The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage has put up an international exhibition entitled “Crusades: Myth and Realities” at the National Museum of Archaeology, Valletta.

The exhibition presents various aspects of the crusading world, many of which are not well appreciated by the general public. Like various other historical movements, the Crusades have been heavily romanticised.

Extensive popular and literary myths have been developed around some of the principal protagonists of the Crusades – such as Richard Lion Heart (one of the leaders of the Third Crusade), his arch-enemy the Muslim leader Saladin, and our own Jean de La Vallette.

The exhibition, which opened last Friday, closes on 15 January.