Ionian Parliament Building. Corfu.

Corfu (Kerkyra)was the adminstrative centre for the Ionian State, and hence for Kythera from 1800 until 1864.
From 1855 this building housed the Ionian Parliament.

Those who have referenced the numerous entries on Diamantina Roma (see in particular, entry in High Achievers), will know that "...on 28.04.1856 Contessa Diamantina Roma married George Bowen in the chapel of the Palace of St Michael and St George in Corfu (two years after his appointment as Government Chief Secretary, Ionian Islands)". Bowen would later become the first Governor of Queensland, creating a powerful Australian-Ionian linkage.

The British influence on 7 islands in Greece, including Kythera - an influence not enjoyed by thousands of other Greek islands - cannot be underestimated, and should be explored in much greater depth at kythera-family.

A photograph of representatives of the Ionian Parliament in 1863, and the Flags and Great Seal of that Parliament, as well as Ionian State stamps and coins, can be scourced at kythera-family by searching Ionian on the internal search engine.

THe Building

"At the end of Moustoxydi Street stands the historic Ionian Parliament building in neoclassical style.

It was constucted in 1855 by the Corfiot architect John Chronis and used by the Legislative Assembly, which previously sat in the Palace of St. Michael and St. George. It has historical significance, as this is where the last Ionian Parliament, on the September of 1863, voted the union of the Ionian Islands with Greece.

Until 1940 it was an Anglican church. During the World War II it was badly bombed and was completely restored in 1962. It now houses the museum of the Fighters for Heptanesian Indepedence, a memorial to those who struggled for the liberation of the Ionian islands. The other half of the building houses the Anglican church of Holy Trinity and the chaplain's flat".