Island of Zakynthos

A small island in the Ionian Sea, Zakynthos (also known as Zante) is the original homeland of the Costakis dynasty. According to a family legend, Dionisios, the father of George Costakis, was a tobacco merchant in Zakynthos. After moving to Moscow, via Cairo, he first opened a tobacco imports company, and later went to work at the Greek embassy.

Until his death in 1932, Dionysios Costakis maintained close ties with the Greek diaspora. In the late 1920s, he saved a lot of church utensils and liturgical vestments from Moscow churches, which were destroyed by the Bolsheviks. Some of these items were transported to Greece and are now kept in the church of St. Dionysios on the island of Zakynthos. On the island, famous for its sandy beaches and olive groves, the Costakis clan is still revered - it appears in all guidebooks in the section of "famous natives of the island”.