Palermo Cathedral
The Context 2

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

When the Normans arrived, the Gami Mosque in Palermo, which was immediately converted into a Christian church, was entrusted to the care of the bishop Nicodemus , who had taken refuge with the Byzantine clergy in the small church of Aghia Kiriaki , in the Monreale area during the period of Muslim domination.
For a considerable period of time, Palermo Cathedral, which was the largest of the Norman cathedrals in Sicily, retained the structure of the great Gami Mosque, even though it was adapted and re-consecrated for Christian worship. The church underwent extensive renovation and adaptation to meet liturgical requirements. On 15 May 1129, Roger II had a chapel built ‘in cornu evangeli’ dedicated to the Mother of God, the ‘Deipara coronata’.
In this particular Cathedral chapel, Roger II , son of the great Count and first King of Sicily, was crowned on Christmas Eve in 1130: Rex Siciliae, ducatus Apuliae et principatus Capuae, thus becoming Palermo: Prima Sedes, Corona Regis et Regni Caput .
The following year, Roger II’s wife Albiria had the Magdalene Chapel built against the southern wall of the church, ‘ in cornu epistolae ‘, opposite the place where Roger’s coronation took place. The chapel was built as a family mausoleum, to provide a proper burial place for the Norman Dukes and Princes.

A remarkable ceiling

The beginning of the construction site

The Cefalù cathedral: a construction yard undergoing a change between a surge of faith and control over the territory

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

Roger II’s strategic design

The longest aisle

Interior decorations

A Northern population

From the main gate to the aisles: an invitation to a journey of faith

The Bible carved in stone

The rediscovered chapel

A tree full of life

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

A compositional design that combines nordic examples with new artistic languages, over the centuries

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

The area of the Sanctuary

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

Biblical themes enlivened by the dazzling light of the stained – glass windows overlooking the naves

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

The cultural substrate through time

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

The chapel of the crucifix: an artistic casket based on a previous model

The senses tell Context 1

The decorated facade

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

The towers and the western facade

The links between the hauteville family and the monastic orders in Sicily

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

The side Portico: a combination of elegance and lightness of form

The Kings’ Cathedrals

The king’s mark

The Great Restoration

The original design

The chapel of St. Benedict

The Gualtiero Cathedral

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

The Cathedral over the centuries

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

Ecclesia munita

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

The southern portico

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

A palimpsest of history

A space between the visible and the invisible

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

Squaring the circle

Survey of the royal tombs

The Chapel of the Kings

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

The Virgin Hodegetria

The balance between architecture and light

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

Worship services

The lost chapel

The architectural modifications ti the cathedral building after the death of Roger II and the transformations of the cloister

A new Cathedral

Under the crosses of the Bema

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

Tempus fugit: a strategic project implemented in a short period of time

The mosaics of the presbytery

Thirteenth-century iconography decorates the nave’s wooden ceiling, designed with new solutions

The side aisles

The mosaics of the apses

The paradisiacal “Conca d’oro” that embraces Palermo: a name with countless faces through time

Palermo: the happiest city

The stone bible

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

A controversial interpretation

Beyond the harmony of proportions

The cemetery of kings

The columns of the nave: the meticulous study of the overall order

The plasticism of the main portico and Bonanno Pisano’s Monumental Bronze Door

Transformations over the centuries

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

The marble portal: an intimate dialogue between complex ornamental aspects and formal structure

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

Mosaic decoration

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries