Palace where Alexander the Great became king reopened after 16-year restoration
The ancient Palace of Aigai will reopen to the public on Sunday.
After a 16-year renovation, the ancient Palace of Aigai, where Alexander the Great was proclaimed king, has been reopened.
The largest building in classical Greece was built more than 2,300 years ago during the reign of Alexander’s father, Phillip II, at the royal capital of the Macedonian kingdom as it rose to become the dominant power in the ancient world.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the 20 million euro (£17.2 million) inauguration as being of global significance.
The renovated site will open to the public on Sunday.
“After many years of painstaking work, we can reveal the palace … What we are doing today is an event of global importance,” Mr Mitsotakis said at the site’s inauguration event on Friday.
The building covered a little under the area covered by the US Capitol building.
The Palace of Aigai was the administrative and spiritual centre of the kingdom.
Its remains and nearby royal tombs are a United Nations World Heritage Site at the area next to the modern village of Vergina.
Like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, the marble columns were resurrected by fitting pieces of stone unearthed in the ruins together with replica replacement parts.
The late Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos led the digs and discovered the royal tombs, recovering a gold casket and other gold artefacts as well as the bones widely believed to belong to Philip II.
The discoveries revealed the sophistication of the ancient Macedonians, who had often been sidelined in historical accounts by the attention bestowed on Athens.
She devoted her life’s work to the excavations and decades later became the driving force behind the new museum at Aigai, which opened a year ago, and the palace restoration.
Ms Kottaridi retired on December 31 as head of the region’s archaeological service and was honoured at Friday’s ceremony.
“Then you have to assemble things and that’s the real joy of the researcher.
“So when people ask me what makes me happy, I tell them it’s not the moment something is revealed. It’s the moment you realise you can take the knowledge one step further.”
