Manolis Andronikos:” I was dreaming I was standing on Philip the Second’s burial land, having in my bare hands the bones of the man”.
“I firmly believe that in my whole life never had I felt this kind of emotion, never before, never ever will”.
Manolis Andronikos, the world renowned archaeologist standing on the Vergina archaeological site was reported saying: “We are standing on the very hill, the great Tumulus, on the very tomb of the ancient King”. It is Nov. 8, 1977 when the group of archaeologists conducting under Manolis Andronikos, stand still facing a stone wall, the flying whispering word goes like “it is a mortal chamber, the Royal Tomb.”
The Cave Museum
It is forty four years now that visitors stream to the cave museum of the Vergina archaeological site.The formation of the museum inside the cave, under the hill, in the hollow of Mother Earth, is the formation of the Grand Tumulus itself. A few traditional taverns and caffeneia decorate the plain. As you go down the road the land is inhabited by wild thyme, lavender, huge plane trees and woods. As you come close to the country itself, you sense the woods, the green hill, the grand tumulus, all in tune with the silence of the ancient graves.The encaved museum houses silence in gold.
The path to the King’s and the Queen’s Tombs takes you aboard on twenty centuries of majestic cultural history
As you enter the underground vault, it is abyssal darkness lighted by the incredible beauty of the gold wreath, a piece of unique artistry, of fugue like delicacy in motif and spirit, decorated all in pure gold. A few steps away is the tomb of Alexander the Fourth, son of Alexander the Great and Roxani, reported to be a masterpiece of the art of architecture. It is of universal importance that one of the very few existing pieces of Ancient Greek painting was found at the site, The Rape of Pesaefoni”, that is Hades himself, steals Persephone away from Demetra, her mother, the Earth herself, dragging her down to gloomy Hades as his beloved maiden.
Philip the Second_ His golden wreath stands all sparkling, along with the Great King’s golden larnax, decorated in the sixteen sun rays motif Manolis Andronikos was reported saying: “I was holding a small torch as I was trying to get a bit further down, just half a meter below, when I came to face a collection of silver and gold memorabilia of unimaginable beauty, on a lavishly decorated floor. Just next to it was an all marble larnax. I soon realised it was the first unlooted Macedonian tomb.
To put it plainly, there was nothing more for me to see, I could had expected no more, I new there had to be something of some interest in the gold larnax, but nothing I could think of, when all of a sudden a striking thought crushed my senses, I heard my mind’s eye saying: “This is the royal tomb”. When the larnax itself was opened all was so clearly brilliant, all was mindblowing, heartbreaking to the point we had to pause to breath it in, no field mouse was shaking the field grass”.
The 16 sun rays, the trademark of the Macedonian Kingdom
“I was telling myself this is the very grave of King Phillip the Second. Pause. Now, I knew. If this is the larnax, these are indeed the burial remains of Phillip the Second. I am holding the very bones of the king himself. But this plain, so very well grounded thought sounded highly and absolutely unrealistic to my poor mind”.
Make your way to Vergina
It is only eight klm southeast of the city of Vergina, on a very well regulated Vergina-Veroia coach line, as well as being on the Thessaloniki driveway and railway networks. There is a straight connection between the Veroia and Athens stations. During winter months a petit six euros entrance ticket takes you twenty centuries back of full glowing grandeur.