写真

Achillio, the palace of the Empress Elizabeth of Austria (Princess Sissy), is nearby the beautiful village of Gastouri.

It was built between the years 1890-1892 by the Empress, after one of her visits in Corfu. The large building, in neoclassical style, has a ground floor and two more stores decorated with many statues and paintings. The vast gardens surrounding the building, having a wonderful view to a large part of the island, are going down to the coastal road. They are decorated with many statues the most famous of which are the two bronze runners, the dying Achilles (the mythological Greek hero) and the statue of Achilles Triumphant.

After the assassination of Empress Elizabeth in 1898 in Geneva, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany purchased the palace in 1907 and used it as a place for relaxation.

Inside the building, to the right of the main entrance is a chapel with beautiful iconography, to the left is the dining room in Renaissance style, a smoking room in Pompeyean style and the Kaiser's room.

In the large reception hall the visitor can see some interesting works of various artists, the most impressive of which are the four recesses by the Italian painter Galopi and a large painting by the Austrian painter Franz Matt showing Achilles dragging the dead Hector behind his chariot before the walls of Troy.

On this floor there is a beautiful balcony with an Ionic peristyle decorated with the busts of philosophers and statues of the nine Muses.

On the middle floor are Elizabeth's rooms and on the upper floor are the rooms of the Emperor Franz Joseph and Duchess Maria Valeria. All of the rooms contain personal items of the former owners and the original furniture.