in the reconstruction of Thessaloniki after the Great Fire of 1917, its location was marked in the wider area behind the baths of Bay Hamam.

[16] The first depiction of the portico was made between 1685 and 1687 by Frenchman Étienne Gravier d'Ortières,[17] where the basic layout of the monument is shown without a high level of detail, and is described as ruins of a palace.

In one of these pictures, where the building is depicted in its entirety, the inscription on the epistle Ν[-]ΓΕΓΕΝΗΜΕΝΟΝ[-]ΥΠΟ ('was made under') can be seen, possibly mentioning the name of the sponsor of the work or the local lord of city.

[20] When comparing their engravings with the sole surviving photograph of the sculptures while they were still in the city, it becomes clear that Stuart and Revett depicted the arrangement of the pillars erroneously.

[21] In their writings they also conveyed the popular tradition of the Greek inhabitants, according to which the monument was part of a portico that connected with the palace of Alexander the Great.

[3] Louis-François-Sébastien Fauvel also produced engravings in 1782, which was published in 1831 by French archaeologist Esprit-Marie Cousinéry, with a drawing quite similar to that of the house by Stuart and Revett from the same angle.

[22] In 1800 excavations around the building were carried out by French consul Félix de Beaujour who gave its total height as 12,5 meters, with a column length of 1,98 m. (including the bases) above ground 5,49 m.

In early twentieth century French archaeologist Paul Perdrizet,[24] who examined the sculptures after they had been moved to the Louvre, brought up the third-century pillared building Piliers de Tutelle from the city Bordeaux in France, which shows several similarities but is no longer preserved as it was demolished in 1677.

Miller wrote how he did not understand why they reacted this way since the janissaries had a hobby of shooting the sculptures for fun, and the Jewish owner of the house next to the monument occasionally broke pieces and sold them to tourists.

On the 12th of November, the removal of the pillars was completed, and their transport began, together with the architrave and the stylobates (the column bases), with the bullock carts that had been assisted by the Turkish pasha.

After the completion of the transport and unloading of the sculptures on the French warship, Miller extended his stay in the city for a few more weeks, until the end of December, and with regard to the heavier parts of the monument he stated in his writings that if he were unable to move them then he would leave them on the streets, and that perhaps the church of Hagios Nicolaos could make use these marbles.

However, there was the counter-argument that there are differences in the dimensions of the capitals, and at the same time in terms of the representations of the sculptures, especially those of Aura and Dionysus, indicate that the reliefs cannot belong to later periods when the art had already begun to change, which is however not absolute.

The main argument for dating it to the second century focuses on the fact that the Corinthian-style capitals show many similarities to those found in two small second-century temples in the market of Philippi, as well as to other architectural finds of the same period on the facade of the Captives in Corinth,[34] and the Odeon of Agrippa in Athens.

Based on these details, the style of the monument and the sculptures are influenced by Hellenistic art, while the work itself seems to be a typical example of the local Greek architecture of Thessaloniki.

The winged Nike is shown frontal, staring straight ahead, her hair tied in an elegant hairstyle (dubbed ‘Apollo's knot’).

She wears an ankle-long chiton which is held at breast height with a thing long ribbon; folds are formed around her waist in an upward direction, almost as if the air is puffing up the soft fabric.

Her feet once rested on an unknown, perhaps circular, object that has been scrapped off long ago; Stuart and Revett restored it in their engraving as a winged lion's head.

In knee-length are preserved the remains of what was once a garland full of flowers or leaves that the goddess was no doubt holding with her lost hands and arms; only her shoulders are still intact.

Her hair is richly tressed and fall in locks on her back and shoulders; her head is slightly lifted and bent backwards to show how she is possessed of bacchic madness.

The Maenad is half-naked, and only lightly draped in a thin himation (a type of cloak) which leaves most of her upper torso and thigh exposed, and she is also barefoot.

She is also holding a billowing cloak (velificatio), a stylistic choice in ancient Roman art used to signify vigorous movement, celestial and sea deities.

Aura's face is entirely gone (Stuart and Revett restored it in the 1754 engraving like they did with many missing elements of Las Incantadas), as is most of her right forearm, though the hand survives, softly pressed against her hip.

Dionysus is shown as a beautiful youth, frontal, his head inclined to the right, his rich-tressed hair crowned with grapes and vine leaves and reaching down to his shoulders and chest in waves.

On his head he wears the characteric pilos, the half egg-shaped hat that identifies him as one of the Dioscuri, the twin sons of Leda and brothers of Helen.

Her long and flowing hair reach down her shoulders and armpits; her rightwards-inclined face, in half profile, is full of passion and adoration directed at her husband.

Just like Dionysus, Leda is more than half naked and lightly dressed (or rather, draped) in a thin himation which does not cover her breasts, belly, feet and most of the arms.

[51] Asterios Lioutas on the other hand argues that it is perfectly plausible for the portico to have had two Nikes, given that it has two depictions of (a transformed) Zeus, one as an eagle and one as a swan, on opposite sides of the same pillar.

In 2015, thanks to funding from the organization of the Thessaloniki International Fair and the participation of other local bodies in Greece it became possible faithful copies of the sculptures in the Louvre to be made using molds and plaster, the final cost of which amounted to 150,000 euros.