THE GUARDIAN
By Jonathan Jones
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| Byzantine-style mosaic showing the Virgin as advocate for the human race, from Palermo Cathedral in Sicily (AD 1130-1189). Photograph: © Museo Diocesano di Palermo |
The Normans, those lean invaders in scaly chain mail who slew and conquered their way into Britain in the embroidered scenes of the Bayeux tapestry, have a harsh reputation.
The British Museum’s latest stimulating survey of world history shows why we should rediscover these feudal fighters as heroes of multiculturalism. Far from a simple hymn to the lovely landscapes and ruins of Sicily, this exhibition invites you to rethink Britain’s own history and heritage. The Normans, it shows, creatively blended religion and art and in Sicily sponsored the most liberal culture of the middle ages. [
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| The Normans sponsored the most liberal culture of the middle ages’ … tombstone in four languages, Palermo, Sicily, AD1149. Photograph: © Regione Siciliana |
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