Description of the attraction
The Medieval Museum of Limassol is located in the city fortress - the famous Limassol castle. It is located very close to the old harbor in the historic city center.
According to research, the fortress itself was built on the site of an ancient Byzantine castle where King Richard the Lionheart is believed to have married Berengaria of Navarre. Not much is known about the history of the creation of the new castle. It was presumably built during the Lusignan era around the end of the 10th century. Later, in the 16th century, the fortress was completely destroyed as a result of one of the earthquakes. The Turks managed to restore it, but the size of the fortification became much smaller - only a couple of halls on the first floor remained from the original fort.
The core of the collection of the museum, located on the territory of the fortress, is a part of the exposition of the Cyprus Museum dedicated to the Middle Ages. Later, it began to be replenished with new exhibits collected in different cities of Cyprus, including Nicosia.
So, now the museum contains items that have significantly gone beyond the time frame of the originally selected period - the exhibits date back to the III-XVIII centuries A. D. These include weapons, glass and ceramics, clothing, coins, lamps, jewelry and ornaments, tools and implements of labor, religious objects, as well as fragments and debris of buildings from Byzantine times, including fragments of wall paintings made in the sgraffito technique.
When visiting a museum of the Middle Ages, special attention should be paid to the tombstones brought from the ancient temples of Nicosia and Famagusta.
