Today’s name Mon-Repo is a large area, where the summer villa of the English Commissioner Thomas Maitland, and his Greek spouse, Corfiot Nina Palatianou was built, in 1828-1831.

In 1833 the School of Fine Arts was put there with director Pavlos Prossalendis, while in 1834, the public gardens functioned in the vegetable garden of the villa. In 1840 the Holy reading room was transported to the villa and remained there for two years. In 1863 the empress of Austria Elisabeth stayed there for quite a long time. In 1864 the building with the gardens, was granted for use to the then King George A΄, which he named Mon-Repos. From that time and up to 1967 it was used by the former royal family as a summer residence. The building and the property devolved once again to the possession of the Municipality Kerkyra, which then granted the building for fifty years to the Ministry of Culture, for the accommodation of the museum Palaiopoli.

The building is a characteristic sample of an English villa, and is the work of the English architect Whitmore, who also built the Palace of Michael and George. It is a building with frugal forms, big openings and a formal application of morphological characteristics of the English “classical” tradition with the addition of certain Greek elements.

The Palaiopoli Museum that is accommodated today in the building of Mon Repos, belongs in the category of diachronic museums which is ascertained by its particular characteristics. It accommodates findings from antiquity and specifically from the Archaic until the Roman years found in the island of Kerkyra. It conveys the climate and the perception that the 19th century had for antiquity but also it tries to represent elements from the life of the building and its uses throughout its lifespan. The aim of the museum is to safeguard, to study and to present the heritage, cultural and natural in the area of Palaiopoli to the visitor.

The exhibition area of the museum includes objects that are related with the life and the use of building, such as documents, portraits and furniture, as well as the property of the 19th century, depicting plants with a collection of works of paintings. It also includes findings that were brought into light from the excavations in the region of the archaic city and are related with the trade, the public and private life and the adorations of ancient Corfiots. The museum also has a photographic exhibition which includes moments from the excavations of the archaic city.

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