Sicily: Culture and Conquest review – gods, monsters and multiculturalism

British Museum, London
Ancient Sicily may have been a land of tyrants, but this exhibition shows that from the time of its Norman invasion, its culture was remarkably open-minded

Related: Golden years: Sicily at the British Museum

The Normans, those lean invaders in scaly chain mail who slayed and conquered their way into Britain in the embroidered scenes of the Bayeux tapestry, have a harsh reputation. Even though the English language, laws and politics owe so much to these warriors of Norse descent, who transformed the British isles after 1066, they have been vilified in history and myth, from the Robin Hood legend to today.

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