Listed 10 sub titles with search on: History for wider area of: "CORFU Municipality IONIAN ISLANDS" .
CORFU (Town) IONIAN ISLANDS
1797
They installed the first printing press in Greece and thus established the use of the Greek language on the island of Corfu.
1807
They established the Ionian Academy, the first alma Mater of the country, with the encouragement of Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first Governor of Greece.
They established the great Agios Iakovos Theatre in Loggia.
14/9/43
There were many victims and catastrophes of many historical buildings, the Ionian Academy, the Parliament, the Public Library, the Public Theatre, the House of Solomos, many historical churches and other buildings.
Within the area of Paleopolis, Iovianos destroyed the ancient temples, altars and other buildings of the ancient Greek civilization.
The city was built in 550 A.D. under the name Koryfo.
CORFU (Municipality) IONIAN ISLANDS
The Municipality of Corfu (First Class) was established on January
6th 1866 but the history of local government in Corfu goes back many years. There
was representation of the class of the Nobles in the Angevin (Anjou) period (14th
century). This representation of the class of the Nobles (Corpo dei Nobili) was
legislated and further organized during the Venetian rule. It was named 'Council
of Corfu' and its members were selected from the most prominent Greek and Italian
families. The Council's opinion on matters of local government was never disputed
from the Venetian authorities until the end of Venetian rule. On the arrival of
the Republican French on the island (1797), the local government in Corfu takes
the form of transition government in which all the ranks participated. A provisional
municipality was established, consisted of 48 members, bourgeois, craftsmen, and,
for the first time, peasants. The presidency was given to the leader of the Democratic
Party, Count Spyridon George Theotokis. One of the first things to do was to burn
the book-emblem of the Nobles (Libro d' Oro) and to plant the Tree of Liberty
in the Esplanade Square (Kato platia).
After the deliverance of the Seven
Islands to the Russian and Turkish allied fleet (1799), Admiral Usakof established
a local government in every island in which all the ranks were represented, nobles,
bourgeois (merchants and craftsmen) and even the peasants in some cases. The Senate
was established in Corfu with participants from all seven islands and she had
the supreme supervision of the local governments (named the 'petit councils').
A little later and according to the Constitution of 1800, that was named 'Byzantine',
the first Greek independent state, after Byzantium, was established and the local
government takes the responsibilities of a full administration (Gerousia) with
Count Spyridon George Theotokis as president.
During the British occupation the island of Corfu becomes the seat
of the High Commissioner, the seat of the Government and of the legislative, judicial
and administrative authorities. The Provincial (Eparchiako) Council administered
the local government and carried on working even after the Union with Greece until
1866. The Provincial Council decided on 1st June 1864 to offer the use of land
and the use of the Summer Palace, on the suburb Agios Panteleimon (later called
Mon Repos), to the newly arrived King George I of Greece, in order to be used
for the summer-holiday needs of the members of the royal family.
In 1866 the Municipality of Corfu was established, which included
the city of Corfu and the suburbs Saroco, Garitsa, Anemomilos,
Stratia, Figareto, Mandouki and the islands Vido and Lazareto.
The most important event of this period was the demolition in 1893 of Porta Reala,
one of the most important monuments of European cultural Heritage. The attempts
of the Prefectorial authorities and of many journalists in the Greek and European
press, couldn't persuade the Municipal Council to recall its decision and a little
after the carnival of 1893, Porta Reala was demolished, sacrificed to the political
contradiction.
In 1912 according to the Law "For the introduction of Municipalities
and Communities" the municipalities on the island cease to exist except that of
Corfu City. The Municipality of Corfu incorporates the biggest part of the Potamogitonon
Municipality, namely the suburb of Potamos
and the communities of Kyra Chrisikou,
Temploni, Kontokali
and Gouvia. During the Italian
fascist occupation the lawful Mayor Spyridon Kollas was violently removed and
replaced successively by several ordered Mayors.
After the Second World War, in 1952, another important even occurred.
Again the target was the cultural heritage of Corfu. In 31st March 1952 the Mayor
of Corfu Stamatios Desyllas and the Municipal Council took unanimously the decision
to demolish the Municipal Theatre of Corfu, already bombed by the Nazi Germans
in 1943. The Municipal Theatre was demolished, despite the recommendations to
the contrary from many learned Corfiots.
The Colonel Regime replaced in 1967 the lawful Mayor Spyridon Rath
and until 1974 the local government was exerted by ordered for that purpose councils.
After the restoration of Democracy a new smooth political life was
established which caries on until today. Since 1997 in the scope of the reformation
of the local government and according to 'Kapodistrias' plan (Act 2539/4-12-1997),
the communities of Alepou,
Kanalia and Evropouli
were incorporated in the Municipality of Corfu.
This text is cited May 2003 from the Municipality of Kerkyra URL below, which contains images.
CORFU (Town) IONIAN ISLANDS
At the end of the 19th century San Giacomo theatre, the first theatre
in South-Eastern Europe, was considered by the Municipality of Corfu that could
not accomplish his mission and satisfy the needs of a constantly increasing public
audience. The decision for the construction of a new municipal theatre was taken
in 1885, when the Mayor Georgios Theotokis was in office. The building started
in 1893 by the Mayor Michael Theotokis. Due to the exceedingly high cost, the
work was completed in 1902, on plans made by the architect Conrado Pergolesi,
who used as a prototype the Milanese "Teatro la Scalla". It was 39m in height
and in front of his entrance was a gallery decorated with 6 columns of the toscanic
order. Externally, the upper floor was decorated with 4 semi-columns of the corinthian
order and a gable. At the center of gable there was the shield of Corfu in relief,
engarlanded with a laurel wreath. The entrance of the Theater was decorated with
huge purple columns and the high walls were frescoed with the portraits of famous
composers, made by Italian artists.
