Unassuming from the outside, Limassol Castle stands in a pleasant garden immediately north of the old port. What you see today is a careful restoration of Byzantine foundations, Venetian and Ottoman military adaptations and British colonial –prison architecture . somewhere under the existing walls stood the long-vanished byzantine chapel of Saint George in which, tradition has it, Richard the Lionheart married Berengaria on May 12, 1191. Anticipating his rout of Isaac, Richard also had himself crowned king of Cyprus and his bride queen of England , in the presence of assorted Latin clerics and nobility.
The castle shelters the Cyprus Medieval Museum , though the building, with its musty, echoing vaults,air shafts and masonry ribs, it as interesting as the exhibits , most of which are on the upper floor . the emphasis is on metalware, heraldry and sacred art, including bas-reliefs and pottery with Christian designs; the best bits are silver Byzantine plates showing events in the life od David, part of the Lambousa Treasure and a suit of armour from the Lusignan period. When open, the roof terrace and secondary tower afford excellent views over the town.
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