The Achilleion Palace, Corfu

Corfu is one of those wonderful Greek islands so beloved by tourists of all nationalities. Tourists though go for the beaches and sun, and miss out on so much of the island’s history. The island has influenced Greek culture for many thousands of years, and has brought more than the modern package holidaymakers to the island.

The Achilleion Palace is the result of one 19th century tourist’s desire to build a residence on the island. 1890 saw the arrival of the Empress Elisabeth of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Elisabeth, also known as Sissi, spent the latter years of her life travelling around the Mediterranean. In mourning for the suicide of her son, Crown Prince Rudolf, in 1889, Elisabeth settled for a short while on Corfu and built herself a summer palace, though it should be noted she wasn’t in the companionship of her husband Franz Josef.

Achilleion Palace - Jean Housen - CC-BY-SA-3.0

The summer palace was created with the hero Achilles in mind, and was subsequently named after him. The supposition was that the Empress built the palace to symbolise her son as Achilles. The palace was constructed in the neo-classical style by the Italian architect Raffaele Carito near to the village of Gastouri, some 10 kilometres from Corfu Town.

Within the palace there were numerous paintings and statues dedicated to Achilles, especially from the time of the Trojan War. The principle painting is found in the main hall, showing a triumphant Achilles. The Triumph of Achilles’ was painted by Franz Matsch, shows the body of Hector being dragged around the walls of Troy. Most tourists take note of the swastika on the gates of Troy, but it must be said the painting was done years before the rise of the Nazi party and is an ancient symbol in itself.

Statues of note within the building include a bronze winged Hermes, as well as statues of the Olympian gods, Zeus and Hera. The other main feature of the internal structure is a fresco of the Four Seasons’, with the seasons symbolised as women.

In the gardens there are further statues of Hermes, Apollo, Artemis and other Greek gods. The main statue though was a creation of the German sculptor, Ernst Gustav Herter. Made from marble, it shows Achilles at his most vulnerable, dying from Paris’ arrow wound to his heel. The statue faces skywards as if seeking assistance from his mother, the goddess Thetis. The symbolism is of course obvious, as the Empress sought to remember her son, Prince Rudolf, as if he had been asking for her help.

Empress Elisabeth was assassinated in Geneva in 1898 but an anarchist looking for any royal to kill. The summer palace was left unoccupied for almost ten years, until Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany purchased the palace. Wilhelm did little to alter the palace or gardens, although he did employee the botanical architect Sprenger to make some slight alterations.

The Terrace at the Achilleion Palace - Thomas Schoch - CC-BY-SA_3.0

Wilhelm’s big impact was the construction of the Kaiser’s Bridge’. The bridge came to symbolise the Kaiser’s vanity, spanning as it did from the palace gardens down to the beach, and avoiding the need to cross the main road. Today it is difficult to visualise in its entirety as the middle section of the bridge was removed by the German army during the Second World War.

For a short while after the Second World War, the palace operated as a Casino. Film enthusiasts may indeed recognise the palace as the casino in James Bond’s For Your Eyes Only’.

Today it is still very much worth a visit. Purchased by the Greek state, the palace has been turned into one of Corfu’s finest tourist attraction with a museum and a superb garden. The palace is packed with artefacts from the island, as well as remnants of Empress Elisabeth’s and Kaiser Wilhelm’s time. Pictures and photos of Elisabeth and Wilhelm abound, some are the original works and some are original copies. The gardens have superb views over the island, and of course the statues still remain.
Whilst I would not suggest spending the day at the palace, I would say that an excursion to the nearby village of Gastouri could make the two last a good part of the day. Gastouri is one of the largest villages on Corfu and is a good way of seeing the traditional side of Corfu life.

Copyright - First Published 6th March 2008

Hattusa - capital of the Hittite Empire

The archaeological site of Hattusa has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1986, and yet in Europe it is relatively unknown. Situated in modern day Turkey, Hattusa was once the capital of the Hittite Empire.

The Hittites

The Hittites were an ancient people, and are mentioned in the Old Testament.

From the 18th century BC onwards they engineered an Empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia. An aggressive race, the Hittites conquered much of the surrounding area, peaking in the 14th century BC. At that time the Empire controlled upper Mesopotamia, north-western Syria and Anatolia.

