The Achilleion (Greek: Αχίλλειο, Katharevousa: Αχίλλειον) is a palace built on Corfu for Empress (German: Kaiserin) Elisabeth of Austria, also known as Sisi, after a suggestion by the Austrian consul Alexander von Warsberg.

[1][2] Elisabeth was deeply saddened by the tragic loss of her only son, Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria following the Mayerling incident in 1889, and a year later she had this summer palace built as a refuge.

His sculpture Dying Achilles (Ancient Greek: Αχιλλεύς θνήσκων), created in Berlin in 1884 as inscribed in the statue, forms the centrepiece of the Achilleion Gardens.

Paintings and statues of Achilles are abundant, both in the main hall and in the gardens, depicting contrasting heroic and tragic scenes of the Trojan War.

[1] The Greek royal family, and particularly Wilhelm's sister Sophia of Prussia, the crown princess and later queen consort of Greece, often came to visit Corfu.

The Emperor had a great interest in the plants of the park and hired Carl Ludwig Sprenger, a renowned botanist, who would live in the palace for about three months every year.

The German imperial family were staying on Corfu for about one month every year until the outbreak of World War I, except in 1910 and 1913 when they did not go there due to political conflicts on the Balkans.

[17] Wilhelm, expanding on the main theme of the grounds, commissioned his own Achilles statue from the sculptor Johannes Götz who created an imposing bronze sculpture that stands as guardian of the gardens, facing north toward the city.

[22] The Kaiser's statue represents Achilles in full hoplite uniform with intricate detailing such as a relief of a gorgon's head at the shield, apparently to petrify any enemies.

[23] The Kaiser, while vacationing at Achilleion and while Europe was preparing for war, had been involved in excavations at the site of the ancient temple of Artemis in Corfu.

Achilleion is also featured Tony Harrison's 1992 film-poem The Gaze of the Gorgon when a chorus of tourists says in rhyming verse:[28] Soon, in 1994, in this palace Greece starts to restore, in this the Kaiser's old retreat Europe's heads of state will meet...