Burgundian ancestry

In Cefalù, there are Northern European influences, especially visible in the transept, with its three semicircular apses, which has a higher elevation than the naves. The soaring transept and this propensity for verticality is typical of French-Burgundian architecture. In particular, the Abbey of Cluny is located in Burgundy. In the second reconstruction of the Cluny Abbey, consecrated in 981, a choir with aisles and an ambulatory was designed and emphasis was placed on the presbytery which, in addition to being large, had two apses on the transept.