IONIAN ACADEMY Address: Town Directions: South end of square

The red building which is located at the south end of Spianada square is the Ionian Academy. It was the first Greek university which founded in Greek land the years when Greeks were fighting against the Ottoman occupation (1821-1832). It was built by , the 1st Governor of and Frederick North (Earl Guilford) in 1823 and focused on Theology, Belles Letters, Law and Medicine, all taught in Greek language.

When the Ionian Islands associated with Greece (1864) the Ionian Academy was abolished for no reason! The building was bombed in 1943 by Nazis and has been renovated the latest years. In our days it houses a part of the .

Lord Guilford was born in February 7, at 1766 in London and he was a great philhellene. He was baptized Orthodox in Corfu and was given the name Georgios. He dedicated his life to the Academy; therefore, he was called Lord of the Academy.

Conte Ioannis Kapodistrias the Governor was born in Corfu which at the time of his birth was a possession of Venice. He studied medicine, philosophy and law at Padua in Italy. He started his practice as a doctor in his native island of Corfu, in order to alleviate human misery. He was to the end of his life a deeply liberal thinker and a true democrat, though born and raised as a nobleman. An ancestor of Kapodistrias' had been created a Conte (Count) by the Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy, and the title was later (1679) inscribed in the Libro d'Oro of the Corfu nobility.

In 1802 Ioannis Kapodistrias founded two important scientific and social progress organizations in Corfu, the "Society of the Friends» and the "National Medical Association", of which he was an energetic member.

Kapodistrias retired to Geneva, where he was greatly esteemed, having been made an Honorary Citizen for his past services to Swiss unity and particularly the cantons. In 1827 he learned that the Third National Assembly had elected him as the first head of state of newly-liberated Greece, with the title of Governor.