Museum-Castle Chlemoutsi

The Chlemoutsi Castle Museum "The Era of the Knights - Crusaders in the Morea", hosted in the inner enclosure of the homonymous archaeological site, is the first and only thematic museum, which relates exclusively to the Frankish occupation of Greece (13th - 15th c. AD). The visitor walks around its spaces and with the imagination as a guide can travel back to the Crusaders’ era and feel the fascination of discovering the medieval world, admiring more than 500 objects, such as architectural members and sculptures, vases, coins, murals, clothing accessories and toiletry, originating in their majority from the excavations held at Ilia.

The concept of the museum is developed through five basic sections:

A. The Castle of Chlemoutsi and the Architecture during the period of Frankish rule, where the morphological and constructional characteristics of the castle are presented, the organization of castles and settlements in Medieval Ilia with a particular emphasis on Glarentza, the Gothic monastic architecture and its influence to the orthodox sacral architecture.

B. The world of ideas and institutions - The knights in the Morea, where the conquest of the Peloponnese by the Crusaders, the founding and historical journey of the Principality of Achaia, the powerful house of the Villehardouin and the other rulers of the Principality are presented.

C. Faith and worship - Churches of the Knights, where an example of a Gothic church, that of St. Francis in Glarentza, is developed with reference to its service and decoration, as well as on the issues of faith, doctrines, burial customs and funerary practices.

D. The lives of the inhabitants of the Principality - Aspects of daily life, referring to the activities of the inhabitants of the Frankish Morea, the private space and entertainment, the organization of the house, the household economy and the household effects, the medieval table and the kitchen with the fireplace and the warehouse.

E. Economy and Commerce, Relationships and Communication - Morea in the Medieval oecumene, where the key geographical location of the Principality and its evolution to a regional center of the medieval oecumene is presented through its commercial activity with the East and West, while an extensive mention to the mint of Glarentza is made.

It is worth mentioning that the museum’s extremely interesting collection of medieval pottery, is one of the richest in Greece.

Copyediting: Ephorate of Antiquities of Ilia