All Architecture in Corfu

This was the place for state ceremonies, pomp and circumstance, in the time of Venetian rule. The square is enclosed by four symbolic buildings as witnesses to the social and political landscape of bygone days and the significance of the location: the Catholic Cathedral (the Duomo); the domicile of the Catholic Archbishop at the upper part of the square, to Read more...

Built about 1846 on one of the few large squares in the centre of the town, formerly called Sternon Square. An important works by the architect I. Chronis. The building combined the rooms needed for the functioning of the bank on the ground floor with the residence of its director on the two upper storeys. Externally, it has a Classical Read more...

This building, which houses the Corfu Reading Society, one of the earliest cultural foundations in modern Greece (founded in 1836), stands almost directly opposite the High Commissioner’s palace. The original construction of this building, which was a residential mansion, goes back to the Venetian period, but it has been subjected to a series of modifications and additions in the 19th Read more...

The great square of Corfu Town nowadays owes its name to the Venetian word spianata, a large open space. That was the requirement of Venetian defensive policy: a great level field, long as a musket-shot trajectory,in front of the Old Fortress. This space was formed into a square in the short years of French rule. It was then that the Read more...

Residential building complex on the Spianada, which was begun under the French empire and forms the main testimony to the French presence on Corfu. The rhythmical repetition of features on the main facade, especially the elegant arcade, reflects the monumental concept of urban design of the Napoleonic period in straight, identical layouts like that of the Rue des Rivoli. The Read more...

This most picturesque little square in town feels like a theatre scene within the densely built Campiello quarter. The cistern at its centre, bearing sculpted stone decorations, was built in 1699 as a donation by a member of the local nobility. The church of Virgin Mary Kremasti and the open space of the square served as a meeting place for Read more...

The gate leading to the harbour. It survives incorporated into the Spilia Barracks, a building that has undergone much modification. Read more...

The main entrance to the New Fortress is a highly monumental structure (columns with Tuscan-Doric elements) by Ferrante Vitelli, a great military architect who drew up the plans for the first fortifications of the town. The main gate is decorated with a relief of the winged Lion of St Mark, the symbol of Venice. Read more...

The Venetian authorities planned and built the New Fortress on St Mark’s Hill, to the north-west of town, on the insistent requests of Corfiots for added defenses against the Ottoman Turks. Construction started in 1576. This fortress and its subordinate bastions (together representing a monumental piece of fortification engineering), combined with the Old Fortress, formed the town’s main line of Read more...

The great building of the Venetian barracks housed the Ionian Academy from 1840 onwards. This building was originally designed to house barracks, in combination with the residence of the Military Commander during the Venetian Rule. This was the first university in modern Greece, founded by Lord Frederick North, Earl of Guilford. It was destroyed by German bombing in 1943. It Read more...