The building of the Ionian Academy, as it is widely known, was constructed during the Venetian rule, originally functioning as army barracks. The Ionian Academy, the first Greek University, moved into the building upon its founding in 1824. The Ionian Academy was the highest educational organisation of the Ionian State headquartered in Corfu and was established primarily thanks to English philhellene Frederick North, Earl of Guildford. The first four schools to operate at the university were: the Law School, the School of Theology, the Medical School and the School of Philosophy. Schools added later included a Polytechnic, a School of Obstetrics and a Pharmaceutical School. The Ionian Academy enjoyed such high prestige that students would come from all around Greece to study in Corfu. In this way, the academy contributed substantially to the intellectual renaissance of modern Greece during the 19^thcentury. After the Ionian Islands’ unification with Greece in 1864, the Greek government of the time closed down the Ionian Academy. Since then, the central part of the building housed the Historical Public Library of Corfu until 1943, when it was burned down during German air strikes. The building was restored in 1994 to now house the Rectorate of the Ionian University.