KAISER'S "DREAM CASTLE."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16300, 5 August 1916, Page 5 (Supplement)

KAISER'S "DREAM CASTLE."

THE PALACE AT CORFU. A CHEQUERED HISTORY. Niws lately cams from Athens of the intention of the allies to fill the German Emperor's "dream-castle" in Corfu with Servian wounded. Thus the German Emperor's favourite summer palacea Greek temple of fairy loveliness for which he paid £600,000 is turned into a lazaret for wounded Balkan peasants. This snow-white monument in Greek teas has had no luck, from the day that tragic Elizabeth of Austria fell in love with the site till a syndicate approached Franz Josef with an offer to take over Achilleion as a gaming saloon on Monte Carlo lines. Not in all the world will you find another dwelling so ethereal as this. Dazzling lonic columns and stately antique gods enclose a noble peristyle looking out on to waters which saw the first naval actions of the world, between half-mythical Greek and Roman heroes. The, castle is framed in characteristic Corfu woods of blue olive, cactus-fig, and cypress, overgrown with giant roses in full bloom ' throughout the year. An Artist's Vision. The loveliness of the place is curiously unrealan artist's vision floating in scented air and fronting the wild fissured cliffs of Hellaic Bay. Just opposite is the lonely, mysterious islet of Ponticonici, moulded by Neptune from Ulysses' shattered ship. Over half a century ago Elizabeth of Austria came to Corfu on a visit to the Lord Commissioner of the lonian Isles, and stayed at Mon Repos. In 1869 the commissioned Rafael Carito,*the Neapolitan architect, to build her this idyll in shining marble. Here she passed the last years of her strange life, amid columned walks and mirrored Halls, a Byantine chapel and vast stairways, Pompeiian baths and precious mosaics resurrected from Mycenae. The soft Greek night was lit with countless electric bulbs hidden :in flowers or in bubbles blown from flambeaux by wall-Cupids. Famous Statues. Close by in the park is Elizabeth's sixcolumned Grecian temple, housing the statues of Heine and Byron, her favourite poets. But of all - the statues that of Achilles is the grandest, and gives its name to this dream-castle. The Empress chose this hero as the embodiment of strength and beauty, and because Of his fine contempt for kings, traditions, and all ordinary men—a trait conspicuously shared by the lady herself. After her assassination, AchilTeion remained deserted for years. Franz Josef hated the place. He never saw it, though continually coaxed to Corfu and told of the wondrous suite of rooms made ready for him. It was a- mysterious palace from the first. Not even Elizabeth's daughter, Princess Giseia of Bavaria, to whom the place was left by will, was ever invited to Achilleion. Kaiser's Bid Accepted. The Emperor tried to sell the castle «ven before the terrible tragedy of GejWo. Millionaire Americans entered into Meaty and were turned away. It was suggested as a. hospital, a monastery, and * school, but all these proposals" were «nored. ' On the other hand, Kaiser Wilhelm's bid was immediately accepted. As Grown Prince he had long been a favourite °f Elizabeth's, whom he often visited in Vienna. Thus Achilleion passed to the ■Hobenzollenis as a vacation retreat and a pleasure palace set in classic seas. It was also "near to Sophie," Wilhelm's Savourite sister, who was then Crown Princess ?*, Greece, and, besides, would suit Prussia's own Crown Princess Cecile. who *as by no means robust, and from childhood had lived much on the Riviera. German Family Reunions. So as a place of family reunion the jlream-castle was an ideal place, giving de"Kntful scope to ever-increasing numbers w grandchildren and cliildren-in-law. tiers Wilhelm was seen as Famielienvater. Paying his favourite game of skat for yng his favourite game of skat for a*Penny points, or leading the singing JWM- Above all. Corfu was a port for mperial yacht IJ.-lienzollem. Who knows what plots of Weltmacht "ere hatched here, what submarine bases TV ?\** Balk *" understandings for the way. Now the Servian peasant lies abed «* , ■ ? halls w,,ion r,Mre homH the man KinVp waste '" land. II o„lv needs sriif Peter and Franz Josef's sumptuous "ate to make -poetic justice" complete.