Phillip II of Macedon was one of the most famous names in the Classical Greek world. He changed Macedon from a rustic backwater into the capital of a small empire, but today, you have to be particularly interested in Phillip's son to have even heard of him.

That's because his son is Alexander the Great, but now in Macedonia visitors have a chance to reacquaint themselves with the Alexander story starting with his impressive father, whose royal palace has just reopened as an archaeological museum after 16 long years of renovations.

Called Aigai, the palace was the largest building in Classical Greece, and today is almost at par with the US Capitol building for square footage. Among the many feasts and war councils held within its walls, there was also the coronation of Alexander after his father was assassinated.

"After many years of painstaking work, we can reveal the palace … What we are doing today is an event of global importance," Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at an inauguration event at the site Friday.

Aigai required €20 million, or around $22 million in restoration costs, and boasts column-rimmed courtyards, spacious banquet halls, and patterned marble/mosaic floors.

A large central chamber supported by impressive marble columns is surrounded by 15 smaller chambers, many of which sport complete mosaic floors. Archaeologists and restorers speaking to AP about the project said much of the palace's remains had to be reassembled over years of excavation and guesswork.

First excavated in the 1970s, Aigai was covered by shallow mounds, and the original work uncovered a golden funerary casket and bones believed to belong to Philip II.

Today, it and so much of the surrounding area including the small town of Vergina is part of a UNESCO Heritage Site, and the new museum on the premises houses many of the relics found in Philip's tomb and those of his retainers and nobles.

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