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Trip ideas  /  7 days in Corfu  /  Mon Repos Estate
Mon Repos Estate, Corfu, Ionian Islands
Historic site · Corfu, Ionian Islands

Mon Repos Estate

A summer villa from 1828.My Rest, in French.Prince Philip, born 1921.A museum since 2001.

Photo: Marc Ryckaert ( MJJR ), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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A British villa

A British commissioner built the villa as a summer home from 1828

The villa was built as a summer residence for the British Lord High Commissioner Frederick Adam and his second wife, a Corfiot, Diamantina Palatino. Colonel George Whitmore designed it in the neoclassical style. The Adams had to leave in 1832, when he was sent to Madras.

Elisabeth

Empress Elisabeth stayed here and fell in love with the island

In 1833 the School of Fine Arts moved to the estate, and in 1834 public gardens were established on its farmland. In 1863 Elisabeth of Austria stayed at the villa, fell in love with the island, and later built the Achilleion Palace.

Royal home

After 1864 the villa became a royal summer residence called Mon Repos

After the union with Greece in 1864 the villa and gardens were gifted to King George I of the Hellenes, who named it Mon Repos, French for My Rest. The Greek royal family used it until King Constantine II fled the country in 1967. It was restored in the 1990s.

Royal births

Prince Philip was born on the dining room table in 1921

Several royal births took place at the villa, including those of Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark in 1914, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on 10 June 1921, and Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark in 1965. Philip was born on the dining room table.

A museum

Since 2001 the villa has housed the Museum of Palaiopolis

The ground floor shows portraits, furniture and a dress belonging to the first resident, Diamantina Palatianou. The first floor shows archaeological finds from the Palaiopolis area, ranging from the Archaic to the Roman period.

Day 2, morning

Next is Palaiopolis Beach.

More stories from this trip idea

The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Mon Repos, Corfu, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.

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