The Archaeological Museum

You may not be a huge fan of museums and the like; however you should definitely try and make time for this small in stature but large in wealth of information museum. The archaeological museum sits over looking the Bay of Garitsa at Vraila-Armeni Street. You will find it near the tennis court. All the islands’ great and ancient finds are kept here and it houses many important historical finds.

Upon entering the museum you will soon see the stone lion that dates from around 575 B.C; (it was found in the nearby Menekrates tomb, along the waterfront just down from the museum). The lion may be atoned to the antiquity and it was placed most probably on the tomb of a warrior symbolizing the alert guardian of the dead.

Go past the lion to a large room with the finest example of archaic temple sculpture extant, the enormous and unique pediment from the Doric Temple of Artemis (or Diana). The temple itself is located just south of Corfu town in the area of Kanoni and dates from about 590-580 B.C. We say enormous because it is 17 m wide and more than 3 m high. It is unique because it is actually the largest surviving sculptural group of its kind in Greece. The pediment shows the Gorgon Medusa who is being attended by two panther like creatures. You can see that this is inspired by the great classical works such as the Elgin marbles; not only in the naiveté of its sculpture but also in the emphasis on the monstrous side of life, with the humans being so much smaller.

If you look at the central motif of the pediment, the colossal gorgon or medusa was believed to be a nature deity and was shown and believed to be an awe-inspiring monster. If you look; you can see that large wings are spread open on her back and then if you look at her shoes there are a smaller pair of wings. Two serpents come out of her head and another two with open jaws form a knotted girdle around her waist. It is said that the two children of Gorgon, Poseidon and Chryssaor, and also the winged horse Pegasus were believed to have been created when they sprung out of her blood when Perseus beheaded her. Here she is depicted alive with one knee deeply bent and in the act of running towards the right.

The wings of the Gorgon symbolize her power within the skies, the serpents are representatives of the underworld, and the two children show the might of thunder. The two wild lions are known to be Gorgon’s master skill over wild nature. Depictions of the battle of the Titans have been saved on both sides of the frieze.

Other must see exhibits in the museum include the archaic pediment that came from an unknown building dating from 500 BC. The main figure is Dionysus; the God of wine and this pediment is probably the work of a local artist and has the stylistic features of the last period of Archaic Corinthian art. Dionysus is shown to be reclining on a couch, wearing an animal skin hide and drinking from the drinking horn. It is estimated that the pediment had originally been around 11 m long, possibly even longer. In this work; only being a century younger than the Gorgon pediment, the humans have reduced the animals’ greatly in size and placed it underneath the couch.

You should also take time to find and look at these following things in the museum to fully experience the feel of it. There are two showcases with coins found on Corfu, as well as various objects dated from the Neolithic Period to Roman times.

The artefacts from the Neolithic period include flint stones, vases and tools. While from the Bronze Age there are few tools to see. From the Classic period there are some beautiful Corinthian vases and some small bronze statues. Search for the marble head of the poet Menander, a statue of Aphrodite and a small head of a Satyr. You will see the lead plaques that date back to the 6th or 5th century B.C. with inscriptions showing that certain debts were owed. Also search for the Attican black-figured wash-basin from the 6th century B.C. depicting lions!

The museum is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 8:30 am to 15:00 pm. The address is Vraila-Armeni str.1 and the telephone number is 2661030680. Admission is 3 euro, 2 for people over 65 years and non European Union students. The entrance for students from the EU is free. Also free admission is on Sundays during the winter period starting sometime in November till the end of March.

  Asian Art Museum

Also in Corfu and worthy of a visit is the Asian Art Museum. The museum is totally unique in Greece, and is located in the Palace of St. Michael and St. George at the north end of the Esplanade in Old Town. It contains a collection of thousands of pieces dating from Neolithic Age right up to the 19th century. The museum's building itself is an impressive example of neoclassical architecture. It was constructed between 1819 and 1824 to serve as the residence of the Lord High Commissioner who was the British ruler of the Ionian Islands. The headquarters of the Order of St. Michael and St. George were housed here and the Ionian senate was provided the assembly room for their meetings. When the British turned the Ionians over to Greece, this building was given to the king of Greece. As the king seldom spent much time here, it fell into disrepair until after World War II when it was restored and turned into a museum.

The centrepiece of the museum is the collection of Chinese porcelains, bronzes, and other works from the Shang Dynasty (1500 B.C.) to the Ching Dynasty (19th century). There are also strong holdings of Japanese works - woodblock prints, ceramics, sculpture, watercolours, and netsuke (carved sash fasteners). You may not have come to Greece to appreciate Asian art, but you can see some of the exhibits found in this Museum that are considered of exceptional and unique value even at an international scale. This whole experience is really one of the several unexpected delights in Corfu!

The major part of the museum's exhibits come from the private collection of the Greek diplomat Grigorios Manos, consisting of 10,000 pieces which he donated to the Greek state in 1928.  In 1974 the collection was enriched by the donations of the Greek ambassador N. Chatzivasiliou and the other Greek diplomats.

The Chinese collection housed here consists of Chinese art items from the Shang period (1500 - 1027 BC) to the Sung dynasty (960 - 1279 AD), bronze vessels, funerary offerings, bronze ware of the Sung and Ming dynasties, paintings, coins, seals and various objects made of semi-precious stones. Also you can see some furniture fabrics and costumes of the same periods.

The Japanese collection contains various Neolithic tools and arms, suits of Samurai knights armour, ceramic statues, miniatures, wooden masks of the 'No' theatre, as well as silk and rice paper kakemonos.

Other art items in this museum come from Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand, Tibet and also Korea. These include wooden reliefs from India, religious paintings from Tibet, Siamese sculptures, bronze sculptures from India and a series of stone reliefs from Gandhara, an ancient Province in Pakistan showing a clear Hellenistic influence.

Some items of particular interest are some of the following exhibits: the bronze statue of Buddha from the Sung Dynasty (960-1297 A.D), bronze pottery, small statues of porcelain and sandstone, porcelain vases in the renown China blue colour and various small ivory objects made during the Mink dynasty. You will also see statuettes from the Kamakura Japanese Period around (1200 A.D.) and among these a very distinctive, angry temple guard made of wood. Also see weapons and pieces of Samurai armor from the period between the 16^th and the18th century.

The museum is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm. It is hosted in the Palace of St. George and St. Michael at the north end of the Esplanade. The telephone number is 2661030443. Admission is 3 euro, 2 for people over 65 years and non European Union students. The entrance for students from the EU is free. Also free admission is on Sundays during the winter period starting sometime in November till the end of March.