VERGINA

AIGES: "The place that changed world history"

Aiges is the first city of the Macedonians and the core of their ancient Kingdom. It is the place where the family of Philip II and Alexander the Great reigned for more than three centuries, the mythical, religious, political, and artistic cradle from which Greek culture spread throughout the world.

Here in Aiges, on the site of today’s Vergina of the Municipality of Veria, the King of the Macedonians, ruler of the Balkans, and elected ruler of all the Greeks, Philip II, in 336 BC. celebrated the most significant festival of his reign, shortly before his inglorious end by the assassin’s knife, an event that changed the world and history, bringing M. Alexander to the leadership of the Macedonian Kingdom. Alexander was proclaimed king here and from here he decided to start the Spring of 334 BC. his great campaign.

The history of the world changed, but the Aiges were sidelined. Following the kingdom’s fate, they were destroyed after the defeat of 168 BC. by the Romans, and they fell and were forgotten. Until, in 1977, the hoe of Manolis Andronikos gave the place its name again and the history of Macedonia began to be rewritten…
www.aigai.gr

Museum of Royal Aiges Tombs in Vergina

The Museum of the Royal Tombs of the Aiges in Vergina was built in 1993, with the aim of preserving, rescuing and displaying the precious treasures discovered in 1977 by the excavation team of the distinguished archaeologist Andronikos. It is an impressive underground structure that externally has the form of an earthen mound, where since 1997 the most important movable finds and the masterpiece wall paintings found inside the royal tombs have been exhibited.

The treasures of the royal tombs displayed next to the tombs that contained them give a sense of the splendor of the city of the Aiges in its heyday. The unique frescoes, such as the life-like representation of the Rapture of Persephone, reveal the achievements of painting and art during the years of the glorious Macedonian Kingdom. In vases, weapons and jewelry, austerity and purity of form blend with the joy of detail, creating an ensemble of incomparable elegance and harmony, where everything submits to the charm of measure.

www.aigai.gr

Polycentric Museum of Aiges

A multi-faceted, versatile, flexible and constantly evolving Museum, with an area of 146,000 square meters, which with rooms-units scattered in the real-geographical space, integrates and unites the new central building with the entire archaeological site of Aigai, i.e. the Palace and the burial cluster of the Temenids, as well as the well-known Museum of the Royal Tombs. The museum includes indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces, atriums, an amphitheater, a multi-purpose room, spaces for training and scientific activities, conservation laboratories, archaeological warehouses and a digital museum that will cover the period from the beginnings of Macedonia to modern references to M. Alexander.