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"Crusades: Myth and Realities The Foundation of the Hellenic World organizes a great historical and archaeological exhibition entitled "Crusades: Myth and Realities" at its cultural centre Hellenic Cosmos, at 254 Pireos street, from February 21st to May 20th 2005. It is a travelling exhibition, which started its journey from Cyprus, where it was inaugurated on December 1st 2004, and will continue in three European countries, Greece, Italy and Malta, where it will coincide with the Summit of the European Union. The exhibition has been designed and organized by the Foundation of the Hellenic World, the Pierides Foundation (the coordinator), the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage of Malta and the Instituto per le Technologie Applicate ai Beni Culturali-Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche of Italy. It constitutes the first activity of the Programme "Crossings: Movements of People and Movement of Cultures - Changes in the Mediterranean from Ancient to Modern Times", which is implemented as part of the European Programme "Culture 2000" with the support of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Cyprus, the Cypriot Tourism Organization and the Bank of Cyprus. The subject of this historical exhibition is the influence of the Crusades to the Mediterranean cultures and vice versa, starting from their beginning in the 11th century until the abolition of the Order of the Knights of St John in 1798. The exhibition presents over 200 important findings, most of them for the first time: images and wall paintings from churches of the 13th to the 16th century, from Cyprus and Rhodes -works not only of high artistic value, but also representative of different cultural origins-, weapons of the Knights, portraits of the Great Magistrates of the Hospital of the Knights of the Order of St John, coins and pottery that prove the commercial relations, not only among the countries that participated in the Crusades, but also between East and West, and finally Muslim objects that testify to the cultural influence of the Orient to the West. In this impressive "castle-city", inspired by medieval models designed by Mr Giannis Toumazis, the visitor is able to travel to the world of the Crusades, not only through the valuable exhibits but also through technology, in an exciting way. The Multimedia exhibit "The World of the Crusades", designed and developed by FHW, functions independently and supplementary, in order to provide to the visitor additional information about the Crusades, as well as an all-embracing approach to the subject. It does not try to elucidate the exhibition, but it is an integral part of it, introducing at the same time an original museological approach. The exhibit incudes digital images of real objects, digital maps -where the course of the crusades is interpreted- texts and other two- and three-dimensional elements. The vision regarding the liberation of the Holy Land in combination with the commercial aspirations of Venice proved to be an outstanding event in European history and have influenced it ideologically up to the present say. The story of Hellenism in its wider geographical dimension is related and with this event, which helped in co-shaping historical development. Despite its importance, and perhaps due to its ideological connotations, the history of the Crusades remains relatively unknown to the wide Greek public. Generally, both in Europe and the other Mediterranean countries the history of the Crusades remains fuzzy, hidden behind ideological stereotypes, fictitious elements and biased approaches. In this framework, the travelling exhibition, which has collected exhibits from many countries and became possible thanks to the efforts of all the foundations that co-organize it, as well as to the support of the European Committee through the Programme "Culture 2000", constituted a challenge for the Foundation of the Hellenic World. It succeeds in enlightening the history of a very important period for Hellenism, for Europe and the other Mediterranean countries, with objectivity and in an imaginative way, combining real and digital exhibits. It also attempts to remind us that our common history, dominated at the same time by cruelty and violence, heroic moments and grievous conflicts, social interactions and interventions, achievements and crimes, can, when examined objectively, show us the way towards peaceful co-existence, acceptance of one another, tolerance and culture. The museums, collections and foundations that participate in the realization of this exhibition, which will travel to Italy and Malta, are the following: The supervision of the exhibition has been undertaken by Mr Giannis Toumazis, Director of the Pierides Foundation and General Manager of the Programme, Mr Tony Pace, Director of the Superitendence of Cultural Heritage of Malta, Dr Maria Rosaria Belgiorno, Researcher at the Instituto per le Technologie Specialiste ai Beni Culturali-Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche of Italy and Dr Sofia Antoniadou, Curator of the Pierides Museum of Ancient Cypriot Art in Athens. The adaptation of the exhibition at Hellenic Cosmos, the cultural centre of the Foundation of the Hellenic World has been undertaken by Ms Eleni Mitsakou, architect, and Mr Giannis Paschalidis, who is in charge of the design of exhibitions. The multimedia exhibit "The world of the Crusades" has been developed by FHW's Multimedia Department, with the responsibility of Mr Nikos Varsos, and by the Historians Department, with the responsibility of Dr Gianna Katsiaboura.
The educational programmes, which are going to be organized by experts, aim at the active participation of the students in the exhibition.
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