The Museum of the Royal Tombs at Aigai in Vergina, northern Greece, preserves royal Macedonian burials in the place where they were discovered. Instead of moving the tombs into a conventional gallery, a modern underground shelter recreates the form of the Great Tumulus and maintains a controlled environment around the ancient monuments, wall paintings and associated treasures.
Aigai was the first capital of the ancient Kingdom of Macedon and the seat of the Temenid dynasty, the family of Philip II and Alexander the Great. The wider archaeological landscape includes a monumental palace, theater, sanctuaries, city walls and an extensive royal necropolis. UNESCO records hundreds of burial mounds, with the cemetery spanning from the eleventh to the second century BCE.