Traditionally there are three distinct periods to the Hittite Empire; the Old Hittite Kingdom (1750-1500BC); the Middle Hittite Kingdom (1500-1430BC); and the New Hittite Kingdom (1430-1180BC).

The Old Hittite Kingdom peaked during the 16th century BC, due mainly to their enhanced iron weaponry, and the Empire even sacked the city of Babylon. Initially the rulers Pithana, and his son Anitta, had their dynastic capitals at Kussara and Nesa respectively, but a century after the start of the Old Hittite Kingdom, Labarna II move the capital of the Empire to Hattusa.

The Lion Gate - Bernard Gagnon - CC-BY-SA-3.0

Hattusa

Situated near the modern-day village of Boazkale, Hattusa is 150km east of Ankara. The site is roughly 2km by 1km in area, and situated on a high rocky plateau.

The surrounding countryside provided the inhabitants of Hattusa with copious amounts of rich agricultural land, and pasture from the hills. As a result the people were provided with wheat, barley and lentils, as well as clothing made from sheep’s wool. Domesticated animals also provided meat, and although there was hunting of deer, this was mainly a pastime for the nobility of the city. Nearby woodland also provided the primary building material.

Archaeological evidence shows that there was a settlement at the site of Hattusa, from the 6000 BC. This settlement is supposedly some of the earliest representation of the indigenous Hatti people.
The real development of the site commenced in about 1900 BC, when merchants from Assyria created a trading colony. Evidence from excavations appears to indicate that the new city was burnt to the ground in about 1700BC. King Anitta from Kushar has been blamed for this act, and an inscribed curse has been found to support this assertion.

Within fifty years the burnt ruins had been reborn. Labarna II chose the site for his capital and private residence. At the same time a change of language occurred, as Hattic was replaced by Hittite. In conjunction with this Labarna changed his name to Hattusili I, meaning ‘the one from Hattusa’. Labarna and subsequent rulers built up Hattusa until it was worthy of the title of capital of the Hittite Empire.

Over time the city grew to 180 hectares, and there were distinct inner and outer sections. There have been estimates of a city population of 50,000 at Hattusa’s peak.

The inner section covered some 80 hectares, and contained the citadel with temples and administrative buildings.

South Gate of the Yerkapi - Bernard Gagnon - CC-BY-SA-3.0

The outer section of 100 hectares lay predominantly to the south of the inner city. In this section there were a further four temples, each set in there own courtyard. The majority of the area though was set aside for residential buildings.

Both sections of the city were surrounded by massive walls, the courses of which are still visible today. At some points the walls have been estimated to be twenty-six feet thick. There were also elaborate gateways set into the walls, and they were often decorated with images of soldiers, lions and sphinxes. Beyond the walls there are the remnants of a number of cemeteries, enclosing numerous cremation burials.

A series of Hittite kings used Hattusa as their capital, although on a number of occasions the capital moved because of invasion threat. The city though was eventually destroyed in about 1200 BC, and coincided with the collapse of the Hittite Empire. Civil war and an external threat from Grecian tribes weakened the Hittites and it eventually collapsed. All that remained were city states, some of which survived into the late 8th century BC. The site of Hattusa was eventually abandoned in about 800BC.

Rediscovering Hattusa

The site was rediscovered in 1874, though it wasn’t until 1893-94 that Ernest Chantre commenced the first excavations. Much of Hattusa was timber built therefore the most obvious remnants are the stone built temples and palaces. The majority of the excavations have been undertaken by German archaeologists in conjunction with their Turkish colleagues.

There have been some notable discoveries at the site. In the digs of 1906-1912 a large number of clay tablets were uncovered. Once they writing on the tablets were deciphered, it was discovered that they held details of the royal archives. The tablets provided details of official correspondence, legal codes, religious text and literature of the Hittite Empire. There has now been some 30,000 tablets or part tablets now uncovered, although one of the most important shows a peace treaty with Egypt, under the leadership of Rameses II, from about 1283 BC.

There have been almost continuous excavations on the site since the end of World War II. Some of the most recent work has been on reconstruction of the city walls, rather than restoration or further excavations.

