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AFP | , Posted by Akanksha Agnihotri
The ancient palace where Alexander the Great was crowned king of Macedonia will reopen to the public on Sunday after a 16-year, 20 million euro renovation aimed at restoring it to its former glory. At a ceremony on Friday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the Palace of Aigai a “monument of global importance.” The 4th-century BC site, spanning 15,000 square metres, was one of the most important in Classical Greece, along with the Parthenon in Athens.
Aegae was the capital of the Macedonian Empire, the dominant military power of the time, and archaeologists say the palace was the spiritual center of the state. Built by Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, the tombs of Philip and other Macedonian kings are nearby. After his father’s assassination, Alexander was crowned in the palace before launching a military campaign in 336 BC that created an empire spanning modern-day India.
“The palace has a cultural and national character, as it reaffirmed Macedonia’s Greek identity for centuries,” Mitsotakis said. The site includes the royal palace and a colonnade that surrounds the palace and the agora, where the ancient Macedonians debated important matters. Alexander was declared king in this courtyard with a capacity of 8,000 spectators.
The Romans destroyed the palace in 148 BC. Excavations to uncover the site began in 1865 and continued into the 20th century. The restoration project began in 2007 with help from the European Union. Located near the modern Greek village of Vergina, the palace and surrounding mausoleum are listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Greece has promoted investment in many of its ancient sites which have become an important source of tourist revenue.
For the past three decades, it has been demanding the return of statues taken from the Parthenon housed in the British Museum, saying they were looted in the 19th century when Greece was under Ottoman rule.
This story is published from a wire agency feed without any modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
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