Macedonia's royal (or 'high-status') tombs

In Greece this summer, after six weeks on the beach on Naxos, we decided to drive, for the first time, up the eastern side of the Greek mainland, taking in Pelion and ending in Thessaloniki. This first ever trip to Thessaloniki would also give us a chance to go back to the little town of Vergina and see the museum there again. Which we did. And when we did, I realised that the last time I was there, in 2023, astonished though I'd been, I didn't post anything about it.

The Museum of the Royal Tombs of Aigai, to give it its proper name, is almost certainly (I've racked my brains about this) the most extraordinary museum I've ever visited in my life - bearing in mind, of course, that I haven't been to every museum in the world. There are certainly many with fabulous collections, and many with interesting, even spectacular architecture. But I can't think of any, in my own experience, quite as extraordinary as this. (I'm thinking of museums housing collections, and leaving aside churches, mosques, palaces and the like converted into museums, as Aya Sofia once was or the Alhambra still is).

For a start, this breathtaking collection of ancient buildings and artefacts is located in a modern village, just over an hour's drive from Thessaloniki. Vergina was founded in the 1920s, at the time of the population exchanges with Turkey that followed the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). You don't expect to come across such dazzling treasures in such an unprepossessing place, and in many countries they would have been shunted off to the capital. But in ancient times, Vergina was Aigai, capital of Macedonia before Pella (a site I also visited in 2023).

Then there are the treasures themselves. In the late 70s, four tombs - here in the shape of modest-sized temples, with pilasters, friezes, pediments and wall paintings - were found under a large tumulus. Of the four, two were undisturbed, and their rich and abundant contents, now restored and on display in the museum, are in almost unbelievably good condition. Archeologists haven't yet finished debating whose tombs these were, though most seem to accept that 'tomb III' is that of Alexander the Great's son, Alexander IV. The labelling in the museum still claims that the most sumptuous items belonged to Philip II of Macedonia, but the most recent research appears to rule that out, with archaeologists referring more cautiously to a 'high-status' individual, not necessarily a king, but also suggesting that some items may once have belonged to Alexander the Great and preserved there in his memory and to confer added prestige on those buried there.

Finally, to me, the conception of the museum is also extraordinary. (The same idea may exist elsewhere but I haven't personally witnessed anything like it.) Instead of putting up a handsome new building to house the treasures, as indeed is often done in Greece, the decision was taken to design a museum around the tombs, i.e. underground, in the spaces left where earth or rubble had been removed, and top it all off by putting the tumulus back. There's no 'building' as such to see. Instead, you just go down a gently-sloping tunnel tunnel into the dark tumulus, where the temple facades are softly-lit in the gloom, and gold, silver, bronze and ivory glitter in glass cases. The effect is genuinely spine-tingling.

This year, we also climbed the hill overlooking the town to visit Philip II's ceremonial palace or banqueting house, recently beautifully restored, and as it isn't far away, visited another well-preserved tomb, known as the Tomb of Judgment, or Great Tomb of Lefkadia, so to conclude, I'll post photos of those.