Monreale Cathedral
the Great Presbytery

The chapel of St. Benedict

A symbol of the splendour of Baroque art, St. Benedict ‘s  Chapel is located between the right arm of the transept and the nave , adjacent to the northern wing of the Benedictine cloister . Originally dedicated to San Cataldo, in 1569 Cardinal Alessandro Farnese had the altar of the founder of the Benedictine Order, after whom the chapel was named, placed in the chapel during the restoration and reconstruction of the large nave and the flooring .In the following centuries, the chapel was richly decorated according to current styles. In 1607 Antonio Novelli , father of the more famous Pietro Novelli , painted an altarpiece and frescoed the entire room. It was not until the following century, in 1728, that the frescoes were replaced with ten marble reliefs, by the artist Giovanni Marino, narrating the life of St Benedict. The medallions are made of white marble and have gilded frames, decorating the rich marble surface of the wall which is marked by pilasters with Corinthian capitals.
In 1776, Novelli’s altarpiece was also replaced with a magnificent depiction of the Apotheosis of St. Benedict, commissioned as early as 1760 by Ignazio Marabitti . The priest Antoninus Romanus , also appears in the contract as a witness.
Entirely made of Carrara marble, the piece depicts the Saint looking upwards, towards the Holy Trinity, in a blaze of pomp and glory.
Saint Benedict is depicted with one hand on his chest, wearing a golden halo and a draped tunic, complete with a long beard. He is surrounded by angels supporting him, playing the flute and the violin and holding his symbols: the mitre, the crosier and the rule. The whole relief is typically baroque and is characterised by a very animated scene, rich in pathos and embellished with gilded metal inlays. The funeral monument of archbishop Francesco Testa can also be found. It was also built by Marabitti in 1785 after being commissioned by King Ferdinand.The monument depicts the archbishop kneeling and praying towards the altar, with one hand on his chest and surrounded by cherubs, one of whom is holding his mitre. The bishop’s coat of arms and, lastly, the sarcophagus with the inscription are placed on the lower section.
The Chapel’s ceiling is barrel vaulted, featuring lunettes carved into the vault and an oval medallion bearing the symbol of the Holy Trinity.

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

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

A controversial interpretation

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

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

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

A Northern population

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

Beyond the harmony of proportions

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

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

A tree full of life

Mosaic decoration

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

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

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

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

The Kings’ Cathedrals

Ecclesia munita

Roger II’s strategic design

The Bible carved in stone

The balance between architecture and light

The senses tell Context 1

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

Interior decorations

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

The beginning of the construction site

The Gualtiero Cathedral

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

The southern portico

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

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

The cemetery of kings

A remarkable ceiling

The Virgin Hodegetria

Squaring the circle

A space between the visible and the invisible

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

The king’s mark

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

Palermo: the happiest city

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

The mosaics of the apses

A new Cathedral

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

The mosaics of the presbytery

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

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

The original design

Transformations over the centuries

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

The stone bible

The towers and the western facade

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

The longest aisle

The cultural substrate through time

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

The rediscovered chapel

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

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

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

The Chapel of the Kings

The Cathedral over the centuries

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

Under the crosses of the Bema

The area of the Sanctuary

The chapel of St. Benedict

Worship services

A palimpsest of history

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

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

The lost chapel

Survey of the royal tombs

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

The side aisles

The Great Restoration

The decorated facade

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