Achilleion Palace

Achilleion Palace stands on a hillside at Gastouri, approximately 10 kilometres south of Corfu Town in the Ionian Islands of Greece, and offers one of the most unusual combinations of imperial history and panoramic landscape in the region. The palace was built between 1889 and 1891 for Empress Elisabeth of Austria (known as Sisi), who sought a private retreat shaped around her obsession with the hero Achilles and ancient Greek culture. Following her assassination in 1898, the palace was purchased by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, who used it as a summer residence until 1914.

The neoclassical building rises across several terraced levels, with gardens descending toward the sea, and is notable for two major sculptural commissions: a large marble statue of the Dying Achilles by sculptor Ernst Herter, installed by Sisi in the lower garden, and a colossal bronze statue of Achilles Triumphant, nearly 12 metres tall, installed by Wilhelm II on the upper terrace. Both statues reflect the contrasting sensibilities of their patrons — the first melancholy and introspective, the second martial and triumphant.

Inside the palace, visitors move through a sequence of state rooms and private apartments that preserve original 19th-century furnishings, oil paintings, portraits of Sisi and Wilhelm II, and personal objects including a saddle-mounted writing desk used by the Kaiser. The gardens are as rewarding as the interior: formal terraces planted with Mediterranean species step down the hillside, and pergola walkways offer framed views over the Ionian Sea toward the Albanian coast. The upper terrace around the Achilles Triumphant statue provides the widest view and is the most photographed spot on the property.

A visit covering both the interior and gardens typically takes 90 to 120 minutes. Audio guides are available in multiple languages including English.