Page 20 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - Corfu & the Ionian Islands

18 ❯❯ Top 10 Corfu and the Ionian Islands Highlights

Achílleion Palace, Corfu

This Neo-Classical palace was built in the late 1890s for the Empress
Elisabeth of Austria, known as Princess Sissi. The work of respected
Italian architect Raphael Carita, it was used as a retreat by the
empress, who adored Corfu. Following her assassination by an
anarchist in 1898, the palace remained empty until Germany’s Kaiser
Wilhelm II bought it
in 1907. Today, it is
one of Corfu’s most
popular sights.

The Main Hall 1
The entrance hall
(right) to the palace is
domi nated by a massive
marble stair case and fab­
ulous ceiling decora tions,
the most notable being
the Four Seasons fresco.
Four Seasons
2
Painted by Galoppi,
a 19th­century Italian
artist, the fabulous Four
Seasons fresco is an
impressive sight. The
painting depicts female
figures who represent the
seasons and is said to
have been one of Sissi’s
favourite palace features.
Peristyle of
3
the Muses Hall
This hall, at the back of
the palace, has an under­
stated elegance. Its pillars
and statues surround an
inner court yard and lead
down some steps to the
beautiful gardens (below).
Kaiser’s Bridge
4
This arched bridge
was requested by Kaiser
Wilhelm II to make a
beach across the road
more ac c essible. Parts
of it were destroyed
during World War II
when Corfu was under
German occu pa tion, but
it remains an important
architectural landmark.

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