Palermo Cathedral
The central body: the aisles

A remarkable ceiling

The central hall and aisles were covered by wooden roofs with massive oak beams, lacquered and decorated with resplendent shades of silver, white, yellow and black. In the concave and blue border, there were inscriptions in Greek characters, according to historical records : “the roof is adorned with a distinguished and elegant chiselling, an admirable variety of painting, the colour saffron and ‘ultramarine’ and golds, radiating splendour everywhere; gilded wooden flowers hang from the roof, resembling an inverted pyramid”.
The roof of the central hall, supported by nineteen large trusses, was made “ fairing-like ”, similar to the shape of an upturned ship, with an evangelical reference to “ Peter's ship carrying the faithful ”. Above the beams of the “ chains , a wooden walkway was placed at the centre for the control and maintenance of the entire nave. The system, which is also found in the Cefalù Cathedral , is known as the “ Dromic roof “.

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

The Cathedral over the centuries

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

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

Palermo: the happiest city

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

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

The original design

The beginning of the construction site

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

The senses tell Context 1

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

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

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

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

The mosaics of the apses

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

A space between the visible and the invisible

The longest aisle

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

A controversial interpretation

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

Mosaic decoration

The king’s mark

The Chapel of the Kings

Worship services

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

The rediscovered chapel

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

The chapel of St. Benedict

The Kings’ Cathedrals

The Virgin Hodegetria

The towers and the western facade

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

The cultural substrate through time

A tree full of life

The Great Restoration

The area of the Sanctuary

Interior decorations

A palimpsest of history

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

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

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

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

The side aisles

The mosaics of the presbytery

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

The Gualtiero Cathedral

Transformations over the centuries

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

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

A Northern population

The balance between architecture and light

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

Under the crosses of the Bema

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

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

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

Survey of the royal tombs

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

The stone bible

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

The Bible carved in stone

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

A new Cathedral

The cemetery of kings

The southern portico

Ecclesia munita

Roger II’s strategic design

The lost chapel

Squaring the circle

A remarkable ceiling

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

The decorated facade

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

Beyond the harmony of proportions