Alongside Persepolis, this is another of the archaeological sites in the Middle East that is a must for all those interested in ancient history. Though there is perhaps less evidence readily visible than in many sites in Egypt, the images and decoration on the “Lions’ Gate” and “Royal Gate” are worth a look at.

Copyright - First Published 2nd March 2008

Biography of Madame Tussaud

The name of Madame Tussaud is a famous one known the world over. Most people have heard of the waxwork exhibitions that have her name attached to them, but there was a real woman after whom subsequent exhibitions were named.

Madame Marie Tussaud was born Marie Grosholtz on December 1, 1761, in Strasbourg, France. Marie’s father, Joseph Grosholtz, had been a soldier during the Seven Year War, but had died two months prior to Marie’s birth. After Marie’s birth, her mother, Anne Made, moved both of them to Berne, Switzerland, Marie’s mother obtaining a job as a housekeeper with Dr. Philippe Curtius. In some sources Curtius is named as Marie’s uncle, though this is probably due to friendship rather than blood ties. Curtius was a skilled physician, who used wax models he made to demonstrate anatomy. Curtius passed on his knowledge of wax modelling to Marie.

Madame Tussaud Aged 42 - John Theodore Tussaud (1921) - PD-life-70

In 1765, Curtius moved to Paris in order to set up a waxwork show, one of his first casts was of Louis XV’s mistress, Marie-Jeanne du Barry. Two years later Marie and her mother joined Curtius in Paris. It took until 1770 for Curtius to be in a position to host his first exhibition, but it immediately became a success attracting large audiences. By 1776, Curtius’ exhibition was such a success that it moved to the Palais Royal. During this period Curtius continued his tuition of Marie, and soon she was modelling her own waxworks. She met a number of famous individuals; her first wax figure was of Francois Voltaire in 1777, and was quickly followed by Benjamin Franklin and Jean Jacques Rousseau.

In addition to famous individuals, Curtius’ exhibition was also visited by the French Royal family. Curtius expanded his waxworks into a second location, the Caverne des Grands Voleurs, on Boulevard du Temple. Marie though had been picked as tutor for the artistic education of Elizabeth, King Louis XVI’s sister. Living at the Royal court at Versailles caused problems when the Revolution came. Arrested for allegedly having royalist sympathies, Marie was imprisoned in La Force prison alongside aristocrats and other sympathisers.

It is not clear why Marie was saved from the guillotine, her talent at making death masks may have been one, although her acquaintance with Robespierre and Napoleon may have helped. What ever the reason, Marie never faced the guillotine, although she was forced to make death masks from the victims of it, these included friends like Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. In prison she shared a cell with Josephine de Beauharais, the future Empress Josephine, and together the two friends were eventually released.

Madame Tussaud Aged 85 - John Theodore Tussaud (1921) - PD-life-70

Upon the death of Curtius in 1794, the whole waxwork collection was left to Marie. In the following year, Marie married an engineer, Francois Tussaud, and before 1800, Marie had given birth to two sons, Joseph and Francois. The thriving business of pre-revolution days though struggled in the relative deprivation of the New France. To improve their prospects, Marie made the decision to take her waxworks on tour.

In 1802, Marie along with Joseph traveled to London, with her collection of death masks and wax figures. Resumption in Revolutionary/Napoleonic War between Britain and France meant that Marie was stranded, separated from her husband and second son. Extending her tour, Marie took her waxworks on a tour of Britain and Ireland, a tour which would last 33 years. Francois joined Marie in Britain in 1821, following the deaths of Marie’s husband and mother.

The tour came to end in 1835, when Marie found a permanent base for Madame Tussaud’s on Baker Street. The permanent site was soon attracting a large audience, drawn to the Chamber of Horrors, where victims of the French Revolution and notable murderers and criminals were exhibited. Marie wrote her memoirs in 1838, as her collection continued to grow; the figures of Nelson and Sir Walter Scott were added.

Marie died in her sleep in London on 15th April, 1850. Madame Tussaud’s, though, continued to thrive; first through her sons and then grandsons. It was her grandsons who moved the exhibition to Marylebone Road in 1884, and since then other branches have been established in Amsterdam, Las Vegas, New York, Washington DC, Hong Kong and Shanghai. The modern Tussaud’s continues in the traditions of its founder, creating wax figures of the most notable individuals of every generation.

Copyright - First Published 27th February 2008