2 stops in walking order

Historic Site

Vergina is a small town in Greek Macedonia, part of the Veroia municipality in Imathia, Central Macedonia. Vergina is best known as the site of ancient Aigai, the first capital of Macedon. In 336 BC Philip II was assassinated in Aigai's theatre and his son, Alexander the Great, was proclaimed king. While the resting place of Alexander the Great is unknown, researchers uncovered three tombs at Vergina in 1977 – referred to as tombs I, II and III. The archaeological museum of Vergina was built to house all the artifacts found at the site and is one of the most important museums in Greece. Aigai has been awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status as "an exceptional testimony to a significant development in European civilization, at the transition from classical city-state to the imperial structure of the Hellenistic and Roman periods". Vergina was established in 1922 in the aftermath of the population exchanges after the Treaty of Lausanne and was a separate municipality until 2011, when it was merged with Veroia under the Kallikratis Plan.

~20 min at this stop

Historic Site

Aegae or Aigai was the original capital of Macedon, the ancient Greek kingdom of the Argead Makedones in Lower Macedonia. Aigai was located in the Haliacmon valley on the foothills of the Pierian Mountains, between the modern towns of Vergina and Palatitsia, overlooking the central Macedonian plain, in northern Greece. Alexander the Great was proclaimed king of Macedon at Aigai when his father Philip II was assassinated at the city's theatre. The city was abandoned in the 3rd century AD and was rediscovered in the 19th. Three major archaeological missions have been carried out at Aigai. The first was led by Léon Heuzey of the French School at Athens in the 1860s; Manolis Andronikos led excavations over a century later and made many important discoveries, including the tomb of Philip II of Macedon and the Golden Larnax bearing the Vergina Sun; and Angeliki Kottaridi led restoration efforts in the 2000s. Today it is the site of an archaeological site and two museums. In 1996, the archaeological site of Aigai was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List because of its monumental significance in Western civilization and exceptional architecture.

~20 min at this stop