“A unique heap of tin and rolled sheets of cement mortar, under which, bending in places, and in places stumbling over wooden beams and pillars, one had to see few monuments, and only in the presence of Andronicus – with the notorious in his presence – did he allow to raise the screen that covered the facade of the royal tomb , and even he himself conducted excursions not only to the royal tomb, but also to other monuments.

This is how Iordandis E. Dimacopoulos, architect and for a number of years head of the Antiquities Restoration Department of the Ministry of Culture, describes the situation at the archaeological site of Vergina in the autumn of 1980, “Tomb-Style Protective Shell.” The Macedonian tombs of Vergina, including the tomb of King Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, were discovered within three years by the archaeologist Manolis Andronicus, who literally razed to the ground a 12-meter artificial hill built in antiquity. The services of the Ministry of Culture were then looking for a solution for the preservation of monuments and their presentation to the public.

With this image in mind, I leave the new and impressive building of the Polycentric Goat Museum, which opened a few days ago in Vergina, Imathia, and introduces visitors to Aegesa and the royal capital of the Macedonians and heads to the center of a small village for immersion in the world of the dead. From the outside, I see something similar to what Andronicus saw before he began excavations. Green bay, naturally lower than 12 meters, planted with bushes and a path leading underground.

It’s been years since I was last here and I forgot how evocative the Tombs of the Kings Museum can be when the darkness shrouds you. My eyes haven’t adjusted yet. I take a few steps and stop at the tombstones in front of me before descending deeper into the ground to reach the gate of Philip II’s tomb. I see what archaeologists saw four decades ago and what the ancient Macedonians built in 336 BC. I admire the monumental façade with the painting of the hunt for wild animals, the blue-red color of the decoration, which has been preserved in excellent condition after so many centuries. Now I notice more clearly – my eyes are used to it – the golden urn and oak wreath of Philip II, the gilded armor, weapons and utensils found inside the mound before going to the tomb of the “Prince” and other monuments.

“We were looking for a contrast between outside and inside. I penetrate into the bowels of the earth, I am surrounded by twilight, I obey, we pass through the world of the living, heat and light, into darkness, cold, the world of the dead,” 83 Yordanis Dimakopoulos tells me today.

“We were looking for opposition. I penetrate into the insides, I obey, we pass through the world of the living and bright, into darkness.

In his home in Athens, a one-family home built by his philologist father in Egaleo and coincidentally the teacher of Manolis Andronikos in Thessaloniki, Mr. Dimakopoulos describes his encounter with an eminent archaeologist and a September 1983 meeting in Vergina with competent services. Ministry of Culture and Manolis Andronikos, who defined a special form, which finally took the Museum of the Royal Tombs. “I told them then that we had a special case. It was necessary to return the previous state of affairs. Not with an accuracy that we didn’t know, but to remind us what it was and leave the interior as a single space, like a shell, and they approved it.”

The main idea, which Manolis Andronikos agreed with, was to build a single or several separate shells to protect the monuments, inside which visitors could move. Then the shells were filled up so that the outside would look like an earthen embankment.

“Due to the natural insulation of the embankments, the conditions around the monuments would approach the conditions for the eternal preservation of monuments provided by the Megali Tumba embankments,” explains Mr. Dimakopoulos in his book. Indeed, inside the artificial mound, the temperature almost always remains constant, between 17 and 18 degrees Celsius, and the monuments are illuminated by artificial light, “special high-pressure sodium lamps to contain ultraviolet radiation”, as Mr. Dimacopoulos points out, they have not changed under the influence of eyes visitors.

In his office at Egaleo, the restorer tells me at length about the geometrical characteristics of the Macedonian tombs, the high structural strength that their square and vaulted form imparts, the similarities he notes with Plato’s teachings on geometry, and the difficulties they encounter. during the construction of this complex object. Research began in 1983, but a contractor joined the project in 1991, and the opening took place in 1993, a year after Andronicus’ death. “The whole structure is completely reversible, it can be removed at any time and removed if necessary,” adds Mr. Dimakopoulos, “walls, beams, columns were made at the factory in Thebes and transported to Vergina; Fall of cement.

Inside the mound, I pass to the tomb of the “free columns” as it is called, I see the tomb of Persephone and Heron, which is “higher” than the rest of the monuments, before leaving the royal tombs and their finds to their eternal rest. Stepping out into the light, I turn back to the mound of earth, which now seems to me more of a gesture of kindness, a return gift to the ancient Macedonians for letting us know a little more about life and death.