Empress Elisabeth of Bavaria, also known as Sissi, was a woman who loved beauty. She lost her only son, Crown Prince Rudolf, after his suicide in 1889. A year later, in 1890, she built a summer palace in the Gastouri district south of the city, with the powerful mythical hero Achilles as the main theme.

The palace, with neoclassical Greek statues surrounding it, is a monument to both Platonic romanticism and escapism. It was named Achilleion after Homer's hero Achilles. Both in the main building and in the gardens, the palace is filled with paintings and statues of Achilles depicting the Trojan War. The elevated Imperial Gardens overlook the surrounding green hills and valleys, as well as the Ionian Sea. The central place in the gardens is occupied by a statue on a high pedestal depicting the mortally wounded Achilles, dressed in simple clothes and a Corinthian helmet.
In contrast to the statue, on the main staircase of the palace is a huge painting of Achilles conquering, full of pride. Dressed in all the royal and military regalia, standing on a chariot, he drags the lifeless body of Hector in front of a stunned crowd, looking sadly from the walls of Troy.

In 1898 Empress Sissi was assassinated at the age of 60 by an anarchist in Geneva. After her death, the palace was sold to the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. It was later acquired by the state and turned into a museum.