A historic palace built 2,300 years ago has reopened to the public after a 16-year restoration.
The Palace of Aigai, near Thessaloniki, Greece, is an important building for ancient history as it was there that Alexander the Great was crowned.
Built thousands of years ago, the Romans destroyed the palace in 148 BC, and it wasn’t discovered until the 19th century during excavation work.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis attended the reopening and called it “a monument of global importance.”
He added: “The significance of such monuments becomes the heritage of the entire world. We must highlight it, promote it, and expand the horizons revealed by each new facet.”
Renovations cost €20 million (or $22 million) with help from the European Union.
The Palace of Aigai, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was built by Alexander the Great’s father, Philip II of Macedonia, and Aigai served as the capital of the powerful Macedonia.
It was the largest building in classical Greece with banquet halls, worship rooms and courtyards.
Alexander the Great (also called Alexander III) was crowned at the palace after his father’s assassination in 336 BC when he was just 20 years old, and he went on to conquer and rule an area spanning from Asia to the Middle East – one of the largest empires in history.
Born in 356 BC, the man considered one of the world’s greatest military commanders died at age 32 in 323 BC
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