This small gallery highlights how Cyprus’s geographical position exposed the island to the campaigns of the Crusaders to the Holy Land in the Middle Ages.
Cyprus was held as a Crusader state under the French nobleman, Guy de Lusignan, after his failure to take Jerusalem in 1192. Unexpectedly, the island flourished for nearly 300 years under the Lusignans as a centre for trade, notably in sugar. Emblems of noble families and the courtly lifestyle appear on ceramics of this period. Look down beyond the ceramics display to the floor below for a visual link with the gallery of Bronze Age Cyprus. An information panel gives details of the various Crusades to the Holy Land alongside a display case of Crusader coins.
Internationally renowned archaeological collections from Prehistoric Europe, the Ancient Near East, Ancient Egypt and Sudan, Minoan Aegean, Mycenaean and Classical Greece, Ancient Cyprus, the Roman world, Medieval and later Europe, as well as the museum's Founding Collection and historic archives.
