The great palace complex of Aigai, built in the fourth century BC by Philip II, Alexander the Great’s father, opened its doors to the public with a free tour by excavator and archaeologist Angeliki Kottaridi on Sunday, ANA reports.
Kottaridi explained that the palace never served as a residence, but represented the political, religious, judicial and military rule of Philip, who at the time was believed to have divine descent.
Constructed between 350 BC and 340 BC, the palace of Aigai, or Vergina as the site was first known, included an innovative architectural feature of the time: two-story stoas, “precursors essentially of the Stoa of Attalus in Athens,” Kottaridi says, referring to the colonnnade that replaces one of the building’s long walls. Philip celebrated the marriage of his daughter, named Cleopatra, at the palace, inviting the first large crowd in it at 336 BC. He was assassinated at the theater that belongs to the palace complex below it, and Alexander assumed the rule.
The approach to the palace – which covers an area three times the size of the Parthenon – requires a two-kilometer walk under the sun. The tour was attended by a large crowd and Culture Secretary General Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki, who noted that the new Aigai museum is expected to open in 2020 and the reconstruction of the palace to be completed in 2022, according to the schedule.
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