The Municipal Theater had 64 theatre-boxes arranged in three tiers
and a gallery on the top. Each box was luxurious and individually decorated; it
had jalousies, a small compartment with valuable mirrors and screen, and each
bow was exclusively gaslit. The stalls area was luxurious and richly decorated,
with purple velvet armchairs. The No 1 box was reserved for the Theater Committee
and behind this box was the office of the Committee, where the valuable archive
of San Giacomo's Theater was neatly kept. The first box in the second row was
the specially looked-after Royal box, reserved for the members of the Greek Royal
family, when they were in Corfu. Above the third row of boxes was the gallery.
The popular classes of the city, of Mandouki, Garitsa and the suburbs made all
the necessary sacrifices in order to obtain their ticket to the opera. Besides,
they were the passionate judges of the performances and awarded the ovation to
the artists. This applause was very much wanted, because the certificate "Applaudito
a Corfu" was a first class passport for the Italian or European tours of the operas.
In front of the stalls area was the proscenium with the places for
the orchestra that accompanied the opera. The whole of the orchestra was comprised
of Corfiot performers and only one Harp was brought from abroad. The musicians
performed 10 operas per season, starting in September and ending the last Sunday
before the Ash Monday.
The stage was big and spacious in order to handle the special needs
of every performance. Behind the sage was the backstage, spacious and comfortable
for the personnel of every opera, with many offices and all the necessary stage-compartments
for the perfect execution of the performances. The stage-curtain was the old stage-curtain
of San Giacomo Theater. Inspirator and creator of that stage-curtain, was the
advisor of the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice,
Giovanni Buzatto, who made the stage-curtain of Teatro Fenice in Venice, or according
to some others Napoleone Genovesi. The painting showed the festivities during
the reception of Odysseus in the island of Phaeacian king Alcinoos and was originally
used for the scenographic needs of the first theatrical performance in Greek,
by the same name, in San Giacomo Theater. It remained there after the performance,
used as stage-curtain and later was transferred to the New Theater.
The Theater was considered as one of the best in Europe. The acoustics
were incomparable in any technical aspect and had the ability, like a sound box,
to amplify correctly even the faintest sound. Its capacity could be estimated
to about 1,000 and it had a large foyer, decorated on the ceilings with splendid
frescos made by Italian artists that represented ancient Greek gods and several
musical themes. The balls that were held in the theater's foyer have since remained
notorious.
The Municipal Theatre was inaugurated on December 7th, 1902 and staged
Wagner's "Lohengrin". Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany attended one of the performances
when he was in Corfu visiting his 'Achillion' palace.
The mythology that the Corfiots developed about their theatre, in
every case shows that even in the first decades of the 20th century, the opera
was a spectacle that was capable of moving even the popular classes. The audience
was so much acquainted to the opera, that when in 1907 a symphonic performance
was given for the first time, by the Old Philharmonic, the public received it
with unprecedented astonishment for the Corfiot standards.
The performances continued regularly for the hole of the first quarter
of the 20th century and Italian operas were called in Corfu by the administrative
authorities of the Theatre.
After 1923, when Italy bombarded Corfu, the Italian operas ceased
to appear in Corfu. From that time on Greek operas were called under the direction
of the maestros Dionisius Lavrangas, Alexandros Kiparissis, Stefanos Valtetsiotis
and others. Since then, dramatic plays were also staged and artists like Marika
Kotopouli and Pelos Katselis appeared in Corfu, as well as many operettas of the
time.
The Municipal Theatre was not only an Art-monument but also a historical
one. On its premises the exiled Serbian parliament, the Skoupsina, held up meetings
in 1916, which decided the creation of the new Unified Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
In 1923 the Theatre's boxes were used to accommodate the refugees from Asia
Minor, while during the Italian Fascist occupation of the island movies were
shown.
The building cost of the Municipal Theatre was raised to about 1,000,000
British golden sovereigns, a huge amount of money for that time, leaving the Municipality
of Corfu with no option than to borrow this amount, the quittance of which was
arranged for 1941. Unfortunately the Theater ceased to exit the night of September
13th 1943, blackletter night when German incendiary bombs burned to ashes a big
part of the city of Corfu. Together with many other monuments, the bombs incinerated
the Municipal Theatre with all the invaluable archive of the musical theatre of
Corfu. The only thing that escaped fire was the above-mentioned stage-curtain
that luckily was not in the Theater that night. Recently that stage-curtain was
restored by the Municipality
of Corfu and is again exposed to the Corfiots, precious treasure of the artistic
history of Corfu.
Unfortunately, in the postwar period, the destroyed building was considered
unworthy, "without any architectural and historical value", by the architect Ioannis
Kollas and the civil engineers Georgios Linardos and Renos Paipetis. Their opinion
was announced to the Mayor, Stamatis Desillas and to the Municipal Council of
that period, which unanimously decided the demolition of the Theatre at a meeting
held on March 31st, 1952. In short time the Municipal Theatre was demolished,
despite the intensive protestations of many Corfiots, which they were extended
even to the courtrooms. Many years latter another theatre was built at the same
spot, but the old-one never ceased to exist in the harts of the Corfiots. This
is testified by the hundreds of photographs that are hanged everywhere, from privet
offices to public buildings, expressing a romantic nostalgia for the lost glory.
This text is cited May 2003 from the Municipality of Kerkyra URL below, which contains images.
25/8/1537 - 11/9/1537
He failed to take the city but he plundered the island.
5/8/1716 - 22/8/1716
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