Cefalù Cathedral
context 3

The senses tell the context 3

sight
A majestic rock mass

The Cefalù Cathedral stands out on a terrace perched on the imposing rock mass stretching out towards the sea and embraced by the jagged peaks of the Sicilian Apennines between the Nebrodi and Madonie mountains. If we look at the rest of the landscape, a sequence of silhouettes comes to life, built at different times and hierarchically dependent on the cathedral. These include the cloister, the bishop’s palace, the seminary with its adjoining courtyard and the Turniale, which dates from a later period, and are distributed along the northern side of the church. The latter appears as a large embankment functioning as a churchyard, also used as a burial place.

Squaring the circle

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

The towers and the western facade

A new Cathedral

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

The side aisles

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

The southern portico

Survey of the royal tombs

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

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

The rediscovered chapel

The original design

The cemetery of kings

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

A Northern population

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

Transformations over the centuries

The Kings’ Cathedrals

A space between the visible and the invisible

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

Under the crosses of the Bema

A palimpsest of history

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

The decorated facade

The mosaics of the apses

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

The Bible carved in stone

The senses tell Context 1

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

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

A remarkable ceiling

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

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

Palermo: the happiest city

The king’s mark

The lost chapel

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

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

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

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

Interior decorations

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

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

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

The Cathedral over the centuries

The Chapel of the Kings

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

A tree full of life

The chapel of St. Benedict

A controversial interpretation

The cultural substrate through time

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

The mosaics of the presbytery

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

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

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

The stone bible

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

The longest aisle

The beginning of the construction site

The area of the Sanctuary

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

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

The balance between architecture and light

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

Worship services

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

Mosaic decoration

Roger II’s strategic design

The Virgin Hodegetria

Ecclesia munita

The Gualtiero Cathedral

The Great Restoration

Beyond the harmony of proportions