Limassol Castle/Medieval Museum

Welcome to the castle of Limassol!
The spot where you are now standing is a historical spot with an amazing history to it! The ground that this fort stands on has been a very important place since the year 400 AD when it was home to a Christian basilica. Excavations also show that some six hundred years later a Byzantine monument was erected on this spot, as well as a cathedral. The first actual castle wasn’t built until the late 12th century by Guy de Lusignan. This is also where Richard Lionheart is said to have married Berengaria of Navarre and made her Queen of England at that time.

The castle surely served its purpose as the town of Limassol was under constant attacks from both the Mameluks and the Genoese as well as from nature itself, damaging the architecture with its many earthquakes. And no castle in the world could protect Limassol against in Ottoman invasion in1538, when they captured the city. After taking back the castle the governor of Cyprus partly destroyed the castle to save it from being captured in the future.

When the Ottomans came back to power in the 16th century they rebuilt the castle we can see here today. The two halls on the ground floor remain the same but they improved the structure significantly and built prison cells in the dungeons underneath the castle. Up until 1950 unfortunate lawbreakers would find themselves imprisoned here.

Don’t just check the outside of the fort though, let’s go in, for today it is home to the Medieval Museum of Cyprus, and has a lot to offer. How about taking a closer look at Cyprus' historical development, its economic, social and artistic evolution? From the exhibition you will get a good understanding of what the daily life of its people from the 3rd to the 18th century AD, was like. Stroll along the displayed weapons and armor that protected the people during times of war, and the tools used for all kinds of every day tasks. And don’t miss to pass by the part of the museum with the glazed pottery and lamps, jewelry, coins, objects of worship that have been recovered from the Byzantine and Gothic buildings!

Photo Kolossi Castle 01 by Vegard Ottervig is licensed under  public domain