The Archaeological Museum

All the ancient finds of the island are kept in the Archaeological museum in Vraila Street near the Garitsa coastal road. Among the items that are exhibited here the most famous is the west pediment of the temple of Artemis, the Gorgon pediment - which is the most ancient one in Greece, dated from 580 BC.

Other important exhibits include three funerary monuments from the cenetry of the ancient town of Corfu. One is the 6th century funerary capital of Xemvares which bears an archaic Corinthian inscription. The inscription is written from right to left. Also worthy is a stele dedicated to the memory of a warrior named Arneadas, which has an inscription in Homeric hexameters, dating from the early 6th century BC.

In the museum there is an impressive Archaic pediment from an unknown building dating from 500 BC. The main figure is Dionysos, the God of wine. The pediment is probably the work of a Corcyraean artist and has the stylistic features of the last period of Archaic Corinthian art.

Another of the most beautiful exhibits of the museum is the archaic lion which was found near the Menecrates' tomb, dating from the 7th century BC. Also here are housed the finds of the temple of Hera and the temple of Apollo found on the Mon Repos estate. One of these is the head of a Kouros (statue of a nude young man) which is a fine piece made probably by a Corinthian sculptor, dating from 5th century BC.

In the museum there are also two showcases with coins found on Corfu, as well as various objects dated from the 4th BC to Roman times. Most of these are sculptures, such as the marble head of the comic poet Menander (1st century BC), a statue of Aphrodite (2nd century BC), a small head of a Satyr, etc.