Palermo Cathedral
The central body: the aisles

The Cathedral over the centuries

The common fate of most Romanesque churches was that they were transformed in the following centuries according to the style of the time. Some were profoundly modified and others were decorated with added compositions, without altering their original character.
A similar fate befell the Palermo Cathedral, which underwent numerous and varied transformations, restorations and embellishments from the 15th century until the early 18th century.These works did not change the structural characteristics of the building but simply added additional spaces for the clergy and for worship, sacristies and side chapels dedicated to the saints worshipped in the city. The interior walls were decorated with Baroque style frescoes and stucco work with garlands and wreaths, as well as other artistic works.
In the second half of the 18th century, the building was generally in poor condition and needed urgent work. Archbishop Filangeri and the Cathedral Chapter petitioned King Ferdinand IV of Bourbonto intervene “to restore decorum and dignity to the city’s mother church”.

Transformations over the centuries

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

The towers and the western facade

The cultural substrate through time

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

The stone bible

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

A palimpsest of history

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

The Virgin Hodegetria

A Northern population

The balance between architecture and light

A space between the visible and the invisible

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

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

Roger II’s strategic design

A remarkable ceiling

The beginning of the construction site

The area of the Sanctuary

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

The Gualtiero Cathedral

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

The longest aisle

Palermo: the happiest city

The Kings’ Cathedrals

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

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

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

Under the crosses of the Bema

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

Interior decorations

The Great Restoration

The mosaics of the apses

The chapel of St. Benedict

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

The side aisles

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

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

Beyond the harmony of proportions

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

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

Worship services

The original design

Ecclesia munita

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

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

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

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

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

Survey of the royal tombs

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

The senses tell Context 1

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

The lost chapel

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

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

The mosaics of the presbytery

The cemetery of kings

Mosaic decoration

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

The decorated facade

The Cathedral over the centuries

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

Squaring the circle

A new Cathedral

The Bible carved in stone

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

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

The king’s mark

The southern portico

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

The Chapel of the Kings

A controversial interpretation

The rediscovered chapel

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

A tree full of life

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers