The palace of Paleologina is a very important cultural element for the town of Kalavrita. Historical sources mention that this was probably built by Thomas Paleologos following the destruction of the great Frankish castle of Geoffroy de Tournay. In 1440 it was handed over to his brother Constantinos, at a time when Kalavrita was an important cultural centre.

It was during this time that Constantinos Paleologos most likely donated the palace to Princess Aikaterini Paleologou, daughter of a noble family from Halandritsa and relatives to the emperor’s family.

It is very impressive how the palace has survived all the town’s disasters with only minor time-related damages and some alterations that were done to it by the Turks. Its last owner, Mr. Vasilios Tsaparas, donated the palace to the Municipality of Kalavrita, for its perusal as a cultural centre.

The palace spans over three floors totaling 530 square meters. Its restoration plan was undertaken by the laboratory of Architecture and Design, division of Civil Engineers of the University of Patras, headed by Prof. Dionisios Verras. The plan included its structural and aesthetic restoration, and its adaptation to a cultural centre for the Municipality of Kalavrita.

The project was completed under the supervision of the Directorate responsible for the Restoration of Byzantine and post-Byzantine monuments of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, and the total cost of 337.000.000drs was partly co-financed by the European Union.

The Municipality’s Cultural Corporation proposed to the Municipal Committee of Kalavrtia to undertake the operation of the Palace of Paleologina, in order to create a multi-purpose activity centre, where conferences, speeches, meetings, presentations and film viewings could take place, as well as permanent or temporary art exhibitions of a historical or folk nature.

In the summer of 2003, the centre opened its doors for the first time following its renovation, and housed the Photo Exhibition entitled “Greek, the Greeks and the Resistance”, by the re-known Greek photographer-explorer Spyros Meletzis. Since then, a variety of cultural activities have been held at the centre.