Corfu’s history dates many years back in time, as early as 3000 years ago. Corfu has been a battle of numerous raids and attacks but managed throughout history to keep its greek character.
In 1147, the island met a prosperous period of development under the rule of the Norman king Rogiro before the Byzantine Emperor Emmanuel I Komninos set the island free. Two very historically important sites can still be visited from the Byzantine era in Corfu, one is Angelokastro, a Byzantine castle located at the top of the highest peak of the island’s shoreline in the northwest coast and the other one is St. Jason & St Sosipater church, an excellent example of Byzantine architecture and a very important monument from the middle Byzantine period on the island, probably built around the middle of 11th century, is one of Corfu’s oldest churches with an impressive interior where one can find wall paintings from the famous Cretan hagiographer Emmanuel Buniali Tzannes and Michael Damaskinos.
A defeat from Napoleon Bonaparte and the treaty of Campoformio brought in the French hegemony from June 1797 to March 1799 all over the Ionian Islands. The French invaders brought a sense of rebirth, by burning in the main public square of Corfu the Book of Gold, the list of the nobles of the island, and planting the symbolic tree of the freedom. Anyhow, the French hegemony was not accepted by Russians and Turks and were led astray by the Russians in 1799, who instituted in 1800 a treaty of the Ionian Islands as a free and independent state.
In 1807 the French re-occupied the island with the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807. After Napoleon’s defeat in 1814, Corfu was occupied by the British, who built roads, a new water supply system and constructed buildings such as the English-style Palace of St. Michael and St. Georges in 1819, followed by the Royal Gardens.
Corfu was also home to Ioannis Kapodistrias, the founder of the modern Greek state and the architect of Greek Independence who served as the first head of state of independent Greece between 1827 until 1831. You can find all about it at Kapodistrias Museum in Corfu which is definitely worth your visit, you can also explore more and arrange your visit there by visiting the museum website here
Thirty years after gaining independence from and Britain the Ionian Islands joined Greece in 1864.
Hotel Corfu Palace
2 Leoforos Dimokratias
Corfu, 49100
Greece
Tel.: +30 2661039485
Fax: +30 2661039485
info@corfupalace.com