In Greece, the Ionian Academy, operating since the early nineteenth century in Corfu as a university-level educational institution, was accompanied by four museums: one dedicated to Archaeology and art, one to Natural History, another one focusing on Anatomy, with a fourth one dedicated to Chemistry and Physics. There was also a botanical garden [see Evridiki Antzoulatou-Retsila, ‘From “small and hospitable” to “big and imposing”: Recording museum trajectories/the developments of museums’, in Scientific Yearbook 1 (2016) 30].

Nearly two centuries later, in January 2019, the Museum Collections of the Ionian University were established, to support the educational efforts of the faculties and departments of the university, both at undergraduate and postgraduate level, aiming to bolster scientific research and the transmission of knowledge to both the academic community and wider public. In addition, this new organization aims to highlight the various issues pertaining to promotion and management of Greece’s cultural heritage through close cooperation with cultural institutions and the local society of the Ionian Islands.