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ACHILLEION PALACE

The whole area of Gastouri is connected with Empress Elizabeth of Austria, often know as Sissy, whose summer palace, the famous Achilleio, dedicating it to her favourite hero, Achilleas; as she herself wrote, ‘be represents the Greek spirit, the beauty of the land’ and is ‘as strong, as proud and as obstinate as a Greek mountain’. The life  of the Empress Elizabeth (1837-1898) has repeatedly been the subject of novels and films, as a result of her beauty, her strength of character, and the story of her love for the Emperor Franz Josef.

The Achilleio was constructed in 1889-1891, by the Italian architects Rafael Corito and Antonio Lanti, under the personal supervision of the Empress, who also took charge of the ornamentation of the palace with painting and sculptures, most of which were purchased from the Borghese family. In 1908, after the death of Elizabeth, the Achilleio was bought by Wilhelm II, The  German Kaiser, in 1914 – on the outbreak of the First World War – it was abandoned.  From 1962 to 1992 Corfu casino operated there.

The  Achilleio has an iron gate with two bronze reliefs, of Zeus & Achilleas. The first room, has a fresco in the center of its ceiling. Also of interest of in this room are the marble fireplace, two statues of Athena and Hebe & a painting of Elizabeth. At the far end of the reception hall, a magnificent staircase flanked by bronze statues of Zeus & Hera, by a large collection of marble and plaster sculptures (of Zeus, Niobe, Artemis, Apollo, Aphrodite & Hermes) leads to the upper floor. To the right of the reception room is the Empress’s Catholic chapel.

The gardens of the Achilleio are among the most beautiful places on Corfu and enjoy a superb view across to the Kanoni, Pontikonisi, the Challiopoulou lagoon and Mt Pantokrator. They too, are a kind of open-air museum, being full of outstanding scultures. Notable among this statuary are compositions showing Apollo, Hermes, Artemis and Aphrodite near the entrance to the palace, the statues of the Nine Muses and the Graces in the Ionic peristyle of the rear veranda, the busts of ancient philosophers and poets behind the columns of the peristyle, the marble statue of Lord Byron on the balcony on the side facing the forest, and the statue of Elizabeth herself close to the sea. However, the most important statues in the grounds of the Achilleio are the Dying Achilles and the Triumpbant Achilles.

The Dying Achilles now stands on the terrace in the peristyle with the Muses. It is a marble statue by German sculptor Ernst Herder, made to a commission by Elizabeth in 1884, and originally located in her palace Vienna. Achilles here is semi-recumbent, almost nude, wearing his helmet and attempting to draw the fatal arrow shot by Paris from his heel. This outstanding work is notable for the skill with which the artist has rendered the hero’s anguish and pain as death approaches.