In Greece, this Sunday January 7 marks the reopening to the public of the ancient palace of King Philip II, after sixteen years of work. Alexander the Great was crowned there in 336 BC.
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With our correspondent in Athens, Joel Bronner
“ A monument of global importance »: shortly before its reopening to the public, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis did not hide his pride when officially inaugurating the archaeological site of Aigai Palace, named after the first capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia. Today, the ruins of the building lie on the edge of the Greek municipality of Vergina, almost 70 kilometers southwest of the country’s second city, Thessaloniki.
Historically, the construction of this palace was completed in the 4th century BCE. Philip II, the Macedonian ruler at the time, is then murdered. Alexander III, his son and the future conqueror whose name will enter into legend as Alexander the Great, is then crowned within these walls. The palace was then destroyed two centuries later, before being gradually rediscovered by archaeologists during the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Greek authorities now hope that the renovated archaeological site of the ancient capital of Macedonia will attract many visitors and become a vector of economic development for the entire region.