Monreale Cathedral
the Context 1

The senses tell Context 1

sight
The vegetation of the Palermo plain

As Ugo Falcando carefully describes, the flourishing vegetation of the landscape of the Palermo plain in the 12th century showed colours ranging from the pink hues of the lumia flowers to the bright tones of the oranges and pomegranates, similar to the fiery streaks of timeless sunsets.

smell
Scent of spices and colours

New fruit trees such as cedars, lemons and oranges were introduced to the endless green expanses of the flourishing Palermo plain as part of a diverse cultivation system. In addition to the pleasant view enhanced by a rich palette of colours, there was no shortage of the spicy scents of cinnamon, cloves, ginger and jasmine, which permeated the air with a mixture of Middle Eastern aromas.

hearing
Parks, gardens and water features

In the parks and gardens, you can hear the water gushing. The knowledge with which the Arab culture was imbued, starting with the development of science and mathematics, also involved the reorganisation of the layout of Palermo. The city became an area where studies on water channelling systems, including the underground water channels known as quanāt, gave impetus to the construction of parks and suburban gardens enriched by the presence of surface pipelines, saie, fountains and water collection tanks.

The balance between architecture and light

The original design

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

The side aisles

Palermo: the happiest city

The mosaics of the apses

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

The Cathedral over the centuries

A palimpsest of history

The decorated facade

Transformations over the centuries

A remarkable ceiling

The beginning of the construction site

A tree full of life

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

The stone bible

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

The Virgin Hodegetria

The Bible carved in stone

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

The southern portico

Ecclesia munita

Survey of the royal tombs

Mosaic decoration

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

A new Cathedral

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

The area of the Sanctuary

The cultural substrate through time

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

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

The Great Restoration

Interior decorations

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

A controversial interpretation

Under the crosses of the Bema

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

The senses tell Context 1

The Chapel of the Kings

The mosaics of the presbytery

Worship services

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

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

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

The chapel of St. Benedict

A space between the visible and the invisible

The Gualtiero Cathedral

A Northern population

Roger II’s strategic design

The cemetery of kings

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

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

The rediscovered chapel

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

The lost chapel

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

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

The Kings’ Cathedrals

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

The king’s mark

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

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

The longest aisle

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

Beyond the harmony of proportions

Squaring the circle

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

The towers and the western facade

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

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

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