Description of the attraction
The Byzantine Museum of Corfu Town is one of the most important Byzantine museums in Greece and is located near the old town along Arseniou Street.
The museum is located in the Church of Our Lady of Antivuniotissa. This temple was built at the end of the 15th century and is one of the oldest and richest religious monuments in Corfu. For a long time, the building of the church was privately owned and in 1979 it was donated to the state along with all the relics specifically for the establishment of a museum here. In 1984, after the necessary restoration, the church-museum was opened to the public.
The structure is a basilica with one nave and a wooden roof, which is typical for the architecture of Corfu at that time.
The collection of the museum presents an impressive collection of Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons, both unknown and famous artists from the 15th-19th centuries. The museum houses magnificent icons by Emmanuel Lombardos. Also of particular interest are the masterpieces of Mikhail Damaskin, Emanuel Zanes and Mikhail Avramis. One of the most important exhibits is considered to be the altar cloth, which was brought from Russia and donated to the museum by Nikiforos Theotokis. In the Byzantine Museum, you can see wall frescoes (11-18 centuries), collected from various temples of the island of Corfu. The museum also contains the family heirlooms of the founders of the church, sculptures of the early Christian period, old Gospels, manuscripts, priests' clothes and much more.
In June 1994, after the second stage of restoration work, the church-museum regained its former grandeur and was reopened to visitors (additional work was also carried out in 1999-2000). Today, the Byzantine Museum of Corfu is considered to be the most important historical and religious monument.
