An ancient painting of two boys boxing taken from the ruins of Akrotiri.

One of Greece’s most famous archaeological sites, the prehistoric town of Akrotiri on the island of Santorini, reopened seven years after a deadly roof collapse, local authorities said.

Akrotiri was closed in 2005 after a roof erected to protect antiquities caved in, killing a British tourist and injuring others.

It was originally set to reopen last year after repair works to install a reinforced canopy.

The settlement was one of the most important of its era in the entire Aegean Sea. Habitation began in the late Stone Age in the 4th millennium BCE and it gradually developed into an urban centre with multi-storeyed buildings with magnificent wall paintings and an elaborate drainage system.

The town was abandoned after a series of earthquakes in the late 17th century BCE. A volcanic eruption that followed wiped out the island’s Minoan colony but the residue helped preserve the buildings of Akrotiri, as it did in Pompeii in Italy.

Santorini, renowned for its beautiful sunsets and picturesque villages perched on rocky outcrops, is one of Greece’s most popular travel destinations.