Palace of St. Michael and St. George 3.28

The Palace of St. Michael and St. George is a palace in Corfu City on the island of Corfu, Greece. Locally it is also known by the Greek name Palaia Anaktora (Παλαιά Ανάκτορα; literally "Old Palace").HistoryThe palace was built by Sir Thomas Maitland, the British Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands. It served as the High Commissioner's residence, but was also the home of the Ionian Senate and the Order of St Michael and St George. The foundation stone was laid on St. George's day in 1819. The location is between the old town of Corfu and the Venetian-era Old Fortress.After the union of Corfu with the Kingdom of Greece in 1864, the palace served as a Royal residence until the Second World War. It survived the Italian bombardment of Corfu City during the Corfu Incident in 1923, but suffered greater damage from its use as a temporary housing for the refugees from Epirus during the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). The Greek state was only able to restore the palace interiors in 1954 with the help of a private trust organised by Sir Charles Peake, the then British Ambassador to Greece. Up to 1967, the Greek king occasionally used the palace on state occasions while in residence at his nearby villa, Mon Repos.