Athens is preparing to erect a statue of the great Macedon king Alexander, which will be the first of its kind in the Greek capital.
The base of the statue by prominent contemporary sculptor Yiannis Pappas was placed earlier in the week at the corner of Amalias and Vasilissis Olgas avenues.
The statue was completed way back in 1973. But for the next twenty years, it remained in the Pappas’ workshop at the Athenian neighborhood of Zografos.
The equestrian statue of the great conqueror was first exhibited at the National Gallery in 1992 and was purchased by the Greek Ministry of Culture the following year. It was then donated to the City of Athens with the intention of it being placed in the historic center of the city.
However, for many years the Central Archaeological Council opposed the plan, and only relented recently.
The cost for the installation of the 3.5-meter (11.5 foot) tall statue was covered by the sculptor’s family.
Alexander the Great died in 323 BC after carving out an empire stretching all across the known world of the time, from Greece to India.
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