He built modern Greece from the ground up, but Ioannis Kapodistrias remains a controversial figure. A new biopic throws light on this overlooked titan of European history <\/p>\n
On a hilltop in central Corfu, a marble bust carved in the classical style gazes skyward, lean, fine-featured and composed to the point of austerity. There is no uniform, no decorations, nor symbols of office, just a name cut into the base in Greek capitals: \u0399 \u0391 \u039a\u0391\u03a0\u039f\u0394\u0399\u03a3\u03a4\u03a1\u0399\u0391\u03a3. The bust stands alone in the gardens of Koukouritsa, once the family home of Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first governor of Greece. The villa is now the only museum in the country dedicated to the man who gave up one of the most powerful diplomatic positions in Europe to return to a country that was barely a country and try to build one.<\/p>\n
Without Kapodistrias, there may have been no modern Greek state, and the map of Europe might look very different today. He spent years supplying material and moral support to the Greek revolutionaries; once independence was won from the Ottoman Empire, he negotiated directly with Britain, France and Russia over the new country\u2019s borders and future, then set about building the institutions, its currency, courts, schools and civil service that the modern state still stands on. \u201cHe who murdered Kapodistrias murdered his homeland,\u201d Swiss philhellene Jean-Gabriel Eynard wrote on hearing of the statesman\u2019s assassination in 1831 at the hands of rebel leader allies turned enemies.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/f8d0aa7d5ccef23dc57465a43e245d0316ab70c9\/451_0_2700_2160\/master\/2700.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=ab2566cd9be260662efca3d8b479165c\" "\\"Wannabe")